It may, however be a bit too thin/watery, but definitely test it. Or, it could be that you have a non standard wood. With a white stain on unbleached Red Oak, the house can look contemporary, and still be incredibly inviting. Weve had them sanded and they are gorgeous. Frequently, we use Bona Nordic Seal to bring out that lovely light brown/beige, neutral tone of White Oak that everyone loves. Are you painting or doing the floors? I think one of the keys is how much the graining shows. There are several similar tones, so I think its usually best to see which is just the right shade for your taste. Check out these projects below, all bleached Pine (varying species) with 1 coat Bona White stain! Classic Gray by Minwax is my favorite gray toned stain on oak! Samples are always necessary. Dark? Join our online community where we share real time behind the scenes looks at our DIY projects and peeks inside our home + family! The original floors might have been salvageable, if not for the gapping. Hi. I want to give my floor a more neutral or cool tone, but was hoping not to have to go to a super dark stain. But, the brown colors that I would test would be special walnut (lighter), dark walnut (darker), blend of the 2, antique brown (in the middle w/ a touch more red but not much) and you could always blend it w/ one of the other 2 is those options dont work well. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As a result, they were especially uniform in quality and easy to lay down. My kitchen ? 50/50 ebony/dark walnut blend or ebony) OR go as light as possible (i.e. Antique brown will is darker/browner and red should not be a concern. Most of these are pretty red. Youll just have to test until you find what you like. Avoid these common pitfalls that can impact your floors durability! Is this true? You may want to try coffee brown as its a bit lighter than antique brown (or even medium brown which is a bit lighter). Im surprised I love the look of light floors as much as I do. Our red oak hardwood floor has become sun bleached in front of the window and darker under the area rug. It has a very warm tone to it with ever so slight gray undertones. Are you about to sand your floors? 37 Desks To Consider For Working From Home. The wait to be able to use your hardwoods will be longer if you stain! Special Walnut is very similar to Provincial but a tad browner, so usually I recommend that a customer tests both colors on their floor to see which they prefer. I dont want to go dark. (its the yellow that makes the floors look dated. Here is some commonly asked questions about staining and finishing oak. Love your blog. Also, use Duraseal for the stain, not minwax. Red tones are more polarizing and less popular than the brown tones, regardless of whether the stain is light or dark. I wrote a post about how the birch stain came out which is to say, terribly! Plus, it will dry faster. I ended up going with Loba 2K Invisible Protect AT, which is much more natural looking. I want something on the lighter side but I like the grays. But, you are welcome to go searching around. Most often, if someone is going light, we will do natural as this is the lightest you can go, and it usually costs less than adding a stain. I like the look of whitewash as it keeps lower level so bright!!! Great article. This may just be someone who isnt experienced and comfortable doing gray. Sherwin Williams Alabaster: Classic or Dated? Others, prefer a bit lighter as it is easier to clean and maintain. This post may contain affiliate links, which means that we earn a small percentage of each sale. Where dark floors make a space look darker and smaller, white floors make a space look bigger and more open. WAIT! I ordered unfinished European oak wide plank (9.5) from ADM flooring design. The white oak really brightens up the house and gives off an airy and cheerful feeling. This generally works best on oak or hickory floors, as they have a stronger grain. Also, I want to extend the wood flooring into the connecting rooms (that are now carpet). thanks. We live in a 1st floor and garden level traditional brownstone in Boston. I honestly love the natural rich color of oak wood and dont like to cover it up with a dark stain. The closer you are to the mid range, the more the graining usually shows. Nicole Yes, it will darken and amberize over time and be more similar. Many customers love this; others are trying to move away from the yellow/golden look, and instead opting for a lighter and more natural look. When we are refinishing hardwood floors in Westchester NY, we usually test 3 stains for a customer on their own hardwood. Oil based poly will be a bit darker and more amber. Does the Dark Walnut have any warmth? The four large rectangular swatches on the left are the stains I originally requested. We are remodeling garden level. Heres a stain chart for Minwax Stains. Jessica It is challenging to find an exact match as these are totally different surfaces/substrates. High humidity, lower temperatures, using multiple layers of stain, and not wiping it off thoroughly will all lengthen the drying and wait times. The Top10 Flooring mistakesand how to avoid them! This would be a great stain option for oak wood flooring, too, if you want a dark colored wood stain! So, for example, dark walnut is better than jacobean (which has some red undertones). I ended up choosing Birch! You may also want to look into UV protection for your windows. Check out Duraseals new gray blend line here. At this time I am refinishing white oak floors and I am attempting to achieve that rich natural walnut color. Top row of photos above taken in a lovely summer home in Water Mill, NY. There is no sense in having floors you dont love. natural with Bona Traffic water borne poly). I had dark floors in a previous home and did not want the maintenance that came with dark floors. We purchased a split-level ranch so the original floors were part of the 1950s build your typical 2 1/4 red oak planks. Chestnut is similar to special walnut, but lighter. Its great for a beach house, lake house, or farmhouse aesthetic. You can see white oak stains in action here! But, I think they dark will look more modern. Kinderpack Carrier Giveaway, Part 2, Best Non-Toxic Play Mats for Baby [Updated 2020], Best European Organic Baby Formula Guide [Updated 2020], The Ultimate Amazon Baby Registry Guide [Updated 2020], Best Organic Formula: Holle Infant Formula Review, Best Non-Toxic Crayons for Toddler Guide [UPDATED 2020], The Ultimate Gift Guide: Best Toys for Toddlers (2-3 Years Old), 6 Natural Ways to Help an Infant Who Has a Cold, Adventures of Potty Training My 21 Month Old Son, Time to Choose a Stain Color for White Oak Flooring, Where to Buy Holle Formula in the USA: Organic Start Review, Got Milk? You can see all my recos on my Amazon Influencer page. Also, make sure youre using Duraseal stain (rather than mixwax)I just wrote a blog post on that. We have put some duraseal samples down and I like antique brown but it is darker than I was wanting to do. That being said, I cant see the floors, so I dont know how much of a difference it is nor whether the dining room has a stain on it or not. Required fields are marked *, $MMT = window.$MMT || {}; $MMT.cmd = $MMT.cmd || [];$MMT.cmd.push(function(){ $MMT.display.slots.push(["e9ba73bf-1e8b-4c4a-909e-c54efc9e5793"]); }), $MMT = window.$MMT || {}; $MMT.cmd = $MMT.cmd || [];$MMT.cmd.push(function(){ $MMT.display.slots.push(["8a8357c5-6054-40ff-9476-b14d83c919ad"]); }). Some boards may appear a bit yellow, or the stain a bit muddy, for lack of a better word. I am considering coffee brown or antique brown because they probably wont show dust and dirt too much. I wasnt sure about the colors so we played around with a few other options. We recommend Bona Traffic HD as the best 100% clear and non-yellowing finish on the market, but there are certainly other good ones out there! In love. wow this was so helpful! Between the 2 options, I think youll get a CLOSER match with natural, but you will probably never match exactly if you dont sand the other part. What stain color would you recommend? I prefer traditional rustic decor throughout my house-so the chestnut although orange/red works with it. I too thought I loved dark floors until I had light ones. I love dark walnut, but you could also test antique brown (which is just a tad lighter). If you love white wash, then I say go for itas long as you have white oak. I dont think the gray is going to help (although I may be wrong), especially if you are using a premixed stain from minwax (as its very watery). To get that, you would need to get a blue water based stain which is expensive and very difficult to applyits very streaky when you use those and most refinishers wont do thisor if they do, they dont know what theyre doing and dont realize it wont come out right and that they will probably need to start over and refinish the floors again. Once when discussing floor color samples in her home, Nicole Tunick of Douglas Elliman said to me, White floors are like skinny jeans. But normally, if you use it straight, its black/blackish. I have dark cherry cabinets and alot of golden brown wood toned furniture. Also, wood color varies, so its much better to test it on several pieces some lighter, some darker to get a true picture of how the stain will look (vs. a small chip that is on fake wood). Something along the lines of: You know how I am by now, how could you let this happen? Hi. I want to make the floors dark rather then trying to match to all the different wood tones. This Painting and Flooring Planner will organize your paint shades, finishes and flooring choices by room. But, by that time, it will be time to refinish the floors anyway. I would recommend you use Bona Traffic HD for the highest grade. You may need to replace some of the pieces of wood and weave in to even it out (and refinish again). The floor is white oak with a medium brownish stain; it runs throughout the first floor and needs to be refinished. Great site and we appreciate all your constructive comments. Check out this Northport project on Instagram, also White on White Oak. Can you change the color of your hardwood floors? Yes, we have done that, too See Gallery below for photos of bleached Red Oak & 1 coat Nordic Seal. Hardwood supplies e.g. Back in the 80s and early 90s that Red Oak pickled floor (heavy white stain) with the red & pink tones of the Red Oak showing through was super popular! Some things to be aware of: bleaching is a hazardous chemical and produces a chemical reaction with the wood. I have read about maples issues to photosensitivity and am somewhat concerned, and especially that my darker brown floors will turn yellow or organy. So use Duraseal instead (same manufacture as minwax and a lot of shared colors). Just annoyed that they arent more brown.. Jo Your floors probably turned orange because they used an oil based poly which yellows and amberizes over timeand chestnut isnt a very dark stain so the orange shows through. When they did the sample it looked pretty close but doesnt seem that way now that they are done. Any suggestions? Is this true or are they selling me something? The stairs would not match the new floors since those were also done in chestnut? What stain color works best with Beige walls and white base board, vaulted off white ceilings? Many prefer this look both because its more contemporary and also because the floors are more uniform making it easier to decorate. In some cases, I have found that this stain can go on too thick or foggy so be sure to sample it on your specific wood and wipe off all excess stain for a clean look. I had new red oak floors installed 3 years ago. Will show too much sand. All that aside, in 10 years, it will be time to refinish your floors anyway, so you can always change/update the color then if thats your major concern. And, it may complicate things as you may need to switch polyurethanes (and do a more expensive one). !, Poor guy kept repeating, Were going to fix it. Hi Terri, your planks sound amazing. I am looking to replace my carpet in all the bedrooms with hardwood floors. The picture on the left is provincial, but it appearing much lighter than usual due to my flash. Im ABOUT to do my floors. Do you think that would be ok? We often use Bona white. Thank you for respecting our craft & thanks for reading!! To intensify the White tone, we most frequently use Bona White stain because we feel it is the brightest white color of all hardwood flooring stains. can we see a picture of the finished floor w the birch stain please? Yellow Pine, Eastern White Pine, & Heart Pine all look fantastic finished Nordic-style frosty White. Any reason now that you wish you would have gone darker? Provincial often works better in more traditional homes and special walnut often looks a bit more contemporary. Thanks for your input! Check these 2 projects below, both in Amagansett, NY. What are your thoughts? You can see white oak stains in action here. If so.what was the stain color and name of tile? Oak wood stains really well! Its always best to test some stains on your own floors. Red tones are more challenging to decorate with as they are more challenging to match other wood furniture, as well as paint, window treatments and pillows. White stain on wide plank White Oak has continued to be one the most requested finishes and species for our region of Long Island for new construction and gut renovations. Lisa Its a cool color, which most people prefer. This will help absorb the stain betterand importantly more evenly. Also, on the light side, you could try maple. For that reason, I prefer stains that are transparent or in the least semi-transparent. My dilemma is what stain to go with. This is a dark stain but if you are looking for a deep, rich color, this is a really great option. All photos feature our own work and are property of Valenti Flooring, Inc. I hope that helps. Usually, when you have a professional do the sanding, this is not an issue. Thanks If its that bad, your windows are the source of the problem. Even the floor guys were raving about the floors. To avoid the yellow, use a high grade water borne poly. That is the lightest you can go (unless you add white wash). Its a tricky process, and most often you will see it in pre-finished hardwood flooring. Shelly Its hard to saythe colors come out different on every species and the stain samples show the impact on oak. If so, it could be that you didnt sand properly. HELP!! Youre 2 best options are to go as dark as possible (e.g. And I could go darker, but for me Jacobean and Dark Walnut are too dark. You keep thinking they are going to go out of style, but they dont! And while I understand how a top Hamptons real estate broker could tire of seeing white floors, it seems that the general public cant get enough of them. Oak is a gorgeous hardwood with a beautiful natural grain. (Note: Many dark floors look darker in the pictures vs real life.). The knowledge I gained from houzz.com helped me a lot during my home renovations! Royal Mahogany has a bit of red cut in. But, if you have regular solid wood, like the solid wood you see in most homes, then you are fine. Any suggestions for a blend (ideally minwax)that would get me close? The trend seems to be driven in part by the gray trend and in part by high end beach resorts in the Hamptons and now the Jersey Shore. test itmake sure you love it. Please note that this article may contain affiliate links. Also, the color comes out different on different woods. Another great way to keep up with out latest projects is by joining our weekly newsletter! Check out a TON of wood stains sampled onto red oak and see my favorites! In this instance, my first choice would be very dark try 50/50 ebony/dark walnut blend or 50/50 ebony/jacobean blend. Red Oak wood flooring can also be White in color. Please note that this is a picture of a picture and hence it may not be color correct. I realized that the application of these stains were definitely too heavy-handed. Driftwood could work (and if you do it, you definitely should use Bona Traffic HD anyway), but yes, it will likely go out of style faster. This tracker makes it easy! Its especially popular with wider plank flooring. WHITE HOT! Nordic Seal will help to tone down Reds (2 coats, even better), but Red Oak will NEVER look like White Oak. https://theflooringgirl.com/hardwood-flooring/which-are-the-best-polyurethane-brands-for-floors-which-do-i-recommend.html, https://theflooringgirl.com/flooring-and-color-trends/staining-hardwood-floors-gray-westchester-county-ny.html. also, you could consider going a stain or two darker if you like that better. I cant give you guidance as every floor and every stain is different. ???? White floors are chic, clean, and bright. Some Red Oak floors have more intense red or orange tones than other Red Oak floors. I personally think that dark would go best with that especially with the vaulted ceilings. I probably wouldnt use jacobean as that has some red undertones and dark walnut and antique brown are absorbed more by pine.