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How do you pick the right color hardwood?

13 years ago

How do you know it's the right color for your house? We are remodeling our retirement home and will have engineered flooring installed in the great room/dining room, a small foyer and two hallways. This is a very open floor plan.

We thought we had it narrowed down to Brazilian Cherry, but now I'm thinking it may be too red for us. The only thing we do know is we want 5" engineered flooring. We have engineered flooring in our current home and it's held up really well the last 15 years. It's "Gunstock" but it's even too red for me.

So now we're starting our search all over again because we read on the internet that the Exotic floors (like Brazilian cherry) fade easier than other types. Our dining room has one wall of windows that gets way too much light. We do plan on covering the huge arch window, and having shutters installed to help with the light situation.

How can you tell if the color is right just by the small samples they give you? The way I feel now I'm into into red and I'm not into blonde, so maybe a medium color that really is a soft brown? Is there a color/brand that doesn't fade as much as others due to light? Help!!!!

Dee

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knot2fast
13 years ago
You are smart to consider the natural, unstained wood color when choosing your hardwood. We were not into reds either and, while we didn't want blonde, we didn't want a dark stained floor either.

We had 1500 sq ft of 3" wide by 3/4" white oak installed. The natural color is much less red than red oak. It can take any number of stains that yield colors from light golden brown to almost black. We experimented with a few test colors and chose a nearly clear "Natural" color stain. It deepened the natural color a bit and brought out the grain. After finishing it with a high quality oil-based polyurethane, it has "ambered" beautifully over the last three years to just what we wanted.

The moral is, if you don't want reds, start with a whiter wood. The trend in this forum has been toward exotic hardwoods. That's fine, but oak has been used for centuries with great success. It has a definite look due to the grain. If you like that look, it takes a stain beautifully and wears very well.

Maple is another light colored hardwood, but it can be difficult to stain without appearing blotchy.
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