Thankyou very much for your replies. I did have some very dark chocolate brown from another project I did. I put that on just to see what it would look like...I really liked it, but it didn't flow well with the room. It was suddenly out of nowhere this very dark brown. I ended up getting a color, i think it sounds like what "iglochic" recommended. It is like a milk chocolate. When I put it on...aaaaah...seemed so orangy but that's because it was right next to this very dark brown. When it was completely painted...and dried, I think it looks quite nice. It does flow better in terms of being in the same color scheme as the original trim in the bedroom. I also like it because it's not too dark, it may be a little forgiving in terms of dust and stuff. Having a golden retriever doesn't help : ). I thought of green as well, but I'm trying to keep the whole space calming and cozy and didn't want to introduce too many different colors. I also thought about white...I think if it was a separate "porch room" that would have been quite nice..sort of a breezy and airy feeling, but I wanted this room to be an obvious part of our bedroom, so that just would not have worked in my case. Thanks again. Maybe I'll post pictures when it's completely done. I am just so thrilled that this room is finally getting done (after 20 years...yikes!) It really does something to your psyche I think when you are living with something that just isn't right or incomplete.

Hi, the Sealcoat is a very high quality shellac, as such it's perfectly suitable for woodwork, although I have two issues: 1) It's very pale and I happen to like a little color, so I always do two coats of the garnet shellac first (on my old-house woodwork) then use the clear sealcoat to build the gloss. 2) It's thin, so you have to use a good technique on vertical surfaces, like trim and doors to avoid runs, drips, and "curtains". If you're applying it in a warm/hot day, you need to work incredibly fast to keep the necessary "wet edge" or you will be rubbing out the last coat. Which brings me to my last point: If you rub out the last coat with 0000 steel wool and furniture wax, you will have a beautifully smooth finish that's very luxurious in feel and appearance. Casey

Looks like a soft pine (white pine or spruce) therefore getting a commercial drum sander to remove the paint is going to remove a lot of material in a hurry. Then applying a finish like polyurethane, which can only be removed by sanding (again) locks you into a cycle wherein your historic material is carted to the landfill as dust in garbage bags. Within a few cycles, the flooring will be abraded down to the t&g, and effectively ruined. The good new as I see it is that these floors have not been previously sanded, as they apparently been covered with area rugs and a painted border (a very typical treatment in the 19th century). There's no reason why you couldn't repeat this, and choose your personal floor paint color, and use a Persian (or a modern rug) of an appropriate size. It would look 100% authentic. There is an issue of which I must make you aware. Those never-painted central patches are never going to match the wood underneath the painted borders if both of them are stripped down. The bare patches have 160 years more oxidation head start, and will be darker when varnished. Artful (painfully so) staining work can diminish the differences a great deal, as will a flat finish, but this is really an art, and a historic floor specialist (or experienced, determined homeowner who's good at wood finishing, or gets ones self to that point) would need to take charge. We hand scrape old/historic floors where there is high regard for them or they are nearing the point where the t&g will become exposed. Our hand scraping bears no relationship to the current factory process of intentionally putting scraper tracks into material for the sake of added texture. We are scraping to have total control inch by inch over how much material gets removed, where; to keep material removal to the minimum level to render the floorboards smooth and finish-ready. The scraper gives complete control and can leave an even layer of oxidised wood (patina) that a power-sanding would render very much flatter, but with infinitely varying degrees of patina. With a cupped board, fo instance, a sander will sand the cupping completely out, in the process removing less material at the center (low point of the cup) and greatly more material at the edges, rendering two lighter stripes and a darker center. On wide pine boards this is very pronounced. This is too long, sorry, here is a pic of one of our scraped-process floors, of wide heart pine, where there had been very bad weathered. sun-faded patches in line with the window, and the 14-16" wide boards would not have withstood drum sanding. Casey

it's always best if you prime the walls first, then paint. or at least prime the portion when you try out samples. Right now you're looking at a light color painted over a very yellow base. you aren't getting a true reading. Prime it first, then sample. if using your exising light bulbs, try upping them to a 4000K temp to reduce some of the yellow and pink hues. Have you seen this color? it may be what you need White Duck is similar to Natural Choice, But the latter has a bit more red to it instead of the yellow any of these would work next that color wood Since the floor has the red tones, try a color that leans on the red side of the specturm (instead of the yellow/orange side) and will have pinkinsh undertones) This one has red undertones These taupe grays also have a bit more pink in them BM Smoke Embers might work.,,,,here are some others All of these work w/your wood get some samples, and try the primer.