Should oak floor stain match my stained woodwork? (Pics included)
Backstory: we bought a house built in 1939 that still has its original, unpainted woodwork. In a previous house, I had the woodwork painted and really regretted it - as with kids and toys, it constantly chipped and needed touched up.
So, in this house, I was hoping to keep the current baseboards unpainted (and definitely want to keep the doors unpainted). We are painting the new addition woodwork white and installing a white kitchen which runs between the original part of the house (stained woodwork) and new part of the house (painted woodwork).
The white oak floor has been extended/feathered in throughout the house and it's time for me to start thinking about a stain color for the woodwork. Since we're putting in a white kitchen (probably with a walnut counter on the island and carrara on the perimeter) I was hoping to go with a darker stain (like walnut), but wasn't sure how dark I can go, given the stained doors and woodwork. And whether the new shoe molding should match the stained floor or the baseboards (if they end up being different colors)...
Any thoughts, suggestions? The previous owners had a glossy polyurethane finish on the floors. I'm going with a matte finish.
Here's an idea of what the floors look like now. The floor guy said they probably don't have any stain on them, but the poly has yellowed over the years, giving them a somewhat yellow cast:
Here's a photo showing basement door, broom closet door, and woodwork that will remain unpainted:
Here's a bay window with stained trim and the baseboard below that will be part of the kitchen eating area (separated from the kitchen by an 8' arched opening) :
These pictures make the woodwork appear more red that it actually is, so here's a closeup of the fireplace mantle which represents the wood/stain color better:
WARNING - my next post will address decorating ideas and paint colors to use when you have stained baseboards. It's nearly impossible to find examples of rooms without white painted woodwork. I love the white painted woodwork, but just think it's such a pain if they don't start out painted white.
I really appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, pictures, encouragement, etc. Thanks.
Comments (13)
yayagal
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agonjannrosen
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agoRelated Discussions
French Oak Floors ---- Stain test and dent pics
Comments (15)Very nice color choices! They all would be easy to pair furnishings with. I think super dark or super light are the limiting colors. To me yours are neutral. I did exactly what you did regarding tests!! i don’t want a broken heart when my expensive investment is ruined from not seeing how they would do under certain circumstances. I try to be so careful but I’ve had a few accidents and it held up well. I did grey oak engineered hardwood. Love it...my dog chases his ball all over the house and they still look great!! The trim wasn’t done here but this is the finished product...See MoreHi. Im looking for a stain color for my white oak wood flooring
Comments (2)Thanks he will but he wants some basic ideas from me in which direction I want to go so he knows what stains to bring....See MoreWhat should I stain my oak flooring with?
Comments (33)I'm not seeing a lot of cohesion with the colours. The 'costal' vibe is light with blue and green. You have cabinets that have an overwhelmingly orange/brown cast to them. They will override every colour you want to use and force you to use every colour you do NOT want to use. The counter tops read 'orange marble'. That means 90% of the kitchen's viewable surfaces are orange. One of the things orange does NOT work with = gray. Of any sort. And it doesn't work well with COLD tones (which is the 'ash' in the cool-tone browns you need to use to tone down the pink). You are seeing plenty of pink because it is clashing SOOOO HEAVILY with the ORANGE domination of your kitchen. Your original floor colour was identical to your cabinets. It was the perfect match. Now that you want a new colour floor (I'm assuming you do NOT want to touch the cabinets nor the counters) so that you can get a beachy/coastal vibe you have found how debilitating the colour orange is to a blue/white/green breezy look. I think light is the way to go. I would ensure a little bit of orange is added into the floor colour. The orange itself (as you can see by the original stain colour) will reduce the pink. What I would suggest: Decide WHEN you are going to change the rest of the kitchen. Is it in the next 7 years? If so then I recommend you get the floor you WANT and 'live' with the nasty orange/gray clash until you can't stand it any more. Then you revamp your kitchen to look 'beachy coastal' to match the floors. If you are redoing the kitchen 10+ years, I suggest you EMBRACE the orange tones of the cabinets and go with a lighter floor that compliments the STRONG orange in your cabinets. In other words, if you can't beat'em (or won't beat'em) then your only option is to join'em....See MoreWhite oak stair caps stained to match floor turned yellow.
Comments (9)OK...first things first. Water based finishes (not oil modified = cheaper) do NOT amber over time. White oak has a history of TANNIN PULL when water based finishes have been used. White Oak tannin pull = light yellow+ green tints. The 'guy' who left his wood 'natural' used an oil based finish. I guarantee it. In the wood flooring industry the word 'natural' means "no stain + oil based finish". That is the 'natural look' of wood that 98.97% of wood professionals BELIEVE to be 'natural'. What you are describing is, in the wood industry, referred to as 'raw'. Which would work PERFECTLY with your wood flooring. Sadly, the words you used (not your fault...just the way you described raw looking wood as natural) are not the words used in the wood industry. The issue is the YELLOW. The 'ambering' is coming from oil based (aka. solvent based finishes that STINK to high-heaven) products. A full-on water based finish will NEVER amber. A WOOD WORKER will know this. A painter will not. Lacquer is a way of saying oil based. Oil based turns orange all by itself. The painter, by saying 'lacquer' is saying 'oil based' will not turn yellow. Which is completely false. Sorry but it is the truth (assuming the lacquer is an oil based finish). In short, you can have this redone by using a wood professional who KNOWS what the look is that you are after. They will need to know you WANT water based finishes (not oil, not oil modified) used. You WANT a sealant used to PREVENT tannin pull on white oak. You will pay for all of these high-end products and the cost of the redo. It is entirely possible to get this done using a wood working or a WOOD flooring professional (flooring guys HATE stairs...as in HATE being to soft a word...). My question becomes: why is a painter refinishing stairs? It is considered WELL outside their job description (despite their protests to the contrary!)....See More
justgotabme
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI'm sorry, but right now I don't have a photo showing both floor and stained woodwork in one place but our wood work is darker than our oak floors. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the wood trim matches the darkest shade of the grain in the floors.
justgotabme
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agoCindyloo, I don't care for shoe molding either. It just gets banged up by the vacuum. Which is why we are not using it in our home.
This is a terrible picture taken with my old cell phone camera, but it shows our baseboard without shoe molding.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agojmc01
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agolibrary_girl
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agojustgotabme
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agocindyloo123
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agohosenemesis
11 years agolast modified: 8 years agoJordanO
10 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
chucksmom
10 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
cindyloo123