Your floors are a great shade, not too dark or light. Did you do a matte finish?

I'm getting all new white oak floors in the living area of the house. My cabs will be white with Carrara tops. Maybe a honed black granite island.

I like dark too, but don't want to go too dark. I'm thinking darker than Jejvtr like English Chestnut. I don't want red undertone though, and I can't tell on my tiny little chip if the EC has red in it. Maybe Spice Brown? I have some English oak antique furniture pieces so the floor needs to a different enough color not to look too matchy. I'm planning a satin finish to avoid the gym floor look.

I recently had my 100 year old white oak floors stained English Chestnut and love the richness of the color:

Breezygirl - we've got something in common. I also have antique oak pieces in my living room, along with an antique oak mantel. But I have a large pine hutch and farm table in my eat-in kitchen. So my floors need to tie those in. I need that perfect shade that blends with everything.

Mirita40 - your floors are beautiful. Is that a Minwax english chestnut? Is it satin finish?

Thanks!

Not really pics where I'm aiming at the floor, but here's our oak flooring stained with a mix of Minwax: 1/2 cherry, 1/2 natural. It has a satin finish.

Kitchen:

"library":

foyer:

Lake Girl: my refinishers used Dura Seal English Chestnut and a satin finish.

tracey b - you have a great color here. not too dark or light. I know our floor guy using minwax products, so maybe we can play with the cherry and natural.

My white oak are more red tones--mix of golden pecan and red chestnut--semi gloss finish.

I would make sure to try samples on your floor. What looks good on one floor--not so good on another. I loved cherry stain on my friend's red oak floors--but it was very drab on our white oak.

I love dark chocolate floors.
Here is a pic of mine, and below that pic are inspirations.
~boxerpups

Yes, I think my floors are right about in the "middle" between too light and too dark (I like darker compared to lighter, but we have 2 light-colored kitties!). And do indeed sample whatever colors you want/like--your mind might change once you see it on your floor and in your light.

My builder always cuts whatever color stain he's going to use with 1/2 "Natural". My samples included full cherry right next to 1/2 cherry/natural, and honestly there wasn't too much of a difference--just a little bit more "clear" (hubby's word) with the Natural added. Weird, though--I don't see "red" with the cherry like I thought I would, but they still look good with our cherry kitchen cabs (which is where we tested the samples).

This is a custom stain on character grade white oak, but I could track down the formula from the finisher if it's anything like what you're looking for. Matte finish.

I did not want dark floors, nor light. I went through about 17 sample spots to get this color. It photographs a bit more red than it actually is. Umm, apparently I only photograph the floor while taking pics of my DD.

First pic is more true to color. Second is darker and much too red.

Thanks so much.

Avesmor - If it's not too much trouble to find the mix you used? Is it minwax?

They're laying the wood tomorrow...a little nervous, AND tired from moving piano, two sofas, tables, an armoire, and more junk that may not make it back in when it's all over. Whew!

No problem, I already sent them an email. Hopefully they will get back to me tomorrow.

I'm not sure if it's Minwax. I think the cabinets are a BAC custom that's based on Fruitwood, but a different company did the floors.

I'm in the middle of the same decision so I grabbed a piece of our floor and slapped some stain on last night. I apologize for the stripes but I wanted to test a bunch before I go to large pieces (this weekend).

The three stains are all Minwax in order, Dark Walnut, English Chestnut and Provincial. The two dark strips in the photo are the mixes that I hadn't wiped off yet. The middle stripe is not that light in person, the flash messed with it, but it is significantly lighter than the provincial.

We are hoping for a medium brown without red or orange tones. We don't want too dark for all the reasons people on here don't want too dark. We're currently thinking that Provincial + Dark Walnut will get us where we want to be. Though it might just be dark walnut depending on how it looks on a larger board.

We went with "Indian Summer" stain by Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring. I love the color on our white oak quarter and rift sawn floors.

I want to caution you to do some tests before getting started.

We did three tests: a one coat test, a two coat test and a one coat test after applying a enhancer type agent (don't remember what it was called but essentially it opens up the pores of the wood such that it accepts the stain better). The test we liked the most was one coat on top of enhancer. There was quite a variation between the different methods.

You people are so helpful!!

mamadadapaige - your kitchen is so beautiful. is that soapstone on counters? thanks for advice on our wood floors. i don't think I thought about how big of a decision it would be. when you're resanding and starting over, the field is wide open.

We are also getting white oak floors from Carlisle, but we are thinking about only using their Tung Oil only.

After looking at some of the above images, we consider testing stains to the first coat prior to the tung oil applications.

Does anyone have any comments on their satisfaction with the 100% Tung Oil finish and/ or a mixture of stain/tung oil ?

Boxerpups, I dont see where you posted what stain color you chose. I love your flooring. So my questions, what is the stain color and is your wood red or white oak?
Thanks

mamadadapaige, I LOVE your floors with the "Indian Summer" stain by Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring. I love color on your white oak quarter and rift sawn floors and I love the floors! I wish I went with this floor.