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Please help me pick stain for white oak floor

14 years ago

Please help me pick a color stain for my old white oak floors. I'm having a very hard time making a decision and would really appreciate any suggestions, advice and photos.

I've recently come to love the look of dark wood flooring with light walls but have been told that it's very hard to keep clean and will show every spec of dust and dirt.

I do not plan on repainting any time soon and the walls are currently painted Linen White, except for the kitchen which is painted EK Buttercream. The kitchen cabinets are white. I realize some will think this is a boring color scheme but I need help none the less. lol

Also, there's a chance I might need to either sell or rent in a year, so I'm looking for a stain that I like and is also universally appealing, if such a thing even exists!

Thanks.

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Comments (4)

texanjana
14 years ago
I have dark oak floors downstairs, and I don't think they show dirt at all. I wish I had them upstairs where the teenagers live! I have some strong color on my walls now, but had builder beige for many years, and I think the dark oak goes with anything. My kitchen cabinets are cherry, but I have tile in my kitchen and baths.
valerieann
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for posting the photo. Your floors look fantastic. Do you know the name/color of the stain and brand of stain used. Do you need to clean it every day or does once a week work?
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Here is our white oak floor with a medium brown stain. I wanted a richer brown and even did my own stained samples to show the flooring people. The flooring people only left the stain on about 20 seconds before wiping and it is lighter than I wanted. The stain did not have very long to soak into the wood. The stain color is Minwax Red Oak.
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glennsfc, we are on a timeline to get the kitchen done.... so I didn't push for popping of the rays with danish oil, or even water popping. Gotta draw the line somewhere! This flooring guy seems to know his stuff. Thanks peytonroad! Your pics are wonderful ---and your floors -WOW! We did a sample of the jacobbean and it was beautiful, but a little too brown for the cherry w/ dark stain cabs. So after looking at what others have used, we did a sample with 50-50 ebony and red mahogany, and finally went with a mix of 75% red mahogany, 25% ebony. It was just enough black to take the pink undertone out of the red mahogany. So the floors were stained today, and I love the 'custom' shade. It's perfect with the dark cherry cabs!
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First off I don't see anything wrong but it is your house? The quality of the wood will dictate the finished look. You have a very skinny plank with many shades mixed in which usually means a lower end floor. Think about it, the more time the mfg has to pick and match wood tones the more uniform the floor will look and of course cost. I am not even sure that is white oak? It can be a stretch of the word as theater are planks that are not white oak and most do not look like white oak. When you stain wood it will LOOK EXACTLY as it does before the stain but with a different tone. The only way around this is a very dark gel type stain to even out sap wood. You have a lot of sap wood mixed in which again goes back to the quality of the wood. I am in no way saying you have a cheap floor but when you see pics of a perfect grain matched one tone floor it took a lot of money and labor to get to it. You have a nice floor get the 80's thing out of your head and enjoy.
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I don't think you will be able to get that light look consistently with red and white oak. You probably need to go with a medium neutral stain on all floors, one that has green tones in it. Green is the complement to red/pink, and mixing complementary colors neutralizes them. I've had success with Special Walnut stain throughout my home. The floors in the original (1920s) part of the home are oak, not sure if red or white. The new white oak floors in the kitchen were installed in 2014; all are stained special walnut. Here is a photo of the transition area between dining room (above the saddle) and kitchen (below the saddle). The color is not too dark and not too light. Depending on the light it can look warmer or cooler. It's my "go-to" color for me and my clients for many years.
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terri_ks
14 years ago
I have new white oak floors and I had them refinished after living in the house one year. The white oak takes the stain a lot lighter than red oak. So make sure you look at samples on white oak not on red oak. I think my stain was dark Walnut by minwax ,but I am not sure. I love dark floors,but mine are still not as dark as I would like.
texanjana
14 years ago
Valerie,

Thanks, we had the hardwoods installed about five years ago, and I do not remember the name of them. They were prefinished floors, though. I have maids that come weekly, they vacuum and then use the spray hardwood floor cleaner on them that my flooring guy recommended. I don't usually have to clean in between, but I am not a clean freak. I don't have pets inside, but lots of teens in and out!

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