I'm going with light oak for the reasons you both mentioned. Our floors are darker now, and wear and tear seems to stand out more on darker wood floors. I am waiting for samples from the flooring guy, but will be choosing a stain that has brown undertones, not yellow or orange.

We're doing unstained red oak floors in the kitchen, LR, DR, and family room (all connected now). The LR and DR had oil-based poly on them which gave it that amber hue, but we're now going with a water-based poly that does not add any color at all -- so you see the natural wood -- just protected. I would take pictures if I could walk on it (final coat of poly is now drying)... maybe in a day or so.

This floor is against merlot-stained cherry kitchen cabinets as well as butternut-stained cherry around the fireplace, and it should look very nice against both. I'm not sure how it would look against off-white.

We do have 3 kids and a dog, and are expecting this to be even easier to keep clean than the other was. All we ever saw on the old floor was tufts of white undercoat when the dog was heavily shedding ... (which was pretty often, unfortunately).

We have red oak wiht a clear poly in our current home. It does not show things easily from the dirt side, but it does show scratches badly because the high sheen.

In our new house, we went with a darker, but not dark stain, and a matte finish. I think that wekk do fairly well hiding stuff in general.

I honestly believe light or dark is the same maintenance.
I have had natural light oak and now have dark stained
oak and the care is exactly the same to me. One does not
wear worse than the other. Wood in general is going to be
higher care than a ceramic tile. For me I would chose
beauty over function when it comes to my floors.

I have 2 boxers, 3 kids and a messy family.
I LOVE my dark stained red oak floors. My mother in law,
neighbors, a few friends told me I was crazy to go dark
with two dogs. I would do it all over again. Dh says:
"why did we wait so long."

Do they show dirt?
No. They are vacuumed weekly. And swept or mini vac'd
if something terrible happens.

Does the dog hair show?
No. I have boxers who have that horrific short hair that gets
into everything and is like porcupine needles to get out.
And have no issues. One dog is Brindle and the other a
flashy gold fawn. The dog hair does not show more or less
on a dark floor. Some folks on GW joke that get a dog
to match your floors is the key to clean.

Do the floors get scratched?
My dogs also have long nails. One is stubborn about trims.
Yes, they get scratched but it is minimal. I had travertine
floor tiles crack more than the scratches.
The stain is so deep into the wood that if they have a
tiny mark or scratch you can not see it.
My floor guys used bonakemi traffic. I've heard it's
awesome and for my floors I say yes. No scratches looks
like soft matte wood.

I love my dark stained wood.

What look do you love? Do you love light? Light can be
really pretty too. I will post some images below. Or do you
love the dark?

I find if I like something ( counter, tile, floors,
lighting...) it is not a horrible chore to clean it.
~boxerpups

Boxerpups -thank you for all the pictures. But all those pics I think just sealed the deal for me. I am drawn to the look of the darker floor. If I have to work harder to keep them clean so be it!

Thanks everyone for your honest replies. I never thought I would chose look over function!

Yes Boxerpups! Thanks to you for all the pictures that you always provide...I know there are many here who love them! And lol about the dog hair matching the wood stain = clean. I have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and he sheds some...I should have chosen a red oak floor vs white oak...lol

Thanks capegirl,

And chitown, so glad I could help you. I love my dark floors. You will love yours too.

~bp

I am doing site finished hardwood for a third time! Years ago in our first home I did a 4" red oak with a 50% brown and 50% golden stain and a satin finish. The tone turned out a lovely brown that was not too dark and the satin finish cut down on the sun glare showing up whatever cat hair or dust might was lurking around. I loved it so much I repeated in our next home but with a 50% cherry and 50% golden, mostly to match the stair banister, and loved it too.

I am now getting ready to do a 5" red oak, where we have a cat, a lot of sun and for some reason more dust than in our other homes. I will be using the 50% brown and 50% golden stain and I may experiment on a sample with a very light black rub for a subtle effect. The matte or satin finish is a must because of the sun. Another popular choice of stain used by designers is the color "Provincial" by Minwax which has a brown tone.

I personally do not want very dark or very light floors both for the same reasons, I think they show too much dust. And for me, the gloss finish is like a magnifying glass to dust, dirt and imperfections, so I stick with matte or satin finish and it makes for a beautiful floor and easy to maintain.

Hope this is helpful!

thanks destined2b for your advice. do you have any pictures of your previous hardwood floors with those stains?

seems like the matte finish would be best for us too.

We are building a house and have installed 5" white oak. I knew I wanted a dark, matte finish, brown with no red or gold in it. We chose 75% Jacobean and 25% dark walnut for our stain. It turned out so pretty! There is still some nice variation which I think would be good for the dog hair. (We don't currently have a dog, but plan on getting dd one for her birthday next year.) My friends with dogs and dark floors don't seem to have any trouble. Get the look you like...and just get a swiffer! :)

We have 5" wide plank natural ash in our downstairs and natural red oak throughout the upstairs. Remember that the floors will deepen/darken over time. Our ash has been in 4 years and has deepened at least 2/3 shades compared to where the rugs have covered it. The same with the upstairs and the oak, it has been in 2 years and has also deepened in color. We have 2 dogs, 3 cats and two kids. The floors do great with all of that, our dogs (both large) have made some scratches in the flooring but I would still do it again, I love my floors, they are easy to clean and for the most part you don't see too much on them.

I have red oak floors with no stain, just a natural satin finish. They look great all the time, even when they haven't been cleaned in a very long time ;)

Our cabinetry is natural American cherry. They look fine together.