Hi neighbor! Good timing! I'm just down I5 from you so I understand gray concern. My older neighborhood was built around the theory of cutting down as many mammoth trees as possible, which adds to the gray. I also have standard height ceilings and plent of new windows. My cabs are white and counters will be mostly Carrara. Wood floor area is about 1000 sq. ft.

I also wanted a rich, warm brown for my new white oak floors. I loved Nini's floors too and was happy that she posted the formula. (Thanks, Nini!) I went through several stain swatches and chose a mix very close to hers. Mine are 75% Jacobean and 25% Coffee. I wanted to try the 25% in Dark Walnut like Nini's, but the floor guys didn't have that one with them. Coffee is apparently nearly the same as DW.

Floors were stained only yesterday and the second coat of poly is drying this moment. Here's what it looked like earlier today when the second coat went down.

It's a big change going from very light carpet to this. I do love it though! It feels so rich and yummy in the house now. (I did have a mini freak this morning after feeling like the color wasn't warm enough. The sun is out today, but when the gray comes soon I don't want the floors to seem cold.) DH, if he had his way, would have gone almost black. But he isn't the one who cleans! :)

Hi breezygirl, I had seen your question about stains and have been following your progress. I spotted your thread after I had posted today. Thanks so much for responding to my question and for taking the time to post your photo for me. Your floors look beautiful. I love the color and the feel it gives to your space. Very kind of you to post your formula, too.

It seems that you have more open spaces than we do. Ours is a 1950's house with more modest size rooms, I'm guessing, based on your photos. That's partly what makes me worry that our smaller rooms will feel less expansive and less light with a darker floor.

We're going to use a traditional Swedish finish, which has some amber to it and yellows over time, so that's another factor for us to take into account.

It looks to me like your inspectors are doing an excellent job. What cuties.

Thanks again. Can't wait to see photos when it's finished!

We just did the switch from light yellow/golden floors (with a hint of orange in some places) to a medium brown that looks just like breezy's in the picture above and I LOVE them! I was also really worried about the darker floors making the space feel darker and smaller, especially because we have a fair amount of medium-darker colored furniture and some darker rugs. In fact we came really close to just doing another coat of clear poly, but I'm so glad we didn't. When I freaked out the night before I went through my inspiration pictures again and realized that I really liked the look of the medium brown floors. They really don't make the room feel darker or smaller at all. We are, however, lightening the paint colors in all the rooms (we redid the dining room today -- it was BM Princeton Gold and now it's BM Gray Mirage) and I think they work much better than darker/deeper paint colors. The other nice surprise was that I don't feel like it shows every spec of dust, even with all the construction going on. So, I say go for it! It will look lovely with your other choices!

A dark floor recedes, so it will not be a problem, IMHO. Your cabs are white and your other colors are soft, so you should be fine.

Thank you, erinct. It sounds like your old floors look just like ours do, though ours also have the lovely feature of the finish worn completely off in some spots, which look grey! I'm glad to hear you're happy with the change. Do you happen to remember what color stain(s) you used? I want to make a note of all the contenders to be prepared when we start the job.

Dianalo, I hadn't thought of that. Interesting and helpful observation! Thank you.