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Flooring Design Dilemma

Help picking a floor stain color for red oak hardwoods!?

John Kokocinski

5 years ago

Hello everyone. My wife and I are having trouble making up our mind with red oak hardhardwood floors. We are in the process of having them refinished. Some areas were in need and my we both did not like the yellow tone these floors changed too. Our floor plan is wide open with lots of natural light. Our kitchen has cherry cabinets that we're not willing to change or paint. We are adding quartz counters. That will be lighter. My wife wants the floors darker, I just want to bring out the grains and tone down the yellow. What do you recommend?

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Comments (4)

PRO
PaintColorHelp.com Dallas
5 years ago
Hi John, do you have any photos of the space you could post? That might be helpful.

In general, it's trickier to make wood floors work with wood stained cabinets, but I've done it. Since you don't want reddish floors, I'd aim for a cooler brown - more towards a walnut. I would NOT do ebony floors; those super-dark floors are impossible to keep looking clean. They show dust, lint, grass, etc.

Also, what stain product is your contractor using? Most come in pre-mixed colors. That may determine the palette you have to choose from. Other stains can be tinted or adjusted if needed. Adding green to a stain color, for example, will help cut the red of the oak floors. You have to go easy though, you don't want to end up with a noticeable green tone.

You're welcome to email me directly if you want more info - I don't check messages on here very often. Thanks

Info@PaintColorHelp.com
Boxerpal
5 years ago
Agree that photos can help all of us see the space and even colors. Search on HOuzz to see cherry kitchens with wood floors and see if there is anything you really love. Is the Cherry dark red or a light red color? Like one of these..

CONTEMPORARY CRAFTSMAN | Palo Alto · More Info

Finley · More Info

The Overlook at Heritage Hills · More Info

Kitchen · More Info
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We are about to do a kitchen remodel and our red wood hard floors that are in the main living room, hallway and bedrooms will be carried through in the new kitchen. I don't like the red, orange or pink hue in red oak, but I need to make the best of it. I'm looking at all the pictures posted from 2 years ago and wondering how everyone is liking their floors. We are wanting to go light, to give a white oak look, but everything we see is too pick. We may just pick a medium brown, but not sure what color is best. Any thoughts or recommendations on either? We need to make decisions soon. Any tips would be appreciated!
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It's not just that the color is different with Red Oak, but the grain is busier too. With such a narrow plank, the effect with a very light Red Oak floor might appear choppy. I think the sample to the left of the island column is very even and complements the island finish well. Don't get hung up on trying to create a White Oak look from Red Oak. Look at what works best with the rest of your finishes, even if it is not what you had envisioned from the start. The two samples on the right look very pink and lavender to me. The one on the left looks busy.
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SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
If you do not like yellow, simply stay away from oil based polyurethane. The oil based poly turns ORANGE. Sigh. Yep. It isn't the wood, it is the FINISH. In fact, if you slap on some oil based poly onto a white piece of paper, it turns the paper gold/orange. We call this ambering. To get away from ambering, you need to stay away from the oil based or oil modified polyurethanes.

Water based polyurethanes will allow the red oak to stay SALMON coloured. Yes. Red oak in a natural water based finish stays a cinnamon/peach/salmon colour. Not very desirable for most people.

Depending on the colour of your maple cabinets (they sound like they are stained...maple is normally a strong margarine yellow colour = lighter than red oak).

Photos of your cabinets and your countertop choice and your current colour of your floors will help us with some of your choices.
Christy Bredahl
5 years ago
John, I'm in a similar situation as you. I have red oak floors that are going to be sanded and refinished (with my choice of Duraseal product) next week. Still haven't picked a color :/ I have a lot of windows and natural light and also a cherry kitchen. I'm leaning towards the colors coffee brown, and actually I was looking for an ebony/walnut or coffee mix, but, then I got a new brochure and they have four new colors. If you are using Duraseal and have an Instagram account, I have found their posts on there helpful.

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