Natural finished floors have become more and more popular in the past few years. Your flooring contractor can suggest a good sealer / finish that will keep the color you are seeing without adding the orange - yellow color you do not want. I always suggest samples even if you have to pay extra to get multiple samples. Getting it right on a sample will guarantee a good out come. Please post photos of the samples so that we can see where you are headed.

I love our natural floors!! We went with a matte finish & I love it!! It hides everything. Beautiful choice!

Here is a pic of our sample colors on white oak (live Sawn).

Our floor guy put a coat of finish over the samples for a more realistic pic of what it looks like. The natural bare wood will not look exactly like the natural with finish. But it is still beautiful. Water based products. Can’t recall the name.

#1 is natural in my samples.

As I said, my flooring contractor is doing samples of the Bona Mega. I will post pictures when I get them. I wonder if that is the best product as I keep reading about Loba Invisible, Bona Natural, and Bona Nordic... I wonder if I should ask for samples of those as well to save time.

mark_rachel, glad you love your matte floors. I hear some people don't like them matte, but I really don't want shiny.

Thanks!

ILoveRed, I love #2 in your picture. Surprised that 1 was the natural.

Loba invisible and Bona Natural is all you need for samples.

Robin...#2 was something Nutmeg. I will try to find the actual name of the color. It was a very pretty color. Close to Natural with just a tiny bit of color. My samples look shiny because my floor guy uses 2 coats of finish. Floors are covered with paper until house is done then he uses 2 more coats with the last coat being satin.

i ended up choosing the last sample which is just a nice medium brown but I love the Natural.

ILoveRed: I’m sure you’ve mentioned it in a different thread, but what are the specs of that beautiful floor? Also, did the knots get filled or...how do you keep them from getting full of gunk? They’re so warm and pretty—love ‘em!

Ooh...a blue range. How fun! Regarding the stain: you might as well sample a nice medium brown while you’re in sampling mode. It can’t hurt!

Natural.

Best to go no stain as G&S and tatts say.
Easy to touch up in the future, and never have to guess at the stain formula...

You probably chose the wrong wood for your floor as white oak does turn an amber color although at a medium rate. A lot of time the stains look good at first and then turn an odd color as the wood does change color. Yes, UV coats will stops a good amount but the wood and the tannins will change, Its real wood and its a yellow orange wood?

Engineered wood with a factory applied finish would be more stable and less chance of changing color and would be a better choice.

Not bashing but i am amazed at how many people pick wood based on a color they have in their heads vs what the color of the actual wood looks like. There are posts daily of red oak that they want to look like walnut or ???

We are so used to seeing these perfect engineered finishes that when real wood is highlighted for its tonal qualities it for some reason is though to be wrong.

I would have a serious talk with your refinisher and have a clear understanding of what you want as if I built something out of white oak an the person told me I don't like the tones of white oak I would pass on the job. I am not sure you will be happy without a dark uniform gel type stain.

I like most think natural oak that does age is beautiful. Understand what you have and what it will look like in five years. I say just let it age naturally.

That inspiration photo is most likely an engineered wood as it has as look at the wood itself vs your own. You can see little to no variances vs yours.

I

wannabath, I spent a lot of time considering my options as I am super picky and detail oriented. I did not want prefinished floors because I do not want any grooves at all. I love the smooth look and easy cleaning of site finished. The other important factor was hardness (Janka rating). If it wasn't for Janka, I would have picked walnut in a hot minute (I almost did anyway). I looked hard to find a wood species that makes for good durable flooring that isn't busy and doesn't have yellow/red tones... there are none! I looked for months (and talked to the flooring guy and designer), so I'm making the best of it with the white oak. That is why I'm on this site asking for advice, so I can pick the best product to get the closest to what I vision (the inspiration photo was for colors... I don't want a lot of variation).

Are you suggesting that a dark gel based stain would work best to prevent ambering? I guess worst case we can refinish the floors when it gets too yellowy.

Btw, I emailed my flooring guy asking for a bunch of samples including a browner one and a white one based on all your responses so thanks!

Here is a better picture of the room:

I will update with sample pictures when I get them. Thanks!

Beautiful, open space with high ceilings and lots of light cabinets. I would absolutely ground it with a medium tone flooring.

We just had our floors done and they use Bona Naturale. It virtually looks like the raw wood. It was not at all what I was expecting, but I think it was a happy accident and I’m liking the look.

So they finally got some samples down. They don't have the clear coat yet, but I can get an idea. So far I really don't like the natural once it has a finish... it is way too orange. We tried to pick a few other colors off the stain sheets from bona, but they look very different (DF6 is so ugly!). So far I like the Bona Birch best.

Not sure if I should ask for more samples. It is impossible to pick stains off these stain sheets.

https://www.bona.com/Global/Documents/United%20States/Sales%20Brochures/Sales%20Brochure%20Bona%20DriFast%20Stain%20%20Classic%20US.pdf

https://neufert-cdn.archdaily.net/uploads/product_file/file/51923/Sales_Brochure_Bona_DriFast_Stain_US_Blends.pdf

I do like the birch, but I wonder if I should ask for more samples since I only like one of them... not sure what to ask for though. Really rough!

For others wanting the natural look that read this thread, I think the nordic looks way more natural than the natural.

Here is a close up of the natural, df6 (yuck), nordic, and birch before the finish

Nice! Lots of great choices. So difficult to choose.

Sammy...sorry, I just saw your question. My floors are Live Sawn White Oak. Very rustic. The holes were filled with epoxy and are very smooth but you wouldn’t know it without actually touching them. An Amish gentleman did our floors. He got them from the following...

http://alleghenymountainhardwoodflooring.com/

I like that matte nordic and birch too :-)

Thanks! You all lessen my anxiety. It is such a big decision!

The nordic is my second favorite as well...

Oddly I discovered the birch stain because when I did research I found this blog:

https://www.mommytomax.com/natural-looking-white-oak-floors/

And I really loved the before pictures with the birch stain way more than her after pictures. To each their own!

Those are really beautiful floors! I'm a big fan of Live Sawn White Oak. We did a similar project in Indianapolis.

My favorites are also Birch then Nordic. I wonder what a 50/50 mix would look like?

Hi Robinmorris - What did you end up choosing? I'm deciding between Birch and NordicSeal. I heard Birch covers up the wood grain more - could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your preference. It might look more uniform then.

We are going with the Birch as even the Nordic was too orangey. I do like a more neutral grain... I originally wanted maple, but was told that it will not take stain well, so white oak it was.

It is being stained now. Should be able to post a few picts sometime soon!

So I saw the floors through the window on the weekend, but couldn't step on them. Yesterday they were so covered I could only see them under the fridge, dishwasher, and stove area. From what I could see they look great. Here are the best pictures I could get:

Leaning into the house from the laundry area:

From the front door:

Under the fridge:

Beautiful!

This discussion was so helpful...we are looking for the same look with our white oak floors. Love the unfinished look and the birch stain looks amazing.

Thanks byac. Glad it was helpful. We have been living in the house for a bit and still love the floors.

I realize this is an old posting but do you need to put a sealant such as nordic seal before applying the actual stain (in this case Birch)?

How many coats of sealant and stain are recommended?

Thank you!

No sealer if, applying a stain. One coat is all you need.

You wouldn't use nordic and and a stain as the nordic had a tint, but you absolutely need a sealer. After the birch stain was applied we used 3 coats of Bona Mega matte. My GC said he would never use a flooring company that does less then 3 coats of sealer because he'd get complaints that they don't hold up.

Our floors still look great.

@Robin Morris Thank you so much for your response! So just to recap do stain and then 3 costs of sealer. Any reason why you used Mega Matte vs Traffic HD? Do they produce differing effect on the stain?

Thank you again!

Don't be confused between sealers and finish coats (polyurethanes). Most manufacturers only recommend 1 coat of sealer, unless it is a film building sealer like Nordic or Amberseal. Manufacturers will recommend 2-3 coats of finish coats (polyurethane). More than one coat of a non-film building sealer will cause adhesion issues.

I'm not sure about the terminology, but I do know that Bona recommends 2-3 coats of Mega or Traffic after staining.

I think I went with the Bona Mega because it is what the contractor recommended and showed me a sample of... I also was concerned the Traffic would not have as much of a matte finish as the Mega. The traffic is probably better, but as we are a no shoes, no pets, and no kid (except for visitors) household, it wasn't a big concern for us.

Robin do you mind posting a final pic of your home to see the floors? I'm going through same color selection dilemma...

@Robin Morris,

Im a bit confused between the terminology of "sealer" and "finish coat", but I love the look on your floors! Are they glossy or completely matte. I like the look in broad day light better than at night!

Just to make sure, you applied one coat of Bona Birch and then 3 coats of another stain which is Bone Mega? (Looking at your samples picture, bone mega looked darker and orangier...)

I'm trying to get my white oak cabinets to have a neutral look as well!

@LaurenceI don't know if it is too late to help you, but yes the floors have a matte finish. You are correct that we applied the Bona Birch stain and then 3 coats of Bona Mega in a matte finish. The Bona Mega is not a stain. It is a sealer that protects the floors from wear and tear. Good Luck.

Hi Robin, are your floors select and better white oak or #1 or #2? Trying to determine how closely my floors would look to yours if I go with Bona Birch as well. Thank you!