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Flooring Design Dilemma

Red Oak Floor Stain Recommendations Needed!

4 years ago

We are having our floors refinished in a few days and I'm struggling with the right stain choice. We have natural cherry cabinets and want something that would compliment the wood. Our kitchen is not large so I'm afraid to go too dark. Also want to avoid anything that will be too orange. I've been looking at Duraclear Chestnut, Provincial, English Chestnut. We are also having our stairs refinished and I'm complimenting true black. Is it a bad idea not to match the stairs?

Attached are pictures of the cabinets and current floor. Any pictures are appreciated!

Thanks!

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Comment (1)

SJ McCarthy
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Personally I would work with a water based clear coat (that does NOT turn yellow).

If you must have a stain, you will want to look at something that is SEVERAL steps LIGHTER or DARKER than your cabinets. Hmmmm. Your cabinets are a light-midtone. Oh no. That means you are looking at a clear coat (does NOT turn yellow) or a stain that is 3 steps DARKER than your mid-tone.

Your professional flooring refinisher will sand off an area (hopefully near your kitchen) and apply several colour patches (that MUST include a coat of the finish). I would include a patch of 'no stain' = a coat of finish ONLY.

This will give you a true sense of the colours as they will be seen in your house, on your floors, in your lighting. And the FINISH is the stuff that makes things turn ORANGE/GOLD. An oil based finish (or oil modified...it will do the same thing) is the 'yellow' you see on your current floors.

A water based finish will NOT turn yellow/orange (we call it ambering). To stay away from ORANGE you must stay away from oil based or oil modified polyurethanes. That means you should ask your refinisher the name of the product they will be using. It will be the thing that makes all the difference.

Send us photos of the colour test patches (include the 'finish only' patch in the photo).

Oh...yah. Please MATCH the stairs to the main flooring. The stairs are often considered part of the public areas which means they should be matched to the main floor colour. If you have inspiration photos of what you are hoping to achieve for the stairs, it would help to see them.
janmarkle thanked SJ McCarthy
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@jjam Your floors look beautiful. @Angela Wacker I hope your floors turn out beautiful. @mdln these are such a good ideas/solutions next time I am doing a renovation I will make sure to get this kit. I went by the house in the morning and took a closeup photo (prior to getting confirmation from the contractor and subcontractor) It does look like white oak. @SJ McCarthy thank you for all the information, it gave me ideas on what to ask the contractor and how to have a conversation about the floors. I even came up with a few more stains to try in case the original choices did not work out. The contractor e-mailed me early this afternoon agreeing to test a few more colors. We asked him, again, regarding the type of floors we have and the new ones they installed, initially he said the floors were red oak, but then he texted us an hour later letting us know that the sub had informed him that it was white oak!?! What!! @Beth Thank you!!!! @SashaDog Thank you!!!! @G & S Floor Service @Timothy Winzell it appears you guys were right - it is white oak -probably. Quality/grade? who knows! I cant believe the contractor did not know this! It appears my worries about the floors looking red after a light stain were unnecessary. We stopped by the home to see the samples on our "white oak" and the white stain looked nice with the top coat on it, not pink. The birch was nice, but we decided to go with the white as it looks more like the natural color of the wood we love. I am still anxious about the overall outcome, but crossing fingers that it turns out nice. I am going by the house tomorrow and working from my car so I can take a look and stop the workers in their tracks if it looks bad lol. I am just kidding...but maybe I am not :) Here are the two samples we tried Bona Birch and Duraseal White with bona HD on our "white oak" floors (this is not 100% for sure lol). Leaving the picture here in case someone is looking for a picture of these two stains. You are all such a wonderful group of people! Thank you for helping me through my anxiety. This morning I felt so stupid to have been worrying about a floor stain when so much more important things are going on in the world. Anyways, thank you and much love to you all. Stay healthy!! -Mari
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