Golden oak stain on red oak floors
Maria P
4 years ago
Hi! After some disappointments, I’ve decided to embrace the undertones of my red oak floors instead of fighting them and stained the floors in Golden Oak - the lightest color I could get that would still kind of match new and old red oak planks. What type of water based finish would you use - matte or satin?
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cat_ky
4 years agoMaria P
4 years agoReally? Wow, thanks! I’m truly kicking myself for not doing enough research before doing the job. I was hoping to go for the unstained, light wood but then the contractor casually mentioned the new red oak would look totally different. Only consolation is that Gray Owl on the walls looks really great with the wood.
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golden oak-- red or white oak?
Comments (3)As Linda says, it's usually white oak, and the finish was often amber shellac. Red oak was once believed to be unsuitable for furniture, until they ran out of white oak, when it was used of necessity. It takes more effort and skill to successfully season and store red oak, because it gets gray mildew stains easily. Casey...See Morerefinishing and mixing new red oak-natural or golden oak?
Comments (15)So, does this mean you have to have a new kitchen floor laid? The color looks good. In your first pictures, I preferred the lightest color, then the next lightest. I thought the dark one looked like a "wanna be walnut, but I'm oak". I have a prefinished oak flooring in natural that I have had for 10 years and I love it. Its by Mirage. I appreciate the light fresh look with my rooms. I had to have it reinstalled because the subcontracted installer banged up every nail insertion, because he must have had a damaged nailer. The owner of the flooring company came out the the flooring rep from Mirage, and they determined it was installation error. The finish was warrantied for something like 30 Years (can't remember the number) but with all the nicks, it wouldn't last. New install was great and the floor has been very good to me :) I'm getting it again soon in my bedroom, using a different installer company. All this to say I love my light flooring. It is fresh and can go modern or traditional, imho....See MoreAre These Red oak or white oak floors? Stain Ideas
Comments (26)@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...See Morewhite oak and red oak floor next to each other stain help
Comments (5)I don't think you will be able to get that light look consistently with red and white oak. You probably need to go with a medium neutral stain on all floors, one that has green tones in it. Green is the complement to red/pink, and mixing complementary colors neutralizes them. I've had success with Special Walnut stain throughout my home. The floors in the original (1920s) part of the home are oak, not sure if red or white. The new white oak floors in the kitchen were installed in 2014; all are stained special walnut. Here is a photo of the transition area between dining room (above the saddle) and kitchen (below the saddle). The color is not too dark and not too light. Depending on the light it can look warmer or cooler. It's my "go-to" color for me and my clients for many years....See More
Olychick
4 years agoSJ McCarthy
4 years ago
queenvictorian
4 years agoDefinitely do satin. We restored the old pine floors on the third floor of our house and used golden oak stain (leaving it natural would have made it look too ski cabin) and satin finish.
We are very pleased with how it came out:
richfield95
4 years ago
PROOak & Broad
4 years agorosieheiss3
4 years agomxk3 z5b_MI
4 years agoHU-868375434
4 years agoclevelandcat
4 years agoclevelandcat
4 years agoDeanne
2 years agoHU-737208497
last year
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Maria POriginal Author