Golden oak stain on red oak floors
Maria P
3 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
3 years agoMaria P
3 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 MoreIs 'golden oak' red, or white, oak?
Comments (2)Unstained oak with a golden or beige/light brown tone using an oil based finish means white oak. An orange/amber tone means red oak. Again, this is for unstained wood. White oak generally has softer texture/tighter grain (annual rings closer together) than red oak. Also, white oak lumber is generally more uniform in color (light brown-beige heartwood), whereas red oak has more variation between boards with pink, amber, straw, and light brown tones. If you can look at the end grain of unfinished wood with a magnifying glass, white oak (Quercus alba) was little plugs in the cells called tyloses, whereas red oak does not. This makes white oak water tight for barrels. This does not apply to the white oaks species from Europe. For new USA sold furniture, throw all of this information out the window. Rules allow the use of a "golden oak" finish description on any wood you want. Let the Buyer beware!...See MoreDark stain on Red Oak v. White Oak Flooring
Comments (6)I went with white oak also because I didn't want red undertones. My flooring co said red oak will usually have red undetones regardless of what color stain is applied. Mine are stained with a mix of 75% Jacobean and 25% Coffee Black (similar to Dark Walnut from the more common stain company). I love them! Not so dark that the show every single speck of dust or cat hair. That sounds like a cleaning nightmare to me! And shout out to Nini whose floor is my inspiration. She graciously supplied her formula to me so I could try to replicate her beautiful floors!...See MoreHuge floor stain mistake
Comments (30)Thanks all. I have adjustable LED lights and they are set at 3000k. other option is 2700k which is too yellow. I get lots of natural light which is nice. I will definitely check out Astoria granite. I want white counter tops. Any other good white options? Maybe quartz ($$) or quartzite? Went with satin finish as I've read lots of complaints about matte....See More
Olychick
3 years agoSJ McCarthy
3 years ago
queenvictorian
3 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
2 years ago
PROOak & Broad
2 years agorosieheiss3
2 years agomxk3 z5b_MI
2 years agoHU-868375434
2 years agoclevelandcat
2 years agoclevelandcat
2 years agoDeanne
9 months ago
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Maria POriginal Author