I like how even the Dark Gray stain is on all the grains. I don't like the light/orange/dark variations of the Aged Barrel and Gray.

None of the above. Gray is dead. Go natural oak. No stain.

OR . Bona Nordicseal. I've seen it over Red Oak and they managed to do it with minor pink colors.

I'm fixing up my rental to sell. I am having the red oak wood floors refinished in Aged Barrel by DuraSeal. I didn't even bother to look at any other stains. AB is a rich medium tone, beautiful and trendy without being a fad color. I didn't want any red tones. I can't wait to see my floors. What did you end up choosing Michelle? Pictures?

When you leave red oak unstained and only poly the floors they turn a light OUTDATED golden color. Been there, tried that, said no. Here is my DuraSeal Aged Barrel red oak floor in the kitchen. Whole house will be refinished to match.

only problem with greys on red oak is you can see the pink coming through on some boards. white oak is more suitable for grey stains.

Kinda hard to say without seeing your home, furnishing, accessories, etc. But just based on the three samples I think I like the aged barrel best.

I already had red oak laid throughout the house. I really like the Aged Barrel. It's a rich brown that gives depth to the grain without adding red tones. Your floors look like mine Michelle. Pictures don't do it justice. It's a very nice stain.

How has this work for you all? Would you say it’s a dark shade or more in the middle? Does it pull more brown or gray for you two?

Considering aged barrel for my red ok floors and wondering the same!

I used it and love love love it. It’s definitely more mid tone.

Amy thank you for your picture! That is really helpful as I also want a warm mid tone color as opposed to a dark one.

Has anyone looked at warm grey.....did it show too much red/

Michelle - would you mind posting some additional photos of your floors (in different lighting/sun exposure)? They look BEAUTIFUL!! Thanks!

This is how our finished floors look! We had new red oak placed in our dining room and that area compared to our original 33yr old red ok took the stain slightly different(new oak took it a tad darker) but still love it.

First pic with carpet sample is new red oak wood, second pic with white door trim is original red oak

We love our aged barrel floors that were installed and stained a month ago. we are stuck though on what color to do the handrails now. we are planning on staining the treads aged barrel but don't want to strip and sand the handrails and posts. Amy G. you have a picture of your stairs. How do he handrails and posts look? The walls are being painted seadew

I just did mine black. I like it a lot! Now for choosing the floor color.

@JessicaBasma do you have a pull back pic of your aged barrel? I’d love to see

We have not done our banisters and need to I can’t decide what/how to stain them.

I’m going to be in the same boat Amy G!!!

I gel stained our stair posts, bannisters and runners in general finished carbon gray. It was a labor of love but I love the way it looks with the aged barrel floors. * the treads still have to be stained to match the floors

@jackiec06 - your bannisters/posts/stringers look great in the photos. I’ve only seen photos where people use the java gel stain color - I didn’t know that there was a carbon gray stain color!

The carbon gray looks great. Ive been messing with it on an old oak candle holder and wasn’t 100% on it but maybe I should just go for it.

@HU-606554101 can you share any tips for using the general finishers gel carbon gray? What was your process?

@Amy G I came across success by accident. I was using a foam brush to apply and after putting it on, letting it sit for a bit, I panicked and thought it looked awful. I put mineral spirits on a rag snd then began trying to wipe the gel stain off. Instead it was exactly what I was looking for. this happened on a post and railing at the very top of the stairs. Moving forward I used a rag to wipe on the stain, let it sit for a minute or two then used a rag with mineral spirits to wipe off excess. I did two coats. I didn’t want a thick or painted look. I wanted to be able to see the wood grain.

@Michelle Spellerberg - do you have anymore pictures? How has the color held up? Are your floors white or red oak?

I'm curious too Alisha. We are staining our floors next week and aged barrel is at the top of my list. I also mixed 75% aged barrel with 25% classic grey which is gorgeous too. Thanks!

@Anon Anon Do you have any pics of your floors? I would love to see how this combo turned out.

@Anon Anon, can you please share some pictures. We are at this junction and it is soooo much stress, especially with red oak!

Tina are you looking for pictures of the aged barrel on red oak floors?

Tina,

I used 3part driftwood and 1part aged barrel. I picked driftwood due to its green tint.

https://pin.it/7z0Oqnh

Stairs

@Kenisha, that looks beautiful. Sadly, mixing stains is not an option with our GC. Still going crazy for stain color!

want a medium, not too dark classic color brown with gray undertone that is easy to maintain - is there any such color in duraseal (GC said that's what will be used).

here is aged barrel on my red oak floors. i choose it for the exact reason you want it. medium brown with gray undertones. we did use water based poly. it takes the yellowing out of the equation for the future.

Tina,

I would say DuraSeal Rustic Beige with HD bona traffic.

@jackiec06, thank you. How is the upkeep? Are they easy to maintain? Is it too gray of a color?

it has been just about a year since we had the stain put on and it is still perfect. I think the gray is perfect. i was adamant that i didn't want red or yellow tones in the floor and aged barrel gave me the exact look i wanted.

@jackiec06, how is this Aged Barrel compared to Dark Walnut - darker, lighter, more gray, more brown?

i think that the aged barrel is lighter. and more gray for sure.

This is the Agedbarrel used in the neighboring house. This house was done only for stairs and GC let us check that for an understanding of how it has come. We have one more house in the subdivision that chose dark walnut and will be checking that home tomorrow. Paint used here is SW Extra white.

Well! You made a good choice with the aged barrel. But that’s a matter of personal preference as some might want gray or a lighter floor at their place. However, the lighter you go, the more careful you need to be to make it stay in good shape, avoiding aesthetic and other damages.

I'm a little late to the party with this thread, but I'm sure others are still searching with similar questions. My contractor didn't have Aged Barrel on hand when we started testing, but we ended up with a very similar look to coordinate with a gray/brown stained island. Ours are an equal mix of 1 Medium Brown, 1 Dark Gray, and 1 Neutral to lighten it. We also did a test patch with 1 Med Brown to 1 Classic Gray, which also looked very nice, but we went with the richer mix and his preferred Swedish Finish.