Hi, Pretty kitchen. I agree, a lighter stain will look nice. Is this a DIY project?

Lighter for sure, but I’m not familiar with what brands are best. It may be your picture, but your cupboards look patchy in places and if so, could be a good time to redo as well. I find when I update something, it only enhances the age of other things. I like the combination of pickled oak for floors and weathered oak for cabinets.

The color you choose should not be a color. Sand off the old finish, and just clear coat.

We just had to have our downstairs floors refinished due to water damage. We have white oak and previously had an oil based satin finish (no stain). This go round we chose a water based matte and couldn't be happier! Our floors are much more natural in color than the orange they were before.

Thanks all for your advice. This is NOT a DIY project as someone asked. We are getting bids from flooring companies at the moment.

I like the look of the pickled oak. I didn’t realize I could get a stain this light. Would this be lighter than if I left natural and did a water based sealer? I also love the matte look.

Angela - that’s great to hear! Any chance you have a before/after of your floors?

Red oak turns PINK when it is pickled. Remember the 'pickled oak' from the 1980's? A lovely soft PINK. They didn't make it out of the 90's.

An unstained red oak will still have cinnamon tones. You have a maple that is stained with a golden brown. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you have your floors sanded down and the installer apply a 'patch coat' of finish (please use water based...please please please or you will have orange floors inside of 5 years). And then the same wood flooring professional (not just a 'guy' with a sander and some minwax stains in his truck) add a few patches of other stains.

Anytime you add 'white' to red, you get pink. Just remember that.

The way you find the professional who will work well for you is to ask if they work with Bona Traffic HD or Loba 2K Supra AT. These are the TOUGHEST OF THE TOUGH water based polyurethanes. They are NOT cheap...but they are WELL WORTH the extra $1-$2/sf for the product.

I tried to illustrate the Jacobean stain in your kitchen.

A discussion asking about staining red oak. This one has photos of the sanded floors.

I have red oak floors that were "orange" originally but had them sanded and restained during my renovation. Here are some "after" pics.

Not sure what product or stain color was used to get this color, i just told the contractor to make them look like this, and showed him a sample. The refinisher gave me several samples of stain (as suggested below) before we settled on this one.

The contractor uses the ""Michalangelo" of floor refinishers as he has found this is not were cost is the major factor, quality is the driving factor. So as you search for someone to do the work, bear that in mind, ask to see before and afters. I did have the tougher finish used as suggested below.

Not saying you should do this color, just showing the wide variety of what red oak can look like when put the in the hands of a very good professional. Find your own Michalangelo.

Hi Jenny- I do have a before and after (although not the best quality photos). As I mentioned, our floors are white oak (character grade). My good friend's floors are a mix of white and red oak and she has a matte waterbed as well and it's a very similar look. I wouldn't have known hers had red mixed in if she hadn't told me.

Here’s one more

Wow, looks so good!!

So the flooring contractor came over today and recommended we do Bona Matte HD and finish in a rustic gray color that will still pull out some of the warm of the maple trim while still giving it a modern update. We will be painting walls greige as well - most likely SW Gossamer Veil.

Any thoughts on a grayish oak floor?!

I would not do gray its a trend that is going out if style - stick to timeless IMO.

I'd paint the walls first then sample various floor stains or do sample boards of the wall colors and flooring stains and see how it comes together with the cabinets. Your lighting will impact it all too.

Another vote for NO to the gray. Not only is it on the way out, it would not look good with your current counter and granite colors. I'd have the floors sanded and leave them natural - no stain, just the Bona Matte HD clear coat. Remember, flooring guys aren't designers.

Hi all,
We started the sanding process today - we also updated wall color. Any changes to your thoughts seeing what it looks like in it’s sanded form? It looks so pink to me!!!

Edit: nvm, I see you had base shoe in your original pictures.

@Jenny S - @SJ McCarthy my be able to weigh in. He or she is a flooring expert and can tell you what finish to use to tone down the pink/red you are seeing.

@SJ McCarthy, would you say that is red oak?

I'm hoping @SJ McCarthy will weigh in - it looks like red oak to me, but there is a way to get most of the red out with the proper sealer.

@design girl, I agree. I posted a pic of my red oak that doesn't look red at all, once it was stained.

Yes it's red oak. SJ told you it would have a pink undertone to it, even if you go neutral.

this is natural refinished with Pro Image in satin. It's a nice natural finish, but has a distinct pink tint to it. That's red oak.

Here's the white-wash effect. for sure, pink. just like McCarthy said

you have to do a green based stain to cancel the red tone, if that''s what you want. an ashy brown stain will offset some of that red. what you don't want is more red, so don't use any stain that has red in it.

The Antique Brown is ashy. no red in it.

did the flooring guy do any test spots for you?

what stains are you considering? what does the flooring guy use, brand-wise?

Thanks for the info!! I think I’ve come to the realization that even though I like lighter and more natural wood, that I can’t do that without it looking pink and clashing with the rest of the cabinets, island, etc.

He was planning to use Bona Naturale/Bona Traffic HD (I don’t know all the terminology) but he likes to use Bona.

I was originally leaning towards a whitewashed look (he said he does 1 part out of 4 white in the mix) or a slight mix with gray. Our style is more coastal/farmouse hence why I like those options. But, in looking at my floors sanded, I think I almost need to go darker. Antique Brown may be a good option. Does this have a green tone as you mentioned?

Here is a pic of a darker console table next to it for reference. He will put options down tomorrow, just wanted some guidance from me as far as any other options besides the whitewash and grayish tint.

Here’s the first set of stains - all BONA.

I actually like these lighter ones w/your cabs. I like the darker ones too, (the two in the back aren't bad) but against your cabs I like the lighter ones.

they are a little pink, but it's not bad. if you want a coastal look, these would do it

I wasn't even looking at this shot. but she's right. you have a lot of yellow and gold tones. You've already had the dark stain on the floors, so do you want to go back to that color? it did match everything.

But if you want to go coastal white/gray, then you will need a new countertop that's white and leans cooler. the current warm/gold/yellow isn't coastal.

I think if you changed your countertop you may be able to do the floors in the coastal tones. ultimately painting the cabs white would give you everything you want.

up to you.

Thanks so much for your comments - they are all super helpful! I agree with you that the kitchen as it is is not ready a coastal vibe. I guess I would say our style is more farmhouse/coastal than straight coastal. We are in Minnesota so hard to be true coastal :)

We just moved in 4 months ago, so are slowly changing things to vibe with our style. I think we'll potentially do countertops in 3-5 years (white quartz with slight veining) and see if this gets us to where we want to be. We may potentially paint cabs white, but they are quite pretty in person and don't read as much orange as they do in photos.

Now I'm having a change of heart and am thinking of doing the Spiced Brown by BONA and seal it with a matte water based sealer. It's the 4th darker shade down from the top. I feel like it gives a little warmth to play nicely with the cabinets - and also gives a nice contrast in depth of color (original floors were too matchy-matchy with cabinets in my opinion).

Have you seen Spiced Brown applied to Red Oak?

Spiced Brown is far left - sorry lots of afternoon light coming in.

spiced brown is nice, but does have some red in it. antique is a neutral.

Did you pick a stain? Would love to see photos if you have finished your floors. Thanks!