Hi everyone, could use some advise. We just had hardwood installed and finished. As early as yesterday. White oak with rustic beige stain that created a beautiful rustic brownish/gray floor. Then after the 3 coats of poly (Bona woodline) they now have an amber tone to them. First let me say, the floor guy I’m using is awesome, the work is great, I have no issues with them and he’ll re-do whatever I need him to.

But he says bona has the least amount of amber tint. That water based poly won’t adhere to the oil stain we used and that it doesn’t hold up as well as oil based. That basically with the water poly we’d be redoing the floors in a few years.

the pictures below highlight what I thought I was getting with the stain. floor on right has two coats poly, floor on left has third final coat poly. Such a difference. And they were taken at the same time of day.

So basically my options are learn to love it, or redo with water based poly so its clear.

This single photo is the floor with just the stain no poly at all yet so this is what we had wanted as the original design. when I thought the poly was clear.