We are about to do a kitchen remodel and our red wood hard floors that are in the main living room, hallway and bedrooms will be carried through in the new kitchen. I don't like the red, orange or pink hue in red oak, but I need to make the best of it. I'm looking at all the pictures posted from 2 years ago and wondering how everyone is liking their floors. We are wanting to go light, to give a white oak look, but everything we see is too pick. We may just pick a medium brown, but not sure what color is best. Any thoughts or recommendations on either? We need to make decisions soon. Any tips would be appreciated!

I paid to have an independent, certified flooring inspector come in to evaluate my floors. His final report noted that the pinholes were caused by an improper finish. The flooring contractor applied 2 coats of polyurethane on the same day and did not allow sufficient time for the first coat to fully dry before they applied the second coat. The inspector noted a hazed appearance in numerous areas that were indicative of the previous coat not being fully dry before the second coat was applied. The wood was not a number 2 grade selection and the inspector contacted a technical adviser from the National Wood Flooring Associate and he said that there was nothing inherent to the red oak that would have caused the extensive pinholing in the finish that was observed and that this was due to either incompatible finish products being used or improper application procedures. I had a second company come in and redo the entire refinish - sanding down to bare wood and reapplying stain and 3 coats of poly and there are no pinhole visible on any floors in the house. The fact that the issue could be corrected by completing redoing the work lends credence to the original job having been poorly done. The original company tried applying a 4th coat of polyurethane but this did nothing to fix the pinholes. If you look at page 59 of this PDF, pinholes can appear in the finish of a floor if the previous coat was not fully dry (http://www.crescenthardwood.com/nwfa/ProblemsCauses.pdf). The bottom line was that I was out a lot of money from the first contractor, which was a large reputable company in my area, because they refused to fix the issue or even test to see if their finish job was the issue and had to go through the aggravation of having the entire job redone. The second company came out and sanded the floor of a closet and reapplied stain and 3 coats of poly to ensure that it was the previous finish and not inherent to the wood. The test area showed that when done correctly no pinholes in the finish formed.

I have no issue with this. It is wood. It had a life before the finish. You have face nailed hardwood floors which means you can only go so deep with these guys. I personally would spend my $7/sf on something else. Ahem...yes. I said $7/sf. That's often what we see as a price tag for Bona Traffic HD with 3 coats. I would give it 6 months. If you STILL feel the floors look 'dirty' then bring the guys back in and pay for them to redo the floors. Go ahead and spend the $7/sf again...and go ahead and ask for a 3 coat system. It is MUCH tougher than the 2 coat that they have given you.

@millworkman Thank you for your feedback. I know they will not look the same as they are different woods, but I am hoping to find something that will get me that lighter color with the least undertones if that makes sense.