The local store is "The Powder Room" 540 N. Santa Cruz Avenue, Suite A Los Gatos, CA 95030 I met the owner, who was extremely helpful. I am pretty excited by the Ronbow vanity and I'll take DH to her showroom. She also had a Toto toilet complete with a washlet in her bathroom with the Fairmont toilet topper and a Fairmont vanity. It was great seeing the American Standard Town Square toilet in person with the soft close seat and ADH height. It has a map score of 1,000 and I'm leaning towards this toilet over a Toto. The one vanity that really caught my attention is the Ronbow Adara vanity, which is available in a dark cherry and I'm seriously considering the Ronbow ceramic sink top (integral counter and sink). I think it will be a snap to clean. It's also available with a transitional glass door or solid doors (the solid doors are cheaper). I also liked their Asian-style vanity, but it doesn't come in a 48 inch size. I'm having some second thoughts about the carrera marble top due to the fact that this is the most heavily used bathroom in the house. Therefore, I found the sink top to be a great option functionally and aesthetically! I really got excited about it! The link below shows it in a lighter cinnamon color instead of the dark cherry. Here is a link that might be useful: Ronbow Neo-Classical 48 inch vanity

I think it might depend on the frames themselves. How much detailing they have, what the surface is like- raw wood, stained brown or painted other colors? Some stuff is just easier to spray, other stuff might be better for other methods. Testor paints can give good results, I have a tendency to like the rub and buff stuff, and it can come in a few different shades of gold. Not wood, but on 3D printed plastic details I've used rub and buff over testor paint a few times to give a deeper luster than just paint or rub and buff alone. But that was on plastic, wood takes treatments differently.

We did oak on our island and stained it dark (Early American mixed with a little Jacobean from Minwax) and then wiped on several coats of Old Masters finish. It looked great - for years. We ate at it, rolled dough on it and generally used it the same as a table top (because essentially that is what it was). We are also in the middle of nowhere (just north of you) and had a carpenter make it for us. I think it cost $500 but that was 12 years ago. Our recent island is made with maple butcherblock and I didn't want it stained so I left it natural but finished it in Osmos instead. I might sand it down and do the Old Master's again as I prefer that finish but the Osmos was easier to do. ETA: We thought we would not finish the new maple top at all and just oil it periodically. That turned out to be a PIA and so we did the Osmos after a few months of trying the oiling.

White Oak is KNOWN for tannin bleed. That's when the orangey-yellow tones in the wood pull to the surface when a WATER based finish is used. This is unavoidable unless you use a sealant. Something like Bona Nordic Seal will do TWO THINGS: It will offer a slightly silver colour while SEALING the White Oak. You can then top this with 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD for one of the toughest floors in industry. To compare costs of product ALONE: Minwax stains = $20/quart (covers 150sf; or 600sf per gallon) Bona Traffic HD = $130+ gallon (covers 400 - 500sf per gallon) Bona Nordic Seal = $80+ per gallon (covers about 400sf) Minwax Finish = $40/gallon (covers 500sf/gallon) Notice the Bona Traffic is 4 TIMES more expensiv than Minwax??? Cost for the 'guy' to get the training = $$$ Cost for the builder to get this WRONG = thousands and thousands of dollars (which you have to FIGHT him/her for!!!) It is CHEAPER for the Builder to send his 'guy' to the Bona factory to take the three day course than it is to have his 'guy' mess this up! I am NOT kidding about that. And I would argue the builder's statement "...should be able to handle a water based system...". Sigh. I've seen it over and over and over again. Oil based guys (especially if they are 'old-timers') have a HARD time figuring out Water based. I actually had one 'finisher' who believed he had been using 'water based' finishes for the last 20 years. His reasoning? Because the stuff coming out of the can was 'liquid'. He thought that meant 'water'. Yep. It has happened. It will happen again. And it will continue to happen until water based is the ONLY option. Ask your builder if you can out-source the finishing of the wood floors - with credit going to your budget because he doesn't have to deal with the costs. I doubt it. They make WAY too much money on the mark-up for flooring...but you can try.