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Staining red oak stairs to match white oak floor?

Claudette Pilger, Psy.D., Inc.

last year

last modified: last year

With all the crazy cost increases in building our new house, we may end up needing to install red oak stairs, instead of the white oak we want to match the floors. (I already purchased prefinished engineered white oak floor). We can't even seem to get the builder to quote a price for the white oak stair treads...

Short of replacing all 12 treads in the open stair case with white oak after we move in, is there a way to make the stairs look like white oak? I've seen Bona Nordic Seal online...

I'd appreciate any advise!

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Comments (4)

kempek01
last year
I would really look at the price for unfinished white oak treads.

If this is a production builder, you won't be able to get them to swap them out for you. If you are using a custom, or perhaps a semi-custom, builder, you might just have to do some homework for him or her.

Basically you will never get red oak to look like white oak, especially in a light color. In a dark color, maybe. But then why would you need white oak??
Claudette Pilger, Psy.D., Inc. thanked kempek01
millworkman
last year
"prefinished engineered white oak floor"

What finish is on this floor? Pictures? Making red oak look like white oak is a tough task to start with, prefinished white oak will make it even tougher.
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Can you post a photo? I’m going through a similar dilemma and I’d love to see your floors. Our living room is white oak and the dining room and hallway red oak. We love the pale color of the living room and are trying to keep them all light. Houzz has made a few recommendations but we have not yet pulled the trigger. I still feel like I need more counsel.
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Agreed with the above. For fairly priced change. I’d paint the risers and balusters white. If you want to up the game a drop you can add a runner And for the wrought iron- you will have to do a lot of it. Also at the top of the stairs by the railing in the hallway. So it’s a big project. It is expensive. Not so necessary. But it would look nice :)
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kelli_ga
last year
Does your floor manufacturer make a matching stair cladding? If you do that, you don’t need to have oak treads.

Another option is to do a beautiful contrasting color of stain on the stairs. You could pull the colors together with handrail or baluster or post colors. Adding a runner on the stairs, or painting the risers would give you more options to tie in the floor colors.

If you really want to match wood, dark stain is worth a try, but lighter colors are really tough. I matched a red oak transition strip to a dark chocolate brown stone tile once. I had to keep mixing and adding stain. It worked only because it was a dark brown color. It’s hard to neutralize red and yellow tones.
PRO
G & S Floor Service
last year
As everyone mentioned, it will never look like white oak. Put in white oak stair treads or paint it black.

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