The flooring store we purchased the products from recommended this: Apply sealer Sand (using 120 grit, no more than 150 grit sand paper) Apply 1st coat Duraseal Matte Oil based finish (available at San Jose location) Roll this on using a smooth roller Sand (again 120 or max 150 grit) Apply 2nd coat Duraseal Matte Oil based finish (roll on using smooth roller) Sand (again 120 or max 150 grit) (Optional) - 3rd coat of Duraseal & sanding Apply 1st Spray coat of Minwax Satin Lightly sand (again 120 or max 150 grit) Apply very light 2nd Spray coat of Minwax Satin ... however I don't know where to start if this doesn't turn out right, and I am not sure if the Minwax is a durable enough. Also, we applied the Minwax satin to the wood directly and it came out too dark. So.... I was looking for alternative products to try on my other scraps.

I ended up getting the red oak stairs and the white oak floor. Did white oak, no stain, water poly. Stained the stairs darker to make it look intentional. I might have been able to get away with keeping the red oak stairs natural, too, if the floor installers had been asked to, and they had looked for boards that were redder and installed them near the stairs. There were some boards that looked like red oak. Here's the thread and pics ... [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/red-oak-stairs-do-i-install-white-oak-floors-or-red-dsvw-vd~3697644[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/red-oak-stairs-do-i-install-white-oak-floors-or-red-dsvw-vd~3697644) Make sure you read the part at the end about the nosing strip. That was a real oversight on my part. (I miss my stairs looking like that - they look cluttered now with the railings.)

I was referring to the Active Stains, aka chemicals that change the wood color. Fumed turns the wood gray and Smoke turns it brown. You would not want to use their stains which are hardwax oil, so they have a small component of wax and are a bit slippery. Bleach definitely works on White Oak but using it full strength would make it too light. Probably need to try somewhere between 10 or 20 water to 1 bleach, lightly sand to remove the grain raise, then apply a very thinned out stain, maybe DuraSeal Warm Gray mixed with neutral. The negative to all I'm suggesting is that these are products used by professionals and may be hard to acquire, and even then not in small sizes. https://www.ghsproducts.com/rubio-monocoat-creative-effects-fumed/ https://i.pinimg.com/originals/00/4d/b1/004db1c15ef6c01421534e469729c0a8.png

Make things you walk on one finish and things you walk through another finish, it will help to alleviate any confusion if such issue arrises. The trim acts as a frame to present doors and windows and such and should have some continuity in the interior design of the home.