I like White Oak better than Red. It works better with a certain color pallette and is less grainy when stained. I have natural color White Oak in my master bedroom. Traditionally flooring here was White Oak when stained, Red Oak when natural, but that's going quite a long way back. Two things to consider. 1) The floor in the pictures looks almost certain to be #1 Common grade. White Oak will have some substantial color variations, especially in a grade lower than Select. 2) $1.00 per square foot additional for staining sounds like a lot. We charge $0.30 per square foot to go from natural to a standard stain. It takes a bit more time to make sure you've sanded out the small scratches that typically wouldn't show up on a natural floor, but you're not adding an extra coat. You're simply applying stain instead of clear for the first coat. I could see if it was a small area and might require lots of samples but not 2000'. Maybe he's charging for the stain as a separate added operation and still applying the same number of surface coats. Or possibly he uses a better (ie more costly) crew to do the stain jobs. Or maybe I'm not charging enough!

@Abballmom @Michelle G @pamela1154 @Megan Redlich We are choosing between carpet and CoreTec Calypso Oak in a bonus room/playroom. I do love the colors and appreciate all of your photos! A couple of questions: - For those who have it on an upper level: what is the noise like below? This would be on our second story above my husband's office so I worry a bit about this, especially compared to carpet. - Is it easy to clean? Any issues with vacuum (or a roomba) scratching it? - What about scratching in general? We have a large dog...and young kids who love to push all kinds of things around on the floor :) - Are you generally still happy with your choice? Thank you so much!

Hi DW- I love Coretec! I have used it in several applications including this Hair Salon, but also in a residential space. The color I used in both of these projects I am including here is Blackstone Oak, and it was selected because both of my clients wanted it to read Warm and cool, and this flooring had a nice mix of the two colors. With regard to the bevel, I would recommend avoiding it, as it does tend to make it harder to keep clean. While Coretec offers a lifetime warranty in a residential installation (assuming your installer does it to specs), but the bevels, while they are trendy, tend to show wear sooner since it exposes other areas of the flooring moreso than others, and dirt tends to get stuck inside of the creases more often. Good luck with your project! Sounds like you're on the right track! This is the blackstone oak in a residential installation. This is the same flooring in a Hair Salon Commercial installation. Both with out bevels so it will stay nice longer! Good luck on your project!

Hi @Lini Alim - We have not used Calypso Oak in our kitchen. It was installed in our basement. But we do have cabinets in our basement that will be white. Unfortunately the cabinet doors are not delivered to me yet. But I think you can never go wrong with Calypso oak and white cabinets.