Floors were finished with Minwax Weathered Oak Stain, one coat of Bona Classic Seal, and one coat of Bona Traffic. Another coat of Traffic will be applied after cabinets and trim installation. The floors did not turn out the way I expected, but I'm still very pleased with the final outcome. I would have preferred a less "painted" look, and more natural with just a tint of brown. But, I couldn't find any stains that provided this look. Someone mentioned that tinting the sealer might achieve the look I wanted, but my installer had not tinted before, and I didn't want him trying on my floors for his first time. It was difficult to capture accurate photos. All the ones I took on an iphone were very inaccurate. The ones below were taken with a DSLR and capture the true look from various angles. In real life, the floors are slightly darker than the photos. Perhaps this will help someone in the same situation as me. In hindsight, I should have sample stained and sealed a much larger area (maybe 3' x 3') with a couple of final choices to get a more accurate representation.

For the benefit of future readers, I'd like to clarify issues underlying the perception of the previous poster @Susan Tuyen about Loba EasyPrime. Both Loba EasyPrime and Loba 2K Supra A.T., two products with which I have experience, are infused with a white coloration that dries down to clear. This is for the benefit of the finisher to be able to see where the coating has been laid down during the application process. It also helps in knowing when the product is dry. @SusanTuyen could take any raw spare wood left over at this moment and wipe it with a wet cloth dampened in plain water and see the same "color change" that happened when EasyPrime was applied. It is a darkening of the existing wood's color. Using the Loba 2K Invisible Protect A.T. without primer is generally a bad idea for white oak due to tannin pull, even though the Invisible creates less of a darkening effect. The EasyPrime help prevents side bonding on all woods, so it's a risk to skip that step with any wood. If you'll stay with me, I'll try to explain further about perception of color change. In short, the color change that has been seen is actually coming from the wood itself, and if a white or light finish was desired, then this should have been discussed with the finisher so that bleach to the raw wood and/or Loba's whitening agent for topcoats could have been added. If this finishing project is still underway, I would recommend putting the process on pause, taking a scrap piece of wood, and doing a new sample of white bleach made for flooring on the raw wood and adding Loba's whitener to the topcoats as needed. This sort of sample should have been done initially anyway before the final finishing had begun, so it is a mystery why this seems to have been skipped and the client thus so unpleasantly surprised. The client's dissatisfaction may have also arisen in part from whomever sold her "white oak" not educating her properly about the expected outcome of finishing this wood without any added bleaching or whitener if she wanted a white look. "White" in the name "white oak" may be misleading to some. The main difference between white oak and red oak is that white oak has a higher tannin content that can lead to tannin pull when waterbased coatings are used. Thus, EasyPrime probably saved her from big blotches of tannin rising to the surface on her white oak. In some instances, white oak and red oak are so indistinguishable that they must be sent to a lab for verification. Sometimes red oak will present with a pink tint to it, but other times not. Furthermore, both raw red oak and white oak may shift amber over time. Yes, an oil-based coating can add a yellowing effect, but presence of a waterbased coating does not always counteract it. For further education on the potential of both raw red and white oak to turn amber over time, please visit this excellent project page by Scherr's cabinetry company about the color shift of raw wood. You will see in their own samples of raw red oak and white oak that over a 7-year span, both of these woods turned more orange, or amber, as it is more commonly termed when speaking of the shift of wood color. The stair treads that @Susan Tuyen had installed were possibly freshly cut and sanded so were at their lightest, and they may have ambered over time even without any coating at all simply due to exposure. The EasyPrime darkened the natural color that was already present. As I mentioned earlier, the white, Scandinavian flooring look that has been so popular in the recent past is achieved with additional bleaching products, usually to the topcoats, but often to the raw wood in addition. Trends are moving more now toward embracing the natural amber effect of most woods used in flooring and cabinetry, but if the white look was desired, it can be achieved with a significant amount of additional work that it sounds like was not done in this project.

@lv2plyglfgal No...I have not tried those products..just the Bona Naturalle. My goal wasn't to get totally unchanged raw look, but to find a product that gave a slightly fumed look like my inspo picture below, that could also be protected by poly if necessary, and find a protective coating that did not alter the colors. The Pallman's white came close, as you can see from picture above, but it looked too pink on larger sample. Apparently, certain character grades of white oak can include a small percentage of red planks. I did like the sample I have of a board with a bit of reactive stain and poly, but it did have a tint of yellow from the Bona. I started this process months ago and totally went down the rabbit hole trying to figure out how to achieve this look below without spending a zillion dollars, Lol. We even literally fumed some planks ourselves. Rubio's Monocoat smoke was nearly perfect in appearance, but it just has too many reported issues and no poly coatings that the company "recognizes" as adhering. The Ciranova Unico did the same thing with better protection options,etc.. I'm also testing options for my cabinets, stains, waxes, etc.. There is a woman who wants what you want...here is a link to her blog keeping white oak(if that is allowed here.) When you start testing, I'd love to see your results; we can narrow things down without each buying everything..LOL...my DH would rather me spend 100s now to help decide rather than thousands later if I hate what we did. But the biggest issue I have had is replicating results on larger samples...(Oh, and PS, apparently the Fortico is much easier to apply that Bona. You do not need a Phd in flooring...)

Scarlett , we manufacture and ship Solid wood flooring all over the United States. Its available finished or unfinished. Much of the product you find made overseas will be lower quality than what is made here the USA. We would be happy to answer any other flooring questions you may have. service@oakandbroad.com Here is a photo of one of my favorite solid wood projects we completed for another Houzz user.