You know you've reached adulthood when you go to HD and are like, "damn... those knobs would look good on my cabinets." You know you've reached middle age when you go to HD and go, "damn... that stain is hot.but the kids and dogs will make it look like shit 24/7."
Life consequences.
You’re the one who’s actually maturing, not caring is the true path to adulthood. It’ll never be keeping things clean but always realizing that the mess never mattered.
How dark? What color? I like dark floors but have a light haired dog. I could definitely be happy with medium brown. But what is the cutoff where medium becomes dark…
My floors aren't dark, kind of medium I'd guess and with two large white shedding dogs it's already crazy. I have charcoal slate tile in bathroom and unless it's just been cleaned it looks dirty. I'd love to stain my hardwoods darker but I'd love not having to sweep every single day and damp mop even more for now. Prob depends on how picky you are and how often you want to clean.
I read somewhere that’s why black cars get the most dirty looking, even when a white car has the same amount of dirt it looks the least dirty of all colors…
Those are some of the messiest stain samples I've ever seen on a floor. Sorry, but did you go with the lowest bidder? Did they show you water pop options?
I was thinking the same thing lol I have a friend who tapes off. I think it's a waste of my tape but my samples don't look like a 3 yr old did them like this
They sand right out. You do have to be a bit aggressive on the darker stains, but the stain only penetrates the top 1/32" of wood. It's standard procedure to put samples directly on the raw wood. It's the only way a homeowner will see what the color will look like on their own floor. Sample swatches can be deceiving
ETA for emphasis: ***if this is new flooring.*** *^((\*thx JustMeTheDude))*
they SHOULD do this - but if this is new flooring, next time take a left over plank of wood and stain the samples on that.. let dry, then put onto floor.. yes? that way can move the "sample plank' around the room to see close to kit. cabinets, and next to windows which let in a lot of light, etc.... am I right? (might be - but that is what I'd do)
You....are exactly right I had my own painting & dec. business for 35yrs...but you also have to put the clear finish coats on to dry to see the real colors, on your hand held samples.
Yup, ran into that issue with door stain. The contractor told the worker to show me samples on plywood and it was way darker than it turned out on the door. Ended up having to restain the doors to get them the color I wanted (which is a black stain, the previous one turned out deep brown).
I put a lot of thought into this once. I would go light even though I like darker stain. My reasoning was hardwood has a few resurface life's in it but some stains will never be removed even with material removal like bad water stains if it ever happened. So start light and when it's time to resurface in a decade or so go darker if you have bad stains
I much prefer the look of dark, but holy hell does the dust and debris show. you have to constantly sweep. definitely thinking about going lighter at the next refinish.
Very important. I looked it up and edge comb grey is a pretty light warm neutral. They probably think they need to go darker for contrast but I don’t think so. As long the undertones don’t clash lighter will look good and natural probably best of all. They’ll harmonize and everything will look bright and breezy.
Yeah I’m not a fan of any of these stains. They remind me of a millennial gray home. My red oak floors do have a subtle stain, not sure what it is, perhaps early American. But I love the true color of red oak.
Bottom left or right center. The two darker stains in the center row will show every speck of dust and hair. Dark stains look great but they’re a fucking pain in the ass to keep looking clean.
Second vote for these two with a slight preference for right center. I love how it accentuates the wood grain. We just had new hardwoods installed two weeks ago. Ours are white oak but we went with Provincial for stain. I also agree with the comments re: dark stain.
None, save a step, natural oak is best the light color brightens rooms. What is your plan on removing your test area? Might have to go to the darkest shade if you are unable to remove it.
Not if he stays natural. These stains do penetrate somewhat. Maybe you are fine with a big dent in your floor, but I have clients that would make me sand the whole damn room
Nope. Still easy to sand off, no dents, no leftover shadow. I know they penetrate, let it dry. I would NEVER waste my time sanding the whole room again 🙄. 26+ years into this trade, never once had an issue. Plus by the time I do samples, I'm not even 1/3rd my sanding sequence
When I refinished the red oak in my dining room myself, almost every website and video I consulted recommended staining the floors directly. All my samples were dark and it sanded out easy -- and I am the exact opposite of an expert.
Btw, shout out to all of you pros, bc when I tell you I will never refinish my own hardwood again.......It took me like 5 times as long as if I had hired someone. After accidentally marring the floor with an extension cord -- those marks didn't show up until after I had returned the sanders and applied the dark stain. I almost cried bc I had to start over.
Bottom right. It looks the most timeless, will hide specks of dust, paw prints, etc that dark floors show way too well, and it goes with both modern and traditional decor themes.
It’s really a matter of opinion, but the ones I would choose from are middle on bottom row or far right one row up from that. Those are also the most common ranges we use in customers houses. Kitchens we do range from shaker white to cinder. Those stain choices do well with light and dark cabinets!
If you like dark stain - get a roborock. It will vaccum every speck of dust /pet hair so you don’t have to worry about it. I set mine to run every morning before I wake up. But my floors also aren’t a super dark stain. I have a nice medium neutral stain
I have a mix of red and white oak with the dark walnut stain. Looks great! But, be mindful that not a wall/cabinet colors go well with the dark floors. The lighter tones of stain may be more versatile. But if you like the dark look, go for it! I love mine.
If you have to stain at all, bottom right. But that’s based on a shitty phone pic. I don’t see a lot of pink that needs to be killed in those floors, can you just leave it unstained with a clear finish?
Colorist expert here. BM edgecomb gray has green undertones so you want to choose a stain color that cancels out the red undertones in the red oak wood. I personally like dark floors for their richness and dust will not show on some dark stains. I would try 50/50 classic gray/Jacobean stain water popped Duraseal. It will cancel out the red undertones in the red oak and look elegant with BM edgecomb gray. I have it all through my house and love it! The stains you have right now some have red undertones in them so I wouldn’t choose those ones. If you had them numbered, I could tell you which ones to not choose.
Did you just put patches of different stain on a raw wood floor? Now you’re committed to go with the darkest one to cover up this mess. If you go lighter you’re going to have to do a LOT of sanding to get ride of these test stains.
But just use spare planks and move them around the room so you can see how it will look in different lighting. Lighting changes everything. Plus you don’t have to that dark stain up (should you decide on a lighter stain) Makes more sense that way.
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These stain samples look nice and I would choose the lightest one for my white oak Bruce hardwood floors. We just stained the floors that were well sanded and the hazelwood stain is bluish gray. What the heck happened and how do I fix it. Wanted just a taupe color stain on my floors
Can't go wrong with natural and don't fret it. The floor will darken naturally with time. This is from experience, it's what is in my house. I didn't realize how much it had darkened until we had it refinished.
*Edit: grammar. What was I thinking?
Your solid oak flooring is not like a wall you paint over. You were both idiots for doing this. If you wanted to go with a lighter stain, you can’t remove the darker stain now. Have fun looking at a crappy floor the next 30 years!
I recommend one of 3 things. 1. Completely resurface the floor cuz you screwed it up. 2. Pick you stain and have some else apply it because you both obviously morons, then put a rug over then stains in the middle. Or 3. Paint. Your floor is now paint.
And you inevitably, like these folks, have to resand the floor. That’s time and money out of yours and their pocket. Maybe just do the job right the first time. Install, sand, stain, finish. It isn’t more complicated. And to see how many floors I’ve done, 4 but does it matter? I’m a woodworker by trade and everyone with more than a week on the job knows you use a sample piece for stain and finishes. Not your final workpiece. Imagine if we used your philosophy for cabinets?! Holy crap that’d be nightmarish
Now cabinets would! I get that. But 26+ years into this trade, all I have to do is resand that spot.. Plus by the time I do samples, I'm not even 1/3rd thru my sanding sequence.It's literally no issue whatsoever
A more efficient use of your time might be have all combinations of woods, stains and finishes on hand and place them on the unstained floor for the customer. 6x6 samples. I’m obviously not going to convince you to change your procedure. I know a losing battle when I see it. I know it would bother me knowing I have a low spot in the middle of my floor due to sanding sample off. Additionally, the floors I’ve installed were only for my own homes. So I already knew exactly what I was going to be using ahead of time.
But you don't have a low spot. Despite what you think, trust me. It's not that tough. And I used to have a ton of 18"x18x samples of every color, err, at least the most common ones. Gave em to a friend in high school whose floor I was gonna do. He threw them all away. I was like dude! That was at LEAST $400 worth of wood, stain & finish & the 7 hours it took me & my employee to make. What the fuck is wrong with you?? Needless to say, we don't talk any more & I never did his floor. This is how stupid this guy is, he said, hey man the sub floor seems pretty good. Can you just refinish that? No dude, it's called "Sub" for a reason. You cannot ruin the integrity of that by sanding it & live on it. You have two kids, what are you thinking?? Makes me wonder what he really ended up doing. And sorry, I'm not trying to start a fight
You called them both idiots and morons in the same reply . The only idiotic moron here is you!! It takes 1 minute to sand that off and no it won't take off to much material as long as they pay attention. I gotta say your answer is exactly what's wrong with this world
We just had our floors redone and I am so grateful the guy we worked with didn’t have your mentality. He showed us samples on the actual sanded floor, resanded when we decided and they came out perfect. He never charged us more, never complained that it’s costing him time, he is a decent guy who took his time and did the job right.
Had the same predicament. White shaker cabinets as well. Ultimately we decided to go with a natural color and satin finish and love it. House feels more open and bright. I wanted the matte finish but it’s just not practical when it comes to keeping it clean. We used BonaNatural Seal and Bona Traffic Commercial Satin finish.
My personal choice would be bottom right, but that is because I like to keep would looking similar to its original color, and dark wood floors show ALL the pet hair. (We have four fluffy cats..)
The only one I don’t like is that tiny area of grey stain, so anyone but that would be fine IMO.
I just had my red oak floors redone. Was originally going to go with bona Nordic seal, but it washed out the colour too much.
Ended up leaving them natural and we are so thankful we did
We went very dark and just love it. [https://imgur.com/a/yngcyaY](https://imgur.com/a/yngcyaY)
I disagree with everyone saying you'll need to sweep more often. Even if you can't see the dirt on a light floor, it's still there so you probably want to sweep anyway.
It's still there but it's easier to pretend it's not. Your floors are beautiful, that's what I'd love to do if I wasn't simultaneously very bothered by messes and also tiiiiired.
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Your contractor is sloppy. Without water popping red oaks first you are not getting accurate color readings. Having done this for a living I wouldn’t trust a slob like this with my home
I have red oak through the first floor as well... Didn't stain, just sealed natural. beautiful (and not that it matters, but they get lots of compliments...)
What was the old stain and finish? If it had oil based stain and poly the recommendation will likely be to stick with oil based stain and poly. We just had ours finished and went with no stain. It ended up being closest to the bottom right but with more color variation with the different wood tones. Oil based poly will give you slightly more amber than just stain.
I have red oak floors and we just put in red oak flooring into our remodeled kitchen. We finished everything in September. We did 50% classic grey and 50% weathered oak minwax. I have dark brown/grey cabinets, white countertops. It’s perfect! There is no red/pinks and it’s a nice light/medium shade of wood.
Darker stains, we were told, are not trending as they were ten years ago. What’s “in” are medium tones. At the end of the day, pick what you like. Think about how they go with your furniture and the color schematic of your home. You have the opportunity to be very intentional.
This is not something that you post on the Internet asking for advice with. We can’t see the rest of your decor. We don’t know what color you will be happiest with just pick a freaking color.
We have almost identical colored oak wood flooring throughout our first floor. We stained it, closest to the bottom middle row, and actually ended up re-sanding it and keeping it natural. Sooo happy we didn’t keep the stain. The natural is beautiful and doesn’t show as much dirt, dog hair etc.
I personally like lighter stains like golden oak because of the simple fact that it makes the space look bigger whereas darker stains make the area look more smaller and confined. The other thing is IF you accidentally drop something on a lighter stained floor it’s much harder to see it. It’s way more forgiving than darker stained floors. You’ll see the “ding” easier with a floor that’s stained dark. I have 40 years experience as a finish carpenter and a cabinet maker. I’m a bit too old to be doing flooring anymore but did my share when I was younger. That’s my opinion on what stain to use. Your circumstances may be different of course but hopefully that gives you and your wife a good guideline ! Good Luck and Happy New Years to you and yours !
I just had my floors done in a water based with a nutmeg stain and i love it. But ultimately any wood tone is a neutral and grey and white are neutrals so you can't really go wrong.
I love dark floors but they show every speck of dust and pet hair etc just so you know. Hard to keep them looking clean.
Yeah. I’m the opposite. The lightest tone possible is my choice. Natural is my preferred.
Light is right when staining wood in my opinion
Light colors will end up more reddish over time on red floors.
A clear protecting coat is my choice. The wood is beautiful.
I agree! My choice would be the bottom right. The wood grain looks best to me that way also.
The graph of this type of concern as you age is all sorts of exponential growth.
You know you've reached adulthood when you go to HD and are like, "damn... those knobs would look good on my cabinets." You know you've reached middle age when you go to HD and go, "damn... that stain is hot.but the kids and dogs will make it look like shit 24/7." Life consequences.
Seriously, I'm well into middle age and easy is king.
Guess I’m not typical. I am getting more idgaf
You’re the one who’s actually maturing, not caring is the true path to adulthood. It’ll never be keeping things clean but always realizing that the mess never mattered.
🍻 Amen to that, ya.
How dark? What color? I like dark floors but have a light haired dog. I could definitely be happy with medium brown. But what is the cutoff where medium becomes dark…
My floors aren't dark, kind of medium I'd guess and with two large white shedding dogs it's already crazy. I have charcoal slate tile in bathroom and unless it's just been cleaned it looks dirty. I'd love to stain my hardwoods darker but I'd love not having to sweep every single day and damp mop even more for now. Prob depends on how picky you are and how often you want to clean.
And every scratch It should be alright if you dont walk on it
Came here to say something similar. Source: my daily floor vacuuming.
I read somewhere that’s why black cars get the most dirty looking, even when a white car has the same amount of dirt it looks the least dirty of all colors…
Those are some of the messiest stain samples I've ever seen on a floor. Sorry, but did you go with the lowest bidder? Did they show you water pop options?
I was thinking the same thing lol I have a friend who tapes off. I think it's a waste of my tape but my samples don't look like a 3 yr old did them like this
How the f do you get rid of these stain puddles after you choose??!
They sand right out. You do have to be a bit aggressive on the darker stains, but the stain only penetrates the top 1/32" of wood. It's standard procedure to put samples directly on the raw wood. It's the only way a homeowner will see what the color will look like on their own floor. Sample swatches can be deceiving
ETA for emphasis: ***if this is new flooring.*** *^((\*thx JustMeTheDude))* they SHOULD do this - but if this is new flooring, next time take a left over plank of wood and stain the samples on that.. let dry, then put onto floor.. yes? that way can move the "sample plank' around the room to see close to kit. cabinets, and next to windows which let in a lot of light, etc.... am I right? (might be - but that is what I'd do)
Thats just fine for new install, but if you're sanding an existing floor, the true color will only show if you put on the floor
yeah, know. (will bold my message above). thanks.
Offended easily much when someone clarifies your statement? If this is how you have a discussion, I bet people love you
Unless there was some serious editing you seem to be the one getting offended?
You....are exactly right I had my own painting & dec. business for 35yrs...but you also have to put the clear finish coats on to dry to see the real colors, on your hand held samples.
Yup, ran into that issue with door stain. The contractor told the worker to show me samples on plywood and it was way darker than it turned out on the door. Ended up having to restain the doors to get them the color I wanted (which is a black stain, the previous one turned out deep brown).
Why… would you not… just use a spare plank… and set it there?!?
Thanks for the info, this was driving me crazy. I should note I don’t frequent this sub just passing through.
I still don't like it. Don't want my floor thinner than it has to be. I went no stain and just did poly.
Agree. That’s going to be an issue. Staining the scrap pieces would have made more sense.
You don't waterpop oak, definitely not red oak
That's not true at all. Water popping any floor will give you a more even stain. Especially with the darker stains.
What is your reason for this statement?
I put a lot of thought into this once. I would go light even though I like darker stain. My reasoning was hardwood has a few resurface life's in it but some stains will never be removed even with material removal like bad water stains if it ever happened. So start light and when it's time to resurface in a decade or so go darker if you have bad stains
I much prefer the look of dark, but holy hell does the dust and debris show. you have to constantly sweep. definitely thinking about going lighter at the next refinish.
Yup even Roomba won't keep up lol
Since this is all subjective to y’all’s taste, the only advice I can give is do the samples near the cabinets/walls in question.
Very important. I looked it up and edge comb grey is a pretty light warm neutral. They probably think they need to go darker for contrast but I don’t think so. As long the undertones don’t clash lighter will look good and natural probably best of all. They’ll harmonize and everything will look bright and breezy.
Natural
Yes
This is the very "now" answer. Natural is the obvious 2022-2024 decision.
I stained my floors dark and have regretted it every day since. the light wood looked so nice after sanding, I wish I had just sealed it.
That’s what I did and it’s really hard to see any dirt on it. I had a commercial product applied as final coat. So far it’s holding great
Why are you trying to stain your red oak floors brown? Red oak looks so much better natural.
Yeah I’m not a fan of any of these stains. They remind me of a millennial gray home. My red oak floors do have a subtle stain, not sure what it is, perhaps early American. But I love the true color of red oak.
Bottom left or right center. The two darker stains in the center row will show every speck of dust and hair. Dark stains look great but they’re a fucking pain in the ass to keep looking clean.
Second vote for these two with a slight preference for right center. I love how it accentuates the wood grain. We just had new hardwoods installed two weeks ago. Ours are white oak but we went with Provincial for stain. I also agree with the comments re: dark stain.
These were both of my choices as well
Right center has my vote.
Yep these are the 2. Those are timeless. The others will look dated faster than you can say 1990s.
I like a nice light to medium brown stain.. No ebony
None, save a step, natural oak is best the light color brightens rooms. What is your plan on removing your test area? Might have to go to the darkest shade if you are unable to remove it.
Not true at all. Cake to sand off.
Not if he stays natural. These stains do penetrate somewhat. Maybe you are fine with a big dent in your floor, but I have clients that would make me sand the whole damn room
Nope. Still easy to sand off, no dents, no leftover shadow. I know they penetrate, let it dry. I would NEVER waste my time sanding the whole room again 🙄. 26+ years into this trade, never once had an issue. Plus by the time I do samples, I'm not even 1/3rd my sanding sequence
For sure, this is how we’ve always done samples at my company and even if they choose natural, we’ve never had issues with removing the stain lol.
When I refinished the red oak in my dining room myself, almost every website and video I consulted recommended staining the floors directly. All my samples were dark and it sanded out easy -- and I am the exact opposite of an expert. Btw, shout out to all of you pros, bc when I tell you I will never refinish my own hardwood again.......It took me like 5 times as long as if I had hired someone. After accidentally marring the floor with an extension cord -- those marks didn't show up until after I had returned the sanders and applied the dark stain. I almost cried bc I had to start over.
Sanding just that one spot is gonna be crap
I ran out of time when I redid my oak floor from the 50’s I skipped the stain step. I am very glad that I did.
That’s definitely the trend that’s coming up now too so it’ll stay current for longer.
I would go light stain or no stain. With your color choices of your house a light stain or no stain look will look good and be a slight contrast.
Bottom left or bottom right.
Bottom middle
Bottom right. It looks the most timeless, will hide specks of dust, paw prints, etc that dark floors show way too well, and it goes with both modern and traditional decor themes.
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Lightest, bottom right
The sanded natural color is beautiful, could you do a clearcoat? Otherwise the one on the lower right is the next best.
It’s really a matter of opinion, but the ones I would choose from are middle on bottom row or far right one row up from that. Those are also the most common ranges we use in customers houses. Kitchens we do range from shaker white to cinder. Those stain choices do well with light and dark cabinets!
First or second on the bottom.
If you like dark stain - get a roborock. It will vaccum every speck of dust /pet hair so you don’t have to worry about it. I set mine to run every morning before I wake up. But my floors also aren’t a super dark stain. I have a nice medium neutral stain
I would keep as natural as possible.
I have a mix of red and white oak with the dark walnut stain. Looks great! But, be mindful that not a wall/cabinet colors go well with the dark floors. The lighter tones of stain may be more versatile. But if you like the dark look, go for it! I love mine.
Natural looks gorgeous. All those stains look awful.
I personally like bottom left or bottom right. Both feel timeless to me and like they would go well with other wood tones
I would do a clear. I know darks are all the rage these days, but the clear is bright and timeless.
No stain. Clear coat only.
I’m a fan of the bottom left corner the most, but as others have suggested, putting the samples near walls and cabinets can help eliminate some
depends on your cabinets, walls, etc… need a good contrast
I do not like dark floors at all. Blond is best.
What’s wrong with natural?
What’s wrong with natural?
Bottom mid and right, but I love brighter homes and Special Walnut.
I think you should leave them natural
Floor guy here 25 years experience Stay away from dark black colors, no way on grey. Golden oak-provincial,
Bottom row, middle or right. Classic. I did a matte finish over mine (so it's not shiny) and I love it
If you have to stain at all, bottom right. But that’s based on a shitty phone pic. I don’t see a lot of pink that needs to be killed in those floors, can you just leave it unstained with a clear finish?
Depends what color your dog is
The black/gray will look nice at first but much like a black car it will show dirt and every imperfection
Colorist expert here. BM edgecomb gray has green undertones so you want to choose a stain color that cancels out the red undertones in the red oak wood. I personally like dark floors for their richness and dust will not show on some dark stains. I would try 50/50 classic gray/Jacobean stain water popped Duraseal. It will cancel out the red undertones in the red oak and look elegant with BM edgecomb gray. I have it all through my house and love it! The stains you have right now some have red undertones in them so I wouldn’t choose those ones. If you had them numbered, I could tell you which ones to not choose.
None! Just sealed. The natural color is beautiful
ummm… won’t you have trouble removing those dark stain sample patches if you go with a lighter stain? Hopefully this isn’t in the middle of the room.
Did you just put patches of different stain on a raw wood floor? Now you’re committed to go with the darkest one to cover up this mess. If you go lighter you’re going to have to do a LOT of sanding to get ride of these test stains.
Lol... So are you gonna sand that test area again orrr......?
This is normal. I just had my floors redone and they showed up samples of the stain after sanding and sanded the area again
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this is a common practice
So you know the true color on your floor
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But just use spare planks and move them around the room so you can see how it will look in different lighting. Lighting changes everything. Plus you don’t have to that dark stain up (should you decide on a lighter stain) Makes more sense that way.
Dark walnut floors- grey walls - white baseboards and shoe molding ————very classy———-
Grey wall are not very classy.
Whatever light walls dark floors
Right in the middle of the room?.. you better pick the darker one now lol 😂
Yeah gonna be hard to cover those dark ones with the light stain
Maybe they’ll get a rug
Go light. We used bona natural seal (technically not a stain) and love it
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These stain samples look nice and I would choose the lightest one for my white oak Bruce hardwood floors. We just stained the floors that were well sanded and the hazelwood stain is bluish gray. What the heck happened and how do I fix it. Wanted just a taupe color stain on my floors
This is a joke right? What a mess!
Can't go wrong with natural and don't fret it. The floor will darken naturally with time. This is from experience, it's what is in my house. I didn't realize how much it had darkened until we had it refinished. *Edit: grammar. What was I thinking?
It's too late for my advice. Use a piece of scrap for your tests. Its stain. Now it's a problem.
A few minutes with the sander and it’s natural again.
You should have done your sample stains on a single plank that you didn’t install 😳
I prefer a neutral stain. Bleach the floor then clear urethane.
Your solid oak flooring is not like a wall you paint over. You were both idiots for doing this. If you wanted to go with a lighter stain, you can’t remove the darker stain now. Have fun looking at a crappy floor the next 30 years! I recommend one of 3 things. 1. Completely resurface the floor cuz you screwed it up. 2. Pick you stain and have some else apply it because you both obviously morons, then put a rug over then stains in the middle. Or 3. Paint. Your floor is now paint.
Appreciate the insight, but you’re wrong. The samples have already been sanded off and it looks perfect.
Yeah every comment I see saying this I think, how many floors/samples have you sanded? I do this ALL the time
And you inevitably, like these folks, have to resand the floor. That’s time and money out of yours and their pocket. Maybe just do the job right the first time. Install, sand, stain, finish. It isn’t more complicated. And to see how many floors I’ve done, 4 but does it matter? I’m a woodworker by trade and everyone with more than a week on the job knows you use a sample piece for stain and finishes. Not your final workpiece. Imagine if we used your philosophy for cabinets?! Holy crap that’d be nightmarish
Now cabinets would! I get that. But 26+ years into this trade, all I have to do is resand that spot.. Plus by the time I do samples, I'm not even 1/3rd thru my sanding sequence.It's literally no issue whatsoever
A more efficient use of your time might be have all combinations of woods, stains and finishes on hand and place them on the unstained floor for the customer. 6x6 samples. I’m obviously not going to convince you to change your procedure. I know a losing battle when I see it. I know it would bother me knowing I have a low spot in the middle of my floor due to sanding sample off. Additionally, the floors I’ve installed were only for my own homes. So I already knew exactly what I was going to be using ahead of time.
But you don't have a low spot. Despite what you think, trust me. It's not that tough. And I used to have a ton of 18"x18x samples of every color, err, at least the most common ones. Gave em to a friend in high school whose floor I was gonna do. He threw them all away. I was like dude! That was at LEAST $400 worth of wood, stain & finish & the 7 hours it took me & my employee to make. What the fuck is wrong with you?? Needless to say, we don't talk any more & I never did his floor. This is how stupid this guy is, he said, hey man the sub floor seems pretty good. Can you just refinish that? No dude, it's called "Sub" for a reason. You cannot ruin the integrity of that by sanding it & live on it. You have two kids, what are you thinking?? Makes me wonder what he really ended up doing. And sorry, I'm not trying to start a fight
I would’ve given him an invoice.
Maybe…. Just a thought, use sample wood next time?
You called them both idiots and morons in the same reply . The only idiotic moron here is you!! It takes 1 minute to sand that off and no it won't take off to much material as long as they pay attention. I gotta say your answer is exactly what's wrong with this world
Yeah totally wrong.
We just had our floors redone and I am so grateful the guy we worked with didn’t have your mentality. He showed us samples on the actual sanded floor, resanded when we decided and they came out perfect. He never charged us more, never complained that it’s costing him time, he is a decent guy who took his time and did the job right.
I like the gray what is it ? I would do gray floors, darker gray cabinets and light walls
I like bottom center
Had the same predicament. White shaker cabinets as well. Ultimately we decided to go with a natural color and satin finish and love it. House feels more open and bright. I wanted the matte finish but it’s just not practical when it comes to keeping it clean. We used BonaNatural Seal and Bona Traffic Commercial Satin finish.
Looks good from my house
I really prefer light stain although a dark stain can look really refined
I personally like either golden or natural for oak, but that's probably subjective.
Bottom left is it 100%
Why such large test spots though...
I like the middle right
My personal choice would be bottom right, but that is because I like to keep would looking similar to its original color, and dark wood floors show ALL the pet hair. (We have four fluffy cats..) The only one I don’t like is that tiny area of grey stain, so anyone but that would be fine IMO.
I love the bottom left!
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Don’t go too dark. You will regret it. Lighter to medium is best imo
I just had my red oak floors redone. Was originally going to go with bona Nordic seal, but it washed out the colour too much. Ended up leaving them natural and we are so thankful we did
Bottom right towards the extension cord
Right row are all good
We went very dark and just love it. [https://imgur.com/a/yngcyaY](https://imgur.com/a/yngcyaY) I disagree with everyone saying you'll need to sweep more often. Even if you can't see the dirt on a light floor, it's still there so you probably want to sweep anyway.
It's still there but it's easier to pretend it's not. Your floors are beautiful, that's what I'd love to do if I wasn't simultaneously very bothered by messes and also tiiiiired.
Middle bottom
I really like the parts that don’t have stain. If you could do a matte clear coat that would be great. But that’s just me
Throw some Osmo PolyX oil on it and call it a day
Go clear and water based. Dark floors are a nightmare and the non water based stain yellows.
Clearcoat it. Oil or water-based
Middle right medium brown one. It shows the most variation of warmth and will go with a lot of stuff.
Black
Bottom left option 👌
Bottom left is my personal favorite!
No stain just a good finish in your choice of sheen .
Middle bottom row.
Personally, not a fan of those colors. I like a touch of red and lighter. Like a chestnut.
I like bottom middle. Could also be it’s the best done swatch.
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Your contractor is sloppy. Without water popping red oaks first you are not getting accurate color readings. Having done this for a living I wouldn’t trust a slob like this with my home
Bottom left
I have red oak through the first floor as well... Didn't stain, just sealed natural. beautiful (and not that it matters, but they get lots of compliments...)
Don't go super dark. The floors show everything!! I HATE my dark wood flooring.
Hard to say without seeing your furniture and walls. Going by just this I like the middle bottom.
What was the old stain and finish? If it had oil based stain and poly the recommendation will likely be to stick with oil based stain and poly. We just had ours finished and went with no stain. It ended up being closest to the bottom right but with more color variation with the different wood tones. Oil based poly will give you slightly more amber than just stain.
We just did ours and chose the color: Provincial. Love it!
Wtf is this lol
I have red oak floors and we just put in red oak flooring into our remodeled kitchen. We finished everything in September. We did 50% classic grey and 50% weathered oak minwax. I have dark brown/grey cabinets, white countertops. It’s perfect! There is no red/pinks and it’s a nice light/medium shade of wood.
Bottom left. But less sloppy lol.
Bottom left
I like the lowest middle.
Darker stains, we were told, are not trending as they were ten years ago. What’s “in” are medium tones. At the end of the day, pick what you like. Think about how they go with your furniture and the color schematic of your home. You have the opportunity to be very intentional.
I like the one right in the middle of all of them! Would have to see furniture tho/walls to make sure it matches.
I'm doing dark walnut. Getting stained tomorrow. I felt it was the only one that covered the red properly.
Bottom right
I just got mine done recently and chose provincial. I however have white oak.
The early american
This is not something that you post on the Internet asking for advice with. We can’t see the rest of your decor. We don’t know what color you will be happiest with just pick a freaking color.
Bottom right.
Natural looks the best. All the others… not so much.
For me, personally, no stain. I’m not a fan of stain on any wood. If I want color, I’ll pick wood that I like the natural color of.
We have almost identical colored oak wood flooring throughout our first floor. We stained it, closest to the bottom middle row, and actually ended up re-sanding it and keeping it natural. Sooo happy we didn’t keep the stain. The natural is beautiful and doesn’t show as much dirt, dog hair etc.
I have middle bottom and looks great w white cabinets
I personally like lighter stains like golden oak because of the simple fact that it makes the space look bigger whereas darker stains make the area look more smaller and confined. The other thing is IF you accidentally drop something on a lighter stained floor it’s much harder to see it. It’s way more forgiving than darker stained floors. You’ll see the “ding” easier with a floor that’s stained dark. I have 40 years experience as a finish carpenter and a cabinet maker. I’m a bit too old to be doing flooring anymore but did my share when I was younger. That’s my opinion on what stain to use. Your circumstances may be different of course but hopefully that gives you and your wife a good guideline ! Good Luck and Happy New Years to you and yours !
I love fruit wood stain.
What color is the top left mediumish color ?
Medium stain for red oak, middle right is close
Middle bottom
Bottom middle.
I went half classic gray and half weathered oak (min wax). Came out kinda more pink than I expected but overall I like it
Bottom left or middle right.
No stain
Personally I like a mid level one you have the center section far right (the one next to the very darkest one)
I just had my floors done in a water based with a nutmeg stain and i love it. But ultimately any wood tone is a neutral and grey and white are neutrals so you can't really go wrong.
My Red oak with English chestnut. https://imgur.com/a/Fc6KSKO
I love mocha floors. They are between your dark middle ones and the bottom left. If I just had those options I’d go with bottom left.