Color Stain for Hardwood Floors Being Refinished
I’m having my living room and kitchen floors refinished next week. I was told they are white oak and the contractor will be using a water based stain (Minwax). I cannot decide on the color of the stain and would appreciate suggestions on what color stain looks good and what doesn’t. I realize this is…
I’m having my living room and kitchen floors refinished next week. I was told they are white oak and the contractor will be using a water based stain (Minwax). I cannot decide on the color of the stain and would appreciate suggestions on what color stain looks good and what doesn’t. I realize this is a personal choice but I’m looking for input from others who have white oak floors. Since the wood is now covered with paint and carpet it is hard to imagine what it will look like. Thanks.
be careful some pro brands like zar are for pros – the stain can be very unforgiving
Thank you all for your advice and suggestions.
4:52 – Can you please tell me a brand(s) that is used by professionals? Thanks.
You should try to let your decorating tastes take over. It will be a color that will go with everything in your apartment. Oh by the way the waterbased stains don’t really work and I don’t know of a minwax color that is waterbased. It is probably the finish which is waterbased not the stain. Why isn’t your contractor using a professional stain instead of a consumer stain? Minwax is for small homeowner projects not professional job sites like your floor. Minwaxes new stains take anywhere from 1 day to even up to 5 days for them to dry, oh ya and they cannot be walked on until the finish is on them. Waterbase finishes can only be applied over the stain if they are dry and not before. I would ask your contractor for another option in stains and get one that is made for the professional not the homeowner.
Yes to dark floor only if you do not have animals and keep your space very clean. Otherwise they show dust and pet hair in one day. I know from personal experience. I mixed Dark Walnut with some Mahogany.
Great looking but shows every speck of dust.Golden Oak looks great.
When the floors have been sanded, do a sample. The stain can easily be sanded off afterward.
All floors look different with different types of stain. Your oak may be a completely different shade from mine. The only way to know what it will look like is to test it on the actual floor.
I agree with Archie on all points. Really dark floors look so beautiful. The pickled floor looks like incredible driftwood- super cool! Oak can go gold so quickly. You should try mixing your own colors and testing, but definitely stay away from all pre-mixed oak colors. They’re not nice. It will look like a basketball court. Do something bold and chic, please, please, please. I will be gorgeous!
I used Mohawk wiping wood stain in Van Dyke Brown on my newly installed white oak floors. It looks fantastic. I considered various Minwax colors but ultimately decided to go with Mohawk and I’m very glad I did. Abbott Paint and Varnish in Sunset Park sells it.
When we had our floors done they were able to put a few samples of the stain directly on the floor so we could see how they looked; see if they can do that for you. That was very helpful for us, being about to see exactly how the stain looks on the floor (different than the samples). We have both oak and pine floors, we ended up not staining the oak at all. We used Absolute Floor, they were ok.
Personally, I like ebony stain. I used Jacobean thinking it was dark enough, but it wasn’t. Wish I had went with ebony. To get it really dark at our in-laws place, we used a black dye mixed with ebony stain. It looks amazing. But only do this if you have lots of light and bright, light colored walls. Another option we thought of was using the pickled oak look (which essentially looks like a whitewashed film) and doing darker colored walls. It’s also a very nice look.
But these are both quite bold statements. If you’re not into bold, just don’t stain it. Poly it and that’s it. Let the natural color come through.