Refinishing 1960s oak flooring - what is most timeless floor color?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
We just bought a 1960's home with what I believe to be red oak throughout, which looks rather orange currently. We want to refinish the floors before we move in, but sellers want a quick closing, so we have to make a decision pretty quickly on what color to go with. I'd like to choose something that won't look dated in a few years. I'm thinking something between Minwax Provincial and Minwax Dark Walnut, but am wondering what others think as far as getting aesthetic longevity out of it.
I think this is probably about how the Dark Walnut would look on these floors; this flooring looks very similar to what we're working with: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/92/e5/4c/92e54c3be353f4fa5676bee3e4fa881e.jpg Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| The orange is probably the finish, not the floor. I would not stain it because if they do a bad job its a heavy sand and fix. Oak does not always stain well. I would keep the red oak (we did) and go with a really good finish (we used a tung oil but its really time consuming). |
Anonymous
| I don't understand how your decision, about staining the floors, impacts the settlement timeline. You can't stain the floors until they belong to you, which is after the closing. |
Anonymous
|
i like minwax provincial. It is pretty timeless --right now.
Truth is you will probably have to refinish after 10 years so you can change then. |
Anonymous
| provincial has a lot of red in it, so i prefer dark walnut as it is a bit more neutral. |
Anonymous
| We have old red oak floors with a medium reddish stain, and recently had to stain new thresholds to match (also red oak). After several rounds of testing, we ended up using Minwax Honey to get them to match, but we tried the Dark Walnut and it was pretty close, if a little less reddish. If we could redo them entirely, I'd probably go less red and even darker--the oak woodgrain is SO prominent in the lighter colors and the red undertones are both dated and harder to decorate around. |
Anonymous
| Pick out a few medium toned colors and have them test a strip on the actual floor. That is how you pick since different wood takes staining differently. Our flooring company did this for us and in one case none of my choices looked good. |
Anonymous
This is what we did as well. What looked the best for us was a mixture of two minwax stains. The floors are a weathered tan-brown and look great. |
Anonymous
The speed of the settlement affects how soon that OP needs to make her decision about the floors. |
Anonymous
This link is good - its not too dark nor too light but is elegant. It should only take about 1 week to 10 days for the floor people to sand, stain, polish and finish the floors before you move in. |
Anonymous
|
OP here, thanks for the opinions. I think I'll go with the Dark Walnut (in my linked photo) unless it looks drastically different when sampled on the floor.
I also thought about Classic Gray, which would be a much more modern look, but I'm afraid it might look dated fast. Would be prettier in this house, though, than dark floors. Definitely the opposite of timeless. |
Anonymous
| We did provincial. You can have your refinished put a small swatch of each on the floors after sanding them to decide. The provincial and dark walnut are quite similar. I felt the provincial was a bit more transparent and I preferred to see a bit more grain, while still being very firmly brown and not orange. I'm very happy with the floors and the color is very timeless IMO. Go with a satin poly. |
Anonymous
|
All of them are pretty good, my favourite one, is similar to this one:
https://hardwoods4less.com/collections/red-oak/products/3-1-4-x-3-4-prefinished-re-oak-cognac-stain-hardwood-flooring |
Anonymous
| I think a light to medium stain is the easiest to deal with. Dark is a pain to live with, and anything to light or certainly gray will mark it as being done around now. |
Anonymous
| Provincial is very timeless. |