I am constantly getting questions about Red Oak, and what I think of making a floor feel current. Today, I am sharing how you can stain red oak so it looks white oak, & what we learned refinishing our hardwood floors recently. Now that you have some background about the house and floors, let us dive right into talking about how to stain red oak to look like white oak. You can keep the majority of the red down and find out how to achieve a lighter tone in the red oak floors, which will give you at least some resemblance of the white oak feel, without having to completely replace the existing wooden floors.
I am a big fan of how wood floors can look when they are stained darker, but I have personally never seen white oak floors stained darker. Right now, hardwood flooring finishes are standard oak, orange coloured hardwood flooring stained. The final one in hardwood stains is a painted or white stained floor.
If you have solid hardwood floors, you can make them appear lighter, even if the floors are currently stained darker. If you want to change the colour of your hardwood floors and apply a finish, they need to be stained or get a pre-treatment.
Consider replacing damaged boards or your whole floor; or, staining and covering your floors in dark wood stains. If a floor is damaged, grinding and refinishing is an option.
After the sanding, contractors can add a stain to alter the color of the wood, and then slap on a clear finish that seals and protects the floor. With older floors, you may want to refinish the wood and go with natural finish, or you can apply whitewash floorboards. If you prefer to give your floors a bit of colour in order to mimic more exotic or dramatic looks, then oak floors will accept staining really well if the right techniques are used.
A Whitewashed oak floor, for instance, might appear extremely white when you finish it off initially, but can develop a subtle tan tone as the wood changes colors over time. Depending on what species of wood you are applying whitewash on, light grays may provide a refreshed appearance in your home, and can even come off a bit lighter than the natural. There are stronger pink or yellow tones which can be pulled off if simply sanding whitewash, or giving light gray stain to red oak.
Red Oak is stains friendly and it can take stain very easily because of its porous nature, but yellow undertones are currently unfashionable and something a lot of folks are trying to hide. White or a lighter grey stain is typically used, with lighter colored woods like ash or maple being used frequently, however, any wooden floor can be stained with a whitewash. Whitewashed staining will be the basic color of your floor; the gray stain will add texture and depth. In conclusion, as you can see, wood stain colors have significant impact on a rooms overall appearance and style.
I am still very happy with the way these floors turned out, and really like the heat the darker colors added to the living room area of the home. I have had several people recently encourage me to rethink this, to stain the floors so they are consistent with the rest of the house. I, as I am sure a lot of you reading this are, totally like the newer, lighter stained wooden floors which are all the rage right now. I think painted floors would get much appreciation and be desired if people were exposed to them more frequently.
If you like the look of white hardwood floors, but you are on the fence as to what they would really look like from day-to-day, just evaluating the pros and cons of that floor color might help you come to that final decision. If you are planning on installing hardwood floors in your home or maybe you have hardwood floors already and are looking to freshen them up – you are going to want to think about what types of finishes and wood flooring stain colors are available, and which ones would work best for your home. There are a number of factors that will influence whether or not you should stain your floors, and what the best stain colors are for your home, all of which you need to take into account before making your decision.
Below, we have chosen six basic styles for wood flooring staining, and picked out ideal examples to show you what you can achieve. Staining hardwood floors in hardwood stain colors is an alternative to consider, and it may prove particularly appealing if you are looking to bring out the grain in hardwood floors, or refresh older floors, or to completely revamp your home.
Check out a few examples of broad-plank hardwood floors that have been stained in this style to see all of the looks you can create, including hardwood floors in ash, hickory, and white oak that have been stained in the fence whitewash. Well, I think the slightly off-white look, showing a bit of the wood grain, is probably most desirable. White hardwood floors can make any size of room look light, inviting, and peaceful, especially if they are also combined with furnishings that are lighter in color, as well as naturally occurring. Those last rows to nail down using the normal nail gun are always so difficult for me, and I never manage to make it look as nice as the rest of the floor, where I used the floor mallet and the flooring nailer, but at least the hardwood floors are up against the walls.
