Choosing to refinish your hardwood floors is an investment and choosing the stain color, in my experience, can be very stressful. The day my floors were being stained, I was so stressed at work, I couldn’t focus at all on what I was supposed to be doing. But my boss, a very experienced and talented interior designer, assured me that everyone freaks out about their stain choice, and hardly ever is anyone upset with the result. “They look so nice and new, you’re not even too concerned with the nuance of the color,” she said. I breathed. They’re going to look great no matter what.

Part of the issue was that I was told by my manipulative contractor that for some reason, the floor refinishers would not mix stains together, so if I wanted a custom mix, I had to do it myself. So not only did I fear, Did I make the right choice?, but also, Did I mix it correctly? Well, the story ends with beautiful floors, that maybe could have used another coat of poly, but that’s another story.

Stain Testing (at night)

Stain Testing (in daylight)

The thing that the internet told me to fear was that going light on my red oak floors might turn them pink. I stared at these photos. Do they look pink?! I couldn’t decide. Yes. Yes. They will all look pink. I convinced myself. Hey, guess what? My floors don’t look too pink. Phew! Don’t stress too much about this. I bet any of these would have looked great.

My first choice was actually the one on the far right. I read that Pickled Oak helps cut the pink. However, for reasons I don’t understand and didn’t choose to fight, I had to go buy and mix my own stain and Pickled Oak was not in stock anywhere locally. So, I had to go with plan B.

This is what my floors looked like after they were fully sanded. I hoped they would look close to this after staining, with a little more depth. My choice for the stain actually ended up being two parts weathered oak and one part simply white, which I had not even tested previously. RISKY! I was going to go with the 1:1 ratio of those two stains, but when I tested it the morning before it was going to be stained, I decided to add more weathered oak because I was fearing the pink thing.

THE FINISHED RESULT

I chose a matte finish for the floors. Both the color and finish were chosen because I wanted to hide white dog hair and scratches as well as possible, and so far, so good. I haven’t seen any scratches and the dog hair really disappears on the floors, a true gift after living in a home with black floors!

If you’re trying to pick a stain color for your red oak floors, don’t stress. You’re going to love them.