Choosing the perfect wood stain color for floors can be difficult. Here’s a little bit about the process and how we came to a stain color decision!
It’s official, the stress has gotten to me! Whatever you think your stress level will be during a home renovation, multiply it by two three.
I thought I had it all figured out. I knew I wanted a warm, medium stain for our new hardwood floors, but I completely underestimated how difficult that would be.
Sure, I could spend all day pinning and dreaming of what the color will look like, but colors vary from brand to brand, different species of wood and even one board to the next. Ugh!
For the last year, I’ve been pinning hardwood floors I love, recognizing that some are pre-finished. I want a classic, timeless and traditional look.
Unfortunately, so many colors have red and yellow undertones that it was more difficult than I had imagined. These are the wood stain colors we tested for our floors.
Wood Stain Colors for Hardwood Floors
We didn’t test Provincial, one I have always loved. I really loved the special walnut {top left} because it was truest to color without undertones and doesn’t highlight the grain as much, but also liked golden brown {bottom left}.
The golden brown definitely emphasizes the grain, giving it a slightly more rustic look. What to do? Blend them.
Floor Stain Colors
Well, we tried. I found that blended they can be a little unpredictable looking far more yellow on the left and picture perfect to the right.
{From left to right – blended, golden brown, blended, special walnut}. You can see how when the color is blended exactly the same, it differs from board to board.
We have white oak, which tends to be grainier, but truer to color.
Our Hardwood Stain Color
At the end of the day, I want to be extremely thoughtful about my decisions because they can be very costly and I want to love them 10 years from now.
So where did we end up? Here’s our final floor stain decision.
Our Floor Stain
Our final decision! We ended up doing golden brown, but added a little coffee into the clear coat to calm the orange tones down.
Come see our full before and after!
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I’m going they the same struggle with my 90s oak cabinets. I’ve been stripping and sanding them for over 2 months now. We like the shadow hickory floor from LifeProof. Want the cabinets less orange. Most the stains we try have orange undertones. Leaning towards special Walnut also. If it isn’t too dark.
Which color did you go with ? We are leaning towards Golden Brown. Do you have final pics?
I did golden brown and sadly, it was REALLY golden in a large amount, so we ended up toning it down using espresso in the matte finish. I would recommend choosing a different color.
We also have red oak floors and I would like a medium brown without the golden orange undertone. Would you sat coffee brown or dark walnut? Â Which one is lighter? Â Our flooring co uses duraseal. Thanks.Â
Walnut is lighter – coffee is nearly black.
Hi Judy. I know this post is old but we are staining our floors which are red Oak this week. I am also looking for a medium brown. I know a lot of people are using the dark walnut now but I just thought it might be a little darker than I wanted. What color did you end up using? Right now I am Presently thinking of a 50% dark walnut 50% golden brown mix. Thank you so much for any input!
You can also do one in the stain and the other in the poly
What seems to be missing with the stains is the top coat. I tend toward the brown – not too deep, not too light – just right. Having said that, though, the addition of a top coat over the stain might add an extra dimension with an oil based poly.
It seems that the addition of the topcoat might make a difference in the sample.
I know this is an older post.
True, but a poly should add very little color.
what colors were the top/bottom right side stains in the first photo??
They’re blends {From left to right – blended, golden brown, blended, special walnut}. You can see how when the color is blended exactly the same, it differs from board to board.