(More white vs ebony..e.g. This is probably more important than the actual stain color you use. WAIT! Is there a special bleach that is used? I keep checking for it every couple of months. Those go from lightest to darkest. This prevents liquids from penetrating; oiled floors don’t have that same level of protection. I mean 7 parts white to 1 part ebony, BTW. Also, you can check out this article I just published about an hour ago and try Duraseal’s new “dark gray.” See the article here: Duraseal’s new gray blends. Colors are shown on White Oak. That concept may work well with laptops & printers... but WITH FLOORING, even the cheap stuff represents a sizeable investment. I used Minwax Charcoal Gray and covered a small area. Coffee brown or dark walnut mixed with one of your light gray ratios (dura ebony and bona white)? Thank you so much for your site and blog. Trying to figure out if I need more than one. Apparently there are a few whites to choose from. Do you think there are any risks in bleaching these floors and taking this approach? And, medium brown doesn’t look good…it comes out too red, especially on red oak. In the far right picture, the sample on the right is 3 parts white to 1 ebony, middle is 5:1, left is 4:1. I asked my contractor for a sample of bona white and duraseal ebony. Happy holidays! 3 parts white to 1 ebony…or 5 to 1. What Minwax stains would you mix to achieve this? If you haven’t done it before, I would hire a professional. If they are oak and just stained dark brown, that is no problem at all and it’s done all the time. but, I suppose you could add more ebony if needed. I hope that helps. One of these days, I’ll have to write a full article on this topic. Debbie, I should also mention that in a couple of the rooms, we put a one inch inlay of walnut as part of the floor border (otherwise all oak). I would test it in a section first. LOL. Your alternative is simply to go deeper in the gray. It will look a bit better, but the real reason to do it is durability. Buff before 2nd coat? If you do more, you will close the pores and it will not absorb the stain properly. Deirdre – Yes, gray is challenging. I will keep you posted. Eight years ago it was about $8/square foot to install real, unfinished 3” wide white oak planks. But, there are some downsides to the oiled floors. At NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU, I will earn a small commission, if you purchase them. After he sanded and stained and did one top coat, the color is all over the place with grays, yellows and browns (based on the variations in the wood). NO, do not light sand or buff the stain. You can see all my recos on my Amazon Influencer page. I’m finally ready to refinish my floors this weekend. Instead, you just apply more oil. Please note that refinishing hardwood floors gray is challenging and should be handled by an expert, especially one with experience in gray and white washed floors. The wood is going to depend on what you are matching. English Chestnut. I’m not sure what you’re asking with the browns. Maple is more expensive, but “easier” to get gray. First, the sanding must be immaculate. It’s not as fussy as wood or stone, but there are a few guidelines. But, I would test 7 to 1, 5 to 1, 3 to 1. Mirage offer three types of hardwood flooring: engineered, a laminate-like composite of hardwood plus high-density board, and classic solid hardwood. Not sure how well it will work on this wood and whether there will be any reactions with the oils in the wood. You can try the bleach. We have found doing an ebony/white mix works best and/or mixing in some true black. Joe. Any recommendations?? Nick – First, you put putty on, then 36 grit…then you may need some more putty as some may get sanded off. It was not a premix, they did it at the store. It looks like you found a water based stain and those are very challenging to use, especially for novices, anyway. It came out like paint to me! Too bad you’re so far away from Dallas, upstairs floors are next! Do you think we could get away with duraseal medium-brown and then add the gray ratios you laid out? Do not use oil based poly – that makes it darker and more yellow and will look terrible and will look worse over time. White Oak? I’m sorry….one more question. I am certain they are not a select grade. He bleached one sample but the wood looked damaged. I’m not familiar with them, but I’m guessing based on the colors that these are water based stains and they are much more challenging (and expensive) to apply and often come out streaky. But, it will darken over time due to the sunlight (and artificial light). My contractor wants to mux duraseal classic gray and country white. Will try ebony duraseal and bona. They were doing exactly what you said and the floors turned out great. (I’m just using that as an example to describe the roughness). He showed me some samples but i was not crazy. Joe – Yes, that would look nice. And, if you’re looking for this particular floor (which is pre-finished) – Shaw Castlewood Hearth, you can buy it here. Nick – Personally, I would do 3. It’s better to get the stain to the correct shade before if you can. felt pads, vent covers, Hardwood supplies e.g. I would like the boards to have a mix of light and dark boards, but not rustic looking, few knots. Thanks for the help. It looks great, dries quickly, and doesn’t amberize. 6. From there, they can provide an estimate -- the labor and materials cost could be anywhere from $4,000 on up depending on the type and grade of wood. If that’s the issue, you can offer to buy the other cans (e.g. I wish I could give you a recipe, but that’s really impossible until you see what it looks like on the wood and next to your cabinet sample. That does help confirm my process, thank you. Please note that these are products I know/use and recommend to my customers. COL is all over the map in NY..................... Janet -- If you want to match up the hardwood in the two adjoining rooms, you'll want invite 2-3 floor contractors to take a look so you know what kind of strips/planks to buy. Any thoughts? The harsh reality of considering hardwood flooring at all, is the fact that... as you mentioned... depending on the PRODUCT & by who/where it was manufactured can make ALL of the difference in the world. We’ll definitely try dark walnut, but curious if you prefer coffee brown to medium brown for red oak to lessen the red? You should not need to bleach white oak at all (and it damages the floor, not to mention what it might do to the walnut). I have a quick question…Do you use BONA DriFast Naturals for the White and for the Ebony is it DuraSeal QuickCoat or Penetrating Finish? You’ll need to see which you prefer for the color you’re hoping for. It looks more natural and a bit more rustic. And, of course it costs more. Thank you so much. Importantly, with oiled floors, you shouldn’t use a regular hardwood cleaner. It should not take that long. Is it even possible to do white washed with american cherry floors? Can we just use Bona HD Traffic on the wood? Which are the best brands of polyurethane, Recommended cleaning products and accessories to maintain floors and reduce scratches, https://theflooringgirl.com/hardwood-flooring/which-are-the-best-polyurethane-brands-for-floors-which-do-i-recommend.html, https://theflooringgirl.com/hardwood-flooring/minwax-vs-duraseal-stain-better-hardwood-floors.html, https://www.amazon.com/Dura-Seal-Penetrating-Finish-Quick/dp/B002EDRXW4, https://www.bona.com/en-US/Bona-Professional/Products/Coatings/Stains/Bona-DriFast-Stain/, https://www.amazon.com/DS-QC-EBONY-131-G/dp/B00ISXFBRS/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1516804243&sr=8-10&keywords=duraseal+stain, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Policy. When it comes to gray, we use Duraseal ebony and Bona White. Then you can give your wooden floors a brand-new look, Dreaming of gorgeous, natural wood floors? Required fields are marked *. It is more expensive but it is THE BEST form of installation we have. It’s an up and coming trend. Minwax® Ultimate Floor Finish is a technologically advanced, durable topcoat for floors that provides exceptional levels of floor durability in a crystal clear finish. I don’t want to go so dark that we have dust-showing issues, but need a bit on the darker side of medium to contrast the cabs. When was the house built? To test, they generally just use the caps for the stain to measure. x 24 in. They are especially popular in NYC. This is great advice! Dark Gray. But, if it doesn’t look right, they may need to sand those again. Do you have photos of what you have originally? You would want to mix stains using ebony and white for the gray and then some form of brown e.g. There are many styles you can achieve with engineered tile, starting with classic slate, terracotta, travertine and marble — all the way to tiles that resemble reclaimed wood and linen fabric. I mean, I understand 5:1 or whatever it ends up being, but when working with gallon size quantities I would think it would be hard to pinpoint the mixture so it could be repeated. I will ask my contractor which products he used. Sand 36 grit Dry how long before putting the Bona traffic? Gray over orange is just ugly mud colored. Do I need to order it from their website as I can’t find anyone that has it. Gray stained floors tend to turn out best on white oak flooring. Hi! Dave – I was going to ask you if that was a new stain as I had never heard of it. My question is would it be smart to use the same to carry out the flow knowing that the cherry is harder to keep clean due to it showing more? Regarding going natural with Bona Traffic. I wasn’t talking about mixing them. Also, you should not be walking on the floors until after the last coat of poly has dried. If you have pets that may get the floors wet (from going in/out when it rains, water dishes or accidents), you may want to avoid this option. Have you ever done a 50/50 ebony and country white on red oak? My floor guy (stuck with him as part of the project) is only going to mix up whatever recipes I bring to him. and, it will cost you more. Matt – That is not something I would recommend as it is very red and you will probably have red/pink coming through.