Thank you Cocotini!! I'm going to play with that combination on some sample wood this weekend!

I'm back to chime in! :) I had a sample made today of half country white, half mineral spirits, with a water-based top coat. It looks gorgeous and basically achieves the natural look of the white oak without any pink or golden tones. I'm curious if there would be any concerns about using mineral spirits, though. Also would love any updates from those on this post who were working on this look!

they have finally put the final topcoat on the floors. I absolutely LOVE them!!!!! they turned out just perfect for me. I'll take some photos over the weekend and post for you to see. We close on the house on Tuesday so are just wrapping up the last touches.

Oh yay, Cocotini, congrats!! Can't wait to see them!

Cocotini Hartman, your floors are perfection!

thank you, Cara!!

Those are so stunning!!

thanks, JKH. what did you decide for yours?

Sadly, we decided we couldn't justify the cost of a full floor re-finish since the rest of our renovations were already so far over budget, ha! Hoping to tackle this in a few years at the same time we install wood treads on our staircase and put hardwoods upstairs... I adore what you came up with!!

Cocotini, Which finish did you end up doing, the White/Classic Grey/Weathered Oak OR the Country White/Mineral Spirits?

Cocotini Hartman your floors are so beautiful!!! Are these duraseal stains? I'm hoping to achieve a similar look! And you used water based poly on top? Thank you so much!

Cocotini Hartman what brand stain did you use?

Cocotini Hartman I want to try your floor formula. What brand is the Country White stain? I only found Simply White in Minwax?

The information on this thread was very helpful to me - thank you to those who contributed! Below is a pic of my stained white oak floors (not sealed yet - we stained today).

We used 1/3 antique white, 1/3 classic gray, 1/3 weathered oak. My contractor said no one has ever requested this. In my area, the majority of floors are dark stain. Thankfully I found this thread, as he was clueless on colors other than varieties of dark brown.

Overall I’m very happy because the stain combo kept the floor light without too much dark/pink/gold tones. I sometimes see too much yellow in the floor, but I think it’s the sunlight/overhead warm lightbulbs (need to change them), and/or me nitpicking. I also really like the variety in the plank colors.
This room overlooks a lake so I wanted a coastal vibe. I think the floor will look great with my furniture/home colors (coastal blues/greens).

I will try to post another pic after sealing is finished. I was assured the clear, water-based sealant would not add any yellow/amber tones. Crossing my fingers.

Thank you so much for sharing! I share with you that I want to go light in my area while most are still going dark. I love your floors! It looks beautiful! Thank you for all who have shared on this post as I can share with my staining guy these different formulas. I do have on my floors some crazy formulas to try to achieve this effect from the stainer.

My question is, is it bad that there are so many different stains in the samples he did to ?

favorites from below: 1/2 grey and 1/2 weathered oak looked too orangey/pinky on my white oak. (Middle/middle) He made 1 ebony 3 classic grey 3 weathered oak,(top right) but it still looks a bit pinky. I like how the ebony brought out the grain though. He then did I dark walnut, 1 white, 1 grey 1 weathered oak (middle left) which looks great in my light, however, I just am afraid after 2 coats and the poly, it will change! Thank you for any advice or help. The pictures are so hard to tell/see!

Wait...two coats of WHAT? Stain??? Hmmmm. Stain should be done ONCE or you could have adhesion issues. And you need to see the samples with a coat of FINISH over top!!!! Never, ever, ever pick floor stain WITHOUT the coat of finish over top.

You could lose all the tones by using the wrong finish (oil based finishes turn ORANGE). Those people who want gray/white floors get REALLY upset when the oil based finish turns the floor YELLOW. Boy are they MAD....they feel like someone tricked them.

The only trick they fell for is a finisher NOT applying a single coat of finish. That's all that is needed to tell if your colour is going to turn orange...a single coat of finish. Takes 5 minutes (but the refinisher has to wait until the stain dries before applying and that takes a BIT more time).

Please make sure you understand the risks the TWO coats of stain can create and what is meant by adhesion failure (peels like a sunburn). And please get a coat of finish over the wood before deciding. These two issues need to be fully explored before you move forward.

Thank you for your advice. They DID put a coat over the wood in the sample. I also had them come back and do a sample in another part of the house . Sadly, the water based poly Bona Mega made the floors way too golden STILL. Is there anything I can do to have them fix this??? Help!

Bona Mega is known to show a snick of yellow (very mellow). You need to work with something like Bona Traffic HD. It guarantees "non yellowing". Whereas Mega states "rich colour" (aka ambering).

Mega is a single component 'budget friendly' product. The Traffic HD is your commercial grade stuff with a stiffer price tag....but with SOOOOO much more to offer.

I recommend asking them to move to the Traffic HD (and offer to pay the difference for the upgrade) to stay away from the ambering. And then the other issue could be the wood itself. You mentioned that some of the samples were pulling a bit 'pink'. That's a good indicator that you have red oak that you are working with.

Red oak is really tough to turn whitish/gray. So just be aware that without bleaching, a very light gray floor may not be possible. And bleaching can add a dollar or two MORE per square foot. It can get quite expensive to turn a red oak floor "white".

I wonder how cocotini's nice blend of 1/2 country white, 1/4 weathered oak, and 1/4 classic gray would look on red oak? Or simply 1/2 weathered oak and 1/2 classic gray. Cancork and others, any clue? My daughter is doing a major remodel and will be choosing her stain color (for red oak) next Wednesday. She doesn't want a gray floor, but just a very nice light neutral color with as little red, orange, or gold as possible.

I am try to achieve a similar finish on a pine ceiling. Any formulas that people have tried? I am trying to achieve this look

Any white wash finish on white cedar.

Unfortunately, my ceiling is pine, so I need to work with that.

Don't forget your tannin blocker/sealant. Pine LOVES to bleed yellow.

@SJ McCarthy hoping you might have time to help!

our first attempt, sample was tested on new floor laid in kitchen vs old original floor in the rest of the house - once done everywhere, it was so light the oxidation from nail heads was so bad all you could see was the lines.

back to square one, we tested a ton of samples, got a mix, completed thursday and it is so different from sample. they are offering to do another stain to darken on top. is this a no no? local stain retailer said ok with light sand to scuff up, refinishers said no sand needed.

they also recommend 2 coats bona mega ONE with one coat of bona traffic HD. is this ambering with the mega one?

so so sad to consider resending these 70 year old floors a third time in 2 weeks for fear they still won’t get it right and that we will damage them permanently.

sample (and one similar we didn’t pick) on the right, final product on the left. it is just so yellow and peachy and doesn’t look like an actual color of wood - our floors are red oak and we bleached first. not sure if we should leave them, do the second stain over top, or pay to refinish once again! what would you do? never thought this would be so hard!

Didn't they add a coat of the Mega One when they created the stain patch? That is the ONLY way to choose a stain.

Here's the link: Bona Mega ONE

It states, brings out a nice warm wood colouration.

That's a nice way of saying it adds a snick of yellow tone. But the 'non-yellowing' means it won't amber or get darker over time. With 2 coats i would say you are going get some deeper, darker colouring.

IF you want SUPER TOUGH then go with 3 coats Bona Traffic HD (you will need to pay an extra $1/sf for all 3 coats to be Traffic HD).

@SJ McCarthy thanks so much for your reply.

yes, they did the coat of mega one on the test, it’s more that the stain colors came out completely different. what came out all over the floors is more peachy yellow - the left, while the test patch was more of a brown tone that eliminated those colors better - on the right.

can’t decide if we should re sand the floors - which are 70 years old and do what we wanted, or just skip the added cost and time by keeping them.

major decision fatigue and not sure what would be best for resale!

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@SJ McCarthy

The samples on the right, did they bleach first like they did on the samples on the left? That looks to be the difference between the two process. Or they skipped out on water popping on the left.

@G & S Floor Service they claim to have done the same on both - just bleach. the bleach on the right side samples sat much longer before stain was applied - that’s all I can think of as far as differences. would that have an effect?

The amount of two-part bleach applied would make a difference. The more applied the lighter the surface, resulting in a lighter shade stain color. The longer it sits without being neutralized would make it lighter also.

The type of bleach used would be different results. Laundry bleach and oxalic acid (bleach) does not make the wood lighter compare to a two-part bleach.

Hello! Am also wanting a lighter gray on white oak, to look like silver driftwood color.......has anyone done DuraSeal Silvered Gray and did they like it? Any other “combo’s you could suggest? And to avoid yellowing, does White Oak need to be bleached first?
Thank you!

White oak does not need to be bleached for aged look. You want to use a reactive stain system not regular stain. Use Ciranova's Aquavintage stain, one coat of Ecofix Woodlok Plus and two coats of Fortico for a water base poly system. You can use any of the reactive stain and two coats of Titan for a penetrating oil system.

@G & S Floor Service another question for you!! what is the difference between silvered grey and weathered oak?

also, I am having no consistency on 1 bleached sample board to the next, and am afraid my floors will also be super different from samples yet again, since they don’t seem to match between boards and our old sample vs floors that didn’t match and we had to re-do! they claim the same process was done with every sample and floor. I don’t think they use a bleach neutralizer but they said they never do. trying to figure it out 😝

could it be that they tend to use less stain on the sample boards (if they are coming out darker with stain than the final floor did)?! this process has been so frustrating! they are supposed to stain tomorrow and are testing the mixture on a sample board they bleached alongside our floors today , but I’m wondering if the sample and the floor have different amounts of bleach, I’m guessing they will also take stain differently?! and I’m guessing it would be hard to make sure they had the same ratio since they are such differently sized surfaces?!

oh my goodness. help!! haha :)

Bleach is a chemical stain. Chemical stain causes reaction and is unpredictable. It is very possible to get different results each time you do the process from bleach to stain. Bleach should be neutralized with a Borax mixture.

Regarding the stain, I am guessing you are referring to the Duraseal product line. Silver grey will have more blue in it. Weathered oak will allow more tannins through. Apply weathered oak over white oak and you will get the brown coming through.

What is the look you are trying to achieve: stain or aged look for grey? Which species are you working with?

thank you so much! I bet that is the problem.

what happens if it isn’t neutralized?

it is red oak. we made a mix that included weathered oak but now I am wondering if it should include silvered grey instead to have even less of an orangey hue? it is a mix of white, antique brown and weathered oak.

trying to just achieve a medium light brown tone with the least amount of grain contrast to wood. super light on bleach doesn’t work because we have top nail and the oxidation shows too crazily, and it’s a smaller home so super dark feels like it would overwhelm it. these are the tone / darkness we are going for...!

the top right are samples we have that are best match, obviously with red oak, nothing is a slam dunk.

@G & S Floor Service THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR RESPONSE!! I posted my answers above :) thank you for helping me!

For red oak, Using Ciranova pink blocker is easier and more Predictable compared to bleach. You can then use Aqua vintage reactive stain for a aged brown look Followed up with their water base system.

@G & S Floor Service well darn it! we just had it bleached yesterday. any advice now that we are down this rabbit hole?

You can still use a reactive stain like weather wood or Ciranova. They both have online store you can purchase from. If, you want to apply poly over it. Use a reactive stain that is compatible like aqua vintage. Not sure, if weather wood has a specific type for water base. If, you use a non compatible reactive stain. When you apply a water base finish over it. It will move the stain around.

@G & S Floor Service we planned to use duraseal stain and BONA Traffic HD over the top. are these compatible? what happens if the bleach is not neutralized?

If, you do not neutralize bleach. The leftover bleach crystal will mess with the finish. Yes, Duraseal and HD is compatible.

thank you for all of your knowledge!! so it will mess with the strength of the TRAFFIC HD?

@G & S Floor Service thank you so much!! so it will affect the quality of the top coat traffic HD finish?

we are mixing in weathered oak to our antique brown (with some white) to lighten it. when comparing weathered oak and silvered oak, is silvered oak a better lightener so it will block more of the orange than the weathered oak?

It can affect the stain color and affect the way HD looks - Staining, blotching, curling, premature drying, bubbles, thinning, finish problems. Bleach affects the ingredients in stains and finishes. Unless otherwise specified, bleach should be neutralized. Check the mfg's instruction.

Is the purpose of the bleaching to take out the yellows that might come through when you stain? Am leaning now towards a white wash on our white oak, but don’t want the yellows (or any colors) to bleed through......

Bleaching will lighten the wood. If, it is yellow. It will make it less or eliminate it. Having white oak means that you can skip the bleaching process. Nordicseal is a good product for white washing. Since, it is also a sealer, it will block any tannins from bleeding through prevent the yellow. Also, if, you use a water base poly, the water base poly will prevent the yellowing. If, you use an oil base, then expect yellowing to occur.

You can also use a stain mixture for white washing. But, you will need to apply a sealer to prevent tannins from bleeding through.

lilmiche how did your floors turn out? Would love to see a picture and hear about what you chose.