Floor help, hardwood selection..... Xposted

14 years ago

Cross posted on flooring, because I thought there could be lots of great opinions here too.

We are installing new floors to be finished on sight. We were really leaning towards maple as I wanted something light and not overly grainy. I have now also been looking into white quarter sawn oak on a recommendation from our flooring guy. This is going in a 1920's colonial/victorian house. We do have lots of furniture in darker tones and some rustic looking, but we are modernizing a lot of finishes and floor plan (completely open) and I like the look of old with new.

Our kitchen will have white painted beaded inset cabinets so the oak would look beautiful, but I really wanted to lighten brighten up the space with a light floor, plus the fact that lots of our furniture is heavy (leather couch, dark dining table, rustic pine desk etc)

I think the oak would be a better choice for the kitchen, but the maple might be more of what we are looking for in the other areas, we will need to use the same floor as it is all open.

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Comments (8)

nini804
14 years ago
Honestly, I think the QS oak would look more appropriate in a 1920s house. I think in the natural finish it wouldn't look dark. While maple would definitely look more contemporary, I think the QS oak throughout would be lovely and appropriate. If you ever needed to sell, as a buyer of a 1920s house I would be surprised to see maple flooring, and would personally not like it in that era home.
ratrem
Original Author
14 years ago
nini- I am never moving again after this... LOL famous last words... I had similar thoughts, that we might tire of the maple but not of the oak. I have seen the QS oak with the white stain that looks great on wideplankflooring.com but might get dated (and I usually just prefer a clear finish), but we could always just refinish if we wanted to get rid of it....
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breezygirl
14 years ago
Ratrem,
I know nothing about period appropriateness for flooring, but I can offer a pic of my 3" white oak floor before it was finished. We ran it new throughout the main part of the house, including the kitchen. We have several antique QS goldeny oak furniture pieces, but I knew I wanted dark floors. HTH!
momfromthenorth
14 years ago
We used QS white oak for our flooring several years ago (did not put it in the kitchen because we had tile in there that I wanted to keep.) But, we only had a very light stain put on it (it's Coswick flooring with their "rose" stain) and honestly, it is very light. I would think with white cabs you would have a very bright kitchen. We have white trim in our house and light color walls - I did not want dark floors - and we have been very happy with them.
breezygirl
14 years ago
One thing I just occurred to me. I know you have some dark pieces for otjer rooms of the house, but will you have something dark in the kitchen to provide some contrast with the rest of your kitchen (white cabs)? I feel a darker floor really helps to ground a white-cabed kitchen. Just a thought. :)
bmorepanic
14 years ago
A number of companies make white-oil floor finish. Monocoat has the clearest description - 5% white. The photos look much less like a stain than a carry-through of the unfinished whiteness to the finished floor. It looks very natural and just helps defeat the color change that comes with exposure to sunlight. Monocoat, Faxe and WOCA are some brand names.

I like contrast between floors and cabinets as well as the next person, but I disliked caring for a dark floor - I live in a city with poor air pollution but also right next door to a 400 acre park. I had a dark floor in the old kitchen and it was just too much work to keep it nice. In this season of the year, just the pollen is horrible!

We had the entire first floor re-finished and some boards replaced. We have the original 1920's red oak with mahogany ribbons and its all unstained with clear water poly on top. After exposure to sun - it yellowed up some but is easily the best feature of the house.
User
14 years ago
I'm always a sucker for a wood in a natural finish and I think a white oak floor would the perfect choice for a new/old house. And I agree that you will want to examine the plans for your kitchen in order to have some dark tones in the space. All light tones leave a room looking washed out without any contrast to show off those light tones. A dark island, or dark granite or even dark woodwork could give you the depth needed. One of my favorite old homes had it's original oak floors, but the trim was all black and it was just the perfect contrast with the walls and floor.
ratrem
Original Author
14 years ago
Great, thanks for all of the suggestions. I am leaning towards the QS white Oak, just undecided if I would want to stain it. I saw the monocoat on hozz and loved it, I also loved a custom white/gray stain they had on hozz. As for the kitchen, I agree it would need some dark elements, I am hoping the reclaimed wood shelves and the dark plank farmhouse table in the eating area will help.

This is the stain I love on the QS white oak, it does seem to muddle the natural grain a bit, but the color is lovely IMO. Plus we could just refinish later down the line if we tire of it.

{{!gwi}}

Source: [houzz.com[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/living-room-transitional-living-room-minneapolis-phvw-vp~85700) via Rachel on Pinterest