You would need to neutralize it with something that has some green color in it. Make a sample first of course, but my guess would be a second coat of "Weathered Oak" from Minwax would bring it closer.

The reddish wood flooring could still work with a neutral scheme, but it makes the wall looks more pink in the photo. I would consider painting the walls more white to offset the red tones in the wood.

Thanks for the input all! I will try a sample of the weathered oak, Dytexture,I can't live with the red ..it's not my taste, Deborah...would a light sanding work, or would they have to sand it completely back to the natural wood?

There was another thread on the English Chestnut stain some time in the last couple of weeks and I can't locate it now. I looked at the stain then and commented on how red it was going to look. Based on what I saw then, I would say go back to the raw wood. Anything you do on red oak is going to have a tendency to go red.

One of the tricks in working with red oak is that fruitwood stain helps to play down some of the red tone. The last time we worked with red oak, the homeowner wanted a warm brown finished color. We took fruitwood stain and continued to add a dark stain (similar to walnut) to it until we achieved a warm brown rather than a gold/brown or red/brown. We added the dark stain to the fruitwood an ounce at a time and tested it on the floor until we got what the client wanted. It took two days but was worth it.

It certainly is worth trying your original idea first - but on a test basis (like under where a refrigerator or stove would sit) and see what it would do. Let the test sample sit overnight and see how you like it.

Thanks so much for your suggestions Deborah, particularly the mix of fruitwood and a dark stain. I want a warm brown finish as well! I don't see fruitwood in minwax's brochure...is it made by another company?

Did the floor guy make samples? At this point you can tint the poly but this can only be successful with a floor guy that is VERY experienced. The wood and floor will darken a bit over time, but aside from a re-sand, tinting the poly or mixing a polyshade is your only bet.
The only other thing i can think of is to let the stain dry completely and then use a Hard Wax Oil like Rubio Monocoat and rub in a different shade. If you were my customer I would wait a week or more depending on what stain was used, and buff in a coat of castle brown rubio monocoat oil.
This would allow you to change colors without re-sanding or going with the risky polyshade(can often muddy up and look streaky).
Good luck!

Because the wood grain oak generally looks better with brownish color rather than reddish one.
Until the floors sealed the floors can be relatively easy rebuffed or sanded with Trio .
As soon as the floors sealed it should be completely re-sanded.
The Minwax stain more for amateur rather than professional . The BONA or Duraseal generally is better quality or could be custom color made from professional paint centers.
The other color can be applied on top of existing stain but the overall color will be darker.
The stain should have the same chemical base as the original one.
Adding stain to polyurethane will not solve the problem but can make negative influence to overall look . The top coats should be from three coats of polyurethane . Two coats will not last long.
Diluting finish will have negative impact to long term durability.
If you dont like color it is easier and cheaper to change it in the beginning by simply re-sand before the floors sealed rather than try to modify the color after the floors is sealed .

Hi. Fruitwood is a Sherwin Williams color. Good luck to you.

When you hired this contractor, did he give a sample of the finished product? Did you see any of his work prior of hiring? Did you ask for references? Did he understand the colour you are trying to achieve? Before he continues his work, communicate your feelings to him. Ask him to redo it. If he is a genuine understanding professional, I think he will redo his work.
However, make sure he does understand that it will be at his cost and not yours.

In that situation, I would try to remove as much stain as possible from the floor using lacquer thinner. Then, topcoat with a darker stain. You can either try to find a less noticeable spot to test, or do your test in the center of the floor since if you aren't happy with the restain, your best option is to resand.

When we sand off our test patches, we only go over it with the final grit which is usually 100. Especially since you aren't trying for drastic color change, you won't need to remove every last trace of stain, just most all of it.

You might also find ZAR Spanish Oak will tune down the red. That stain looked so ugly in the can that I very nearly didn't even bother to test it on the floor. It looked really green like an olive green with a bit of yellow tones. But, as soon as we wiped some on the floor, we just looked at it and said WOW that's it. Duraseal has a similar color but I'm not sure if it is the same name. I just took my little sample can to the paint store and opened cans until we found the right shade. Some paint stores will color match for stain, but not all since it is a bit trickier than matching paint colors.

That guy absolutely speaks English and get snappy with him Personally, I like the red, but you sound like you might need to engage in some conflict.

I just saw this thread. Chose English chestnut and my floor had a red aura. However after the oil poly went on it went away. Now they are perfect. Beautiful and warm.

@Nina You just saw it, but it's been here 4.5 years. They probably figured something out by now...

Wonder what they ended up doing to counter the red?

Redoing gunstock floors. Don't want all the red. All trim is gunstock. Do I need to bite the bullet and have all the trim painted to match new color, or, is there a color stain that will look good with gunstock?

Oops! Meant do I need to paint the trim white.