The floor company is in palm beach gardens, FL - DC Twin Company. 561.493.8746

I moved the cardboard... Couldn't kick the kids out

Very, very helpful to see that, thank you! The stairs are looking great! Certainly would have been easier to afford white oak treads but just wasn't possible for me, either. I'm going to be facing this decision, soon. I'll likely mock it up in Photoshop first.

I think a white washed floor with gray paint treads and railing would solve the tread problem nicely for me but I'm thinking natural or weathered oak for the main floors and I don't like gray with that. Greige might work. Or maybe a dark brown like yours. I'm still all over the place.

I was at Anthropologie today and it made me more comfortable with natural and they even had a greige next to it. (I know my floors won't be all wacky like theirs but I liked it.)

I also bought a sample of minwax water based burgundy stain to try the color idea on a tread scrap (if I like it I'll pursue the idea with better quality stain).

I also have gray in two bathrooms and the landing at the front door though, so greige might be a smart choice. Stringers will be white like the walls as will the spindles. I think. Maybe. Argh!!!

Oh gosh, your poor brain! You're even thinking about your stairs while shopping!!!!!! What I can say about your space is that all of the lines and light/shadow on the stairs will be in your favor for drawing your eye from noticing the change in oaks. The minwax ebony stain was the 4th one we tried and didn't go with it because our colors are not gray... it is a dark stain with more gray than brown.

Don't make yourself crazy--try your best to match them, and then use a runner on the stairs and you'll forget they were ever different. No one else will notice.

I have open risers, so a runner is not an option.

Kristin, I was wondering if your guys could stain a design in your landings the color of the treads to tie the two together even more? (If you like the idea.) A little bit like inlay? (It percolated in my brain from acm's stripe.)

I don't know if it's possible to do that with stain and painter's tape but seems like if it is, your guys could do it. I think it would look really sharp on your landings.

Zellycat2 - just another option. Stair tread rugs can be used on stairs with open risers. We have them primarily to help the dogs, but also the wood on my stairs was quite distressed and they help minimize the amount of distress showing. I don't mind a little distress, but don't want it to be a distraction either. They come in many different designs if down the road your feel you want to add something.

Good idea for down the road.

Well. I told him no stain and he seems confident he can make the red oak close with a little stain. We'll see.

I never found a stain I loved for the whole floor. Didn't like the very dark graining with traditional stain and any time we used country white in the mix it was like paint. I don't know if he wasn't wiping the stain off or if it just photographs more translucent than it is in real life. A look like below would have worked ...

but it always looked like paint in real life

even when I could get a photo to look like this (which is very pretty but not at all accurate).

So, no stain. And now I need to find new entry tile since the floors have no gray to them at all to tie with the gray/brown tile. I'm not a huge fan of tan tile, either, so ... Ugh. It's just impossible to visualize what samples will look like on a whole floor. Wish I could have seen whole floors with different options. I'm not very excited about the IKEA look.

I guess the weathered look does look washed/painted instead of really translucent.

http://trueandwesson.blogspot.com/2010/05/interior-design-project-gray-hardwood.html?m=1

Kristin, your floors must be sealed by now, let's see them, I bet they look great!

Sitting here looking at stains for the treads right now!

Ok. Going with 2 parts natural, one part dark walnut, a whisper of country white and a whisper of antique brown. I like the idea of red or greige stairs but the 'red' I tried was purple, so ... Fingers crossed!

Three colors! Argh. I forgot about the nosing strip at the top that the stair maker included as part of the stairs (so it's red vs white). Argh. It's hard to tell if I would have preferred not to stain the treads. So far friends like the pictures of the darker treads.

Kristin, how are your stairs?

I'm in a similar situation so this thread is very helpful. I've chosen a very natural Provenza European white oak flooring for the whole house and I just found out my builder uses red oak stair treads

Kristin, are you happy with your walnut treads? If you could go back, would you still do it or would you have done the white oak treads?

This was the most recent picture of the walnut stained stairs and the white oak floors.

From the top:

Kristin, so great to see you pop up again and see your stairs, they look amazing! I think they go really well with the floor and I really like the all white railings.

Kim, that's beautiful flooring.

We are building a house now and we are in the same boat....white oak flooring and red oak stairs. The white oak has a natural finish. I was thinking of staining the treads a darker contrasting color as well. Did you decide to stain the landing darker too? It looks like it was light in the original picture but then darker in the most recent pictures. Thanks so much!

I kept my landing light, looks like Kristin went dark. My experience - pay special attention to the transition between the last tread and the landing/the nosing. On mine, the top bit of nosing was part of the stair creation, so it was red oak and I ended up with three colors (tread stained dark, natural red oak nosing, natural white oak landing) because I didn't realize that would happen.

If you scroll up, you'll see my pic with "argh" written on it.

I'm still really happy with it though. I like the contrast between the dark stairs and the lighter floors.

jennalevin - I was able to get american white oak treads instead of red and the undertone is really close to my natural european white oak floors. The american white oak wasn't much more expensive than the red oak so you may want to ask your builder to get a quote.

My final product was: Dark walnut stained red oak treads & same dark walnut stained white oak landings - it looked super choppy with 3 unstained landings

I would go with red oak. I think it will help the flow and consistency in the home.

Kristin, you mentioned the stain is walnut, is that dark walnut?

Hi Kristin! Your floors look great! What was the product you used on the main floors? We laid 5" white oak character grade rift and quartered hardwoods down in our new home and are trying to figure out which Loba stains to use... We want an aged European oak look - sort of like a french wine barrel... ;-) We've sampled the white and gray (black and white mixed) pretone with the weathered wood stain on top... Also tried just weathered wood with no pretone... we're just afraid that the natural stain or the weathered wood by itself may look too "honey oak" - like a 1980's floor! ;-) Would love advice from anyone familiar with the Loba stuff too! Thanks!

Hi! The floors are northern white oak (rough sawn I believe) and the finish was just "WS Easy Finish SATIN" varying plank width & length

... And @kolonko it was Minwax Dark Walnut on the stair treads.

Thanks so much!

Hi zellycat and Kristin- this thread is of great help to me. I'm building a new house and in the same boat. My builder ordered staircases in red oak, and I want white oak through the rest of the house. I'm thinking white washed floors, and now walnut stair treads with white risers. The upstairs is all open banister, so I really want to do the white/black rails and pickets. We still haven't figured out the Newell post placement on the flare. 6 months later, how are you guys liking your contrasting designs?

HI Kristin I am starting a new home in Florida and am being told real hardwood is a 3 or 4 layer process and if I tile the baths I would have to build the floor up as real wood will need a subfloor and not just a moisture barrier. Did you have this problem? And I wonder if your flooring guys will travel to the west coast. What is there contact info as I really don't want engineered floors.

Hi Kristin, I am choosing white oak floors everywhere except stairs, which are red oak. I really like the look of yours. What stain did you use for your white oak floors for the common areas. I'm trying to replicate yours. Thanks

We would suggest getting them stained to match each other, that way you could have the two different woods that could work together and compliment your home.

The main floor was natural - just Lobo satin finish. Our tile guys were not my favorite- a good tile guy can make the transition seamless as long as they know the height of the wood when finished. Contractor had a meeting with the wood guys (DC Twin Co out of PBG, FL & yes they travel anywhere) prior to install to tell him exactly what this height would be at every transition spot. The tile guys just laid their tile & played dumb to the requested heights... so the wood guys made it look as good as they could (these pics are from upstairs where we had the subfloor)

@clairepope we didn't do a sub floor downstairs - they were very very specific on their moisture barrier layer & adhesive layers. The finished wood would be at 7/8"

Hi Kristen have you had any problems with your wood in Florida?

Hi zellycat - I'm having the same exact issues you did. My contractor recommended I stain the nosing strip dark - the same as the stairs. Do you think that's a better way to go? I'm worried that would look off.

@Misaltow - If I'm understanding you, I agree with you that I think that would look terrible.

However, it depends on your landing color. Kristen stained hers dark to match her treads, I kept mine light to match the floors since for me it didn't look choppy. If your treads are dark and your landing is dark then yes, definitely the nosing, tread and landing would all be the same color.

If not, then if you can ask them to choose the whitest looking red oak to be the nosing and the reddest white oak board to sit up against it, then it will probably blend. (At least mine would have if they had done that but my white oak is more blond while Kristen's is more Brown - that might not work with the browner white oak.)

I'm super happy with the contrast. I like the natural white oak floors and I like dark treads. At this point, I wouldn't want them to match.

For the weird and brave at heart ... My husband said it would have been cool to do the stairs in an ombre - to have them fade from light to dark in between the landings and blend that way. Would have been one of a kind!

@clairepope It's only been a year - so far they are perfect! After looking into the flooring situation I found that if a wood floor person says "it won't hold up in Florida" theirs won't! I found a highly recommended company that has experience with placing wood floors in the most humid environments Plenty of high-end homes have wood floors here so someone has to do it & do it well- just find "that" guy!

@zellycat2 you guys are awesome with ideas!

Thanks Kristin, I love how your house is turning out!

Hi Kristin - it’s been awhile since this thread started but I was wondering how your floors are holding up? Would you still choose the site finished white oak?

We are building a house and love the look of your floors. I am deciding between white oak and a wider plank engineered wood. Any input is appreciated!

Thanks

@Kristin Mirda, what is that gorgeous blue patterned tile?

Old thread, but love how the floor turned out. One option often not considered is quarter sawn red oak. It looks a lot like quarter sawn white but matches better to existing red.

When white oak prices are high red quarter sawn is often less expensive.

I know this is an old thread but I just really needed to say thank you!

Didn't see it but did anyone in this thread bleach their red oak stair treads to match their light white oak floors?

@swingrove85 I’m definitely still neurotic about people coming in the house all wet, if you have wet dogs/kids & you’re looking to avoid a nervous breakdown- pick engineered. Also, water seeped in the front door during a hurricane😖 the wood bowed a bit, but you can’t tell at all. I do adore the floors still after nearly 5 years! What’d you go with??!!

Maria M. The blue tile is from “The Cement Tile Shop”- so fun, right!!