Just one little tip..usually oak stains with a reddish or golden hue...even white oak evidently...people post many times on this venue that the stain they chose amped up these hues...may want to avoid stains with these undertones...both are limiting in your other color choices for your room...might add that most people yearn for the color you apparently have...

Thanks for the tip. This is the color of our floor. I haven't heard of many people loving this color. I feel like warmer, medium tones are more popular.

This is so what many people want these days! I always wonder why they get oak if this is what they are after

Are you sure there is not something already on it to make it look this white...maybe a wash?

Have you sanded any of it yet to see what happens to the color?

We are moving in August (relocating about 1,000 miles), so we can't do much from a distance unfortunately. I think we'll be purchasing white oak pieces and testing some stains or checking out a local store that carries this brand of stain. Looks like it will need to be sanded a good amount before refinishing and staining. We don't want to go too dark, but just darker than white oak. :)

To be sure these things are never easy...and to be honest any efforts in advance will probably be wasted...there is no way to tell what the result of sanding or stripping will be...or what result a stain will have on wood that has already been stained or treated...usually this is a job for a really experienced professional...and your efforts may be more rewarded by researching such a professional in your new area

I think the present color would go well with a Scandinavian vibe.

No way are we planning to do this ourselves. :) We have a professional lined up, I'm just looking for real examples of stains on white oak as they are harder to find online than I thought. People will say "Provincial stain" without including the wood, etc. Thanks!

My bad ...my message wasn't as clear as I thought...my reference to a professional was really suggesting that they would know the right color stain to get the color you want...if you pick the stain and it doesn't work ...it's on you...but like anything else if you have a sample of the finished color you want on any piece of wood...that always works better than words

Ah, I see. Thanks for your tips! You gave me an idea...actually as silly as it sounds, I might even mail them a piece of wood with the exact color stain we want. That way if our oak is taking the stain differently they can adjust accordingly. It's just so hard doing this from 1000 miles away! But we'd rather get it done before unpacking. It will be nice to move into our first home with some nice wood floors! I've always rented. So tired of it!!! :)

Wow, people want pale wood or grey tones all the time. But a natural finish should be easy to obtain too.

People do stain white oak all the time too, or refinish it in a natural hue.

This one mentions Bona, but only a topcoat. Minwax seems to be most common.

See ...how cool is that...two great minds!..what a relief if that can happen .... Just move in ...nice new floors

Just another cautionary measure...make two samples keep one send one..

Thanks Cancork Floor for all the tips. It does look like Bona does have stains and they are called the same things as Minwax. Likely they kept the names the same for consistency?

https://www.bona.com/Global/Countries/United%20States/Brochures/DriFast%20Color%20Samples.pdf

Looking at the Bona website you posted their stains are shown on red oak so they will look very different on your white oak. The light in the house is also going to determine how the colors look

Thanks, yup, it makes this very fun. :) I think I'm going to order some white oak pieces and get some samples made. We're not extremely picky luckily. We've never owned hardwood, so we're just happy and thankful to have it in our first house!

This should go well...any change will eliminate the whitish...grayish...part you don't like...and oak naturally goes into the warmer tones that you are after...sometimes you get more info than you need but you seem to have a clear grasp of it all...if you want to share photos when it is done it will be fun for all of us to see...

Yes, I'll share pics! We won't be moving until August, so it will be a while.

Congratulations on your new home! Do you have a moment between unpacking to show us the pics of the floor? We're installing white oak floors right now and I'm trying to pick the perfect Bona stain. Would love to see what you came up with.

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the help. We are still neck deep in boxes.

It turns out that our floors were *RED OAK*.... our realtor was confused because there was a white wash over the red oak floors.

So we picked everything out based on white oak, but decided to just go with Early American Bona anyways. We used the low VOC water based BONA traffic sealer. Important upgrade to us. We LOVE the color... it's dark enough but light enough to not show stains. Our floor person said that people often regret going too dark, so we are happy with this decision. (we are painting over the dark brown walls soon)...

Red oak floors with Early American stain by BONA... water based sealer by BONA (traffic).

Wow they did a beautiful job!...a success story in a situation where lots of things could have gone wrong...enjoy your new home ...

Hi and apologies for dredging up an old thread. May I ask which Traffic product was used and what sheen level you chose for the sealer? They have Traffic Naturale, Traffic and Traffic HD all with different sheens. Your floor looks BEAUTIFUL and I like that it's not too shiny! Thank you for following up with photos as well. You made my stain decision much easier now! Early American was one of the top 5!

We just replaced all of the white oak hardwoods in our home due to water damage. I have spent countless hours researching so I feel confident in replying to this thread. The 2nd coat of Bona Traffic (matte) HD was applied 5 days ago and I am very pleased. We have a lot of windows in our home and I took that into consideration when choosing this level of sheen. Because I have dark cabinets in my kitchen, I chose to have a clear coat of "stain" on my white oak floors before they applied polyurethane. If you have few windows or little light, I'd recommend a the next level of sheen, though.

What would your choice be for this look? I am second guessing white oak after seeing how is darkens when even clear coated. Thanks.

How do I know if my oak floors are white or red oak ?
Sorry if it’s a silly question.
Mine are from the late 60’s They have oranges a lot over the years. We want to have them sanded down just to a more natural state .

This post started in 2016

@Lisa Pearen it would help with identification if you post photos. My guess would be red oak since they have gone more orange. Oak floors are beautiful and timeless.

This is my Oak flooring. Hopefully we can make it nice a light shade. I don’t care for the orange colour it has now.

lewhip do you think they are red oak?

They look like red oak to me. The finish on them may have also affected the color as it aged. Once you sand them they'll look beautiful!

It’s happening next week !! I will post the finished floors! I can’t wait !!

Before and after

Lisa, what stain is this?

Bona clear

Lisa, were they red oak or white?