Heart Pine Floor Stain dilemma

10 years ago

I own a 1907 3 floor home which we are looking to refinish the 2&1/2" Heart Pine floors in. My dilemma is that we renovated the third floor a while back and sadly had to add same width but Oak flooring in. I chose Ispwich Pine Minwax stain at the time to blend these floors in to match the rest of the house.

Now we are ready to redo the rest of Boise floors and I don't want to redo the top floor.

I don't want ebony dark floors but was thinking of staggering the darkness of the stain as we went down the stairs.

I was thinking of using Dark Walnut or Provincial with some Dk. Walnut added for all treads of the large staircase. Then use Early American or jump straight into Provincial for the second floors and then a shade darker for the 1st floor by adding more Dk. Walnut to Provincial or even some Jacobean.

Heart Pine can be very yellow/red and I am trying to dumb that down a little in the other 2 floors to give it be more of a modern feel without being too dark on the floors.

Can some one give me some advice on transitioning from one stain color to the next without it looking like you've messed up and that it was a deliberate design choice?

I've attached some pics of current floor color to show you the reddish yellow it currently is. Excuse the Transformers - that's my twin boys :)

Many Thanks in advance, Sally

Featured Answer

Sally Wright
Original Author

9 years ago

Thank you for all the really helpful advice! We made the jump and used Early American throughout the 1st and 2nd floors and are in love. The color flowed perfectly between the heart pine and the oak treads of the stairs and is just enough depth of color to modernize the heart pine without it losing its beauty in the variation you get with such a wood species.

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Comments (7)

PRO
Diana Bier Interiors, LLC
10 years ago
The beauty of heart pine is in the color! Don't try to make it something it is not, rather showcase its natural beauty! I have it in a family room, not only on the floor, but the window and door casings, base and ceiling moldings, fireplace mantel (to the cathedral ceiling) and truss beams. We finished it natural with clear polyurethane on the floor and tung oil on all the other surfaces. It was done 25 years ago and still looks amazing!
jhmarie
10 years ago
My upstairs oak floors are slightly darker than my downstairs oak floors and my pine stairs are darker than both:) The stairs are closer to the upstairs color which is good because downstairs they land on tile so there is a little separation between oak floor and pine stairs.

My stairs:

My pics -work in progress: · More Info
My upstairs oak:

My kitchen in progress: · More Info
The doors are natural oak - fortunately work with the gunstock oak upstairs and the natural oak on the main level.

It is not perfect but it works because old houses are just that way - it is part of their charm.

If you are doing the main floor and the stairs now, and the stairs land on the wood floor, match them the best you can and do not worry about upstairs. In really old houses, the species of wood often changes from floor to floor - ending in the least expensive at the top where the servants quarters were.
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northface99
9 years ago
I agree, don't match floors. Just match the stairs from the floor below up to the next floor. I wouldn't stain the floors either. I've rehabbed floors with a mixture of turpentine and linseed oil, but you have to move out for a couple of weeks while the smell dies down, so that's probably not an option for you!
PRO
Scott Design, Inc.
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Consider the color of the oak grain as your guide for staining the pine floors. It will be a very nice transition. Try English Chestnut. It has a warm base and depending on how the Ipswich took to the oak, it would work with the oak grain. Early American is a good color for blending and is more of a brown stain. Both do not emphasize the grain as much as the walnut stains.

The current orange color is from the coating, typically shellac or petroleum based urethane that resulted from exposure to UV light over the years. Once it is sanded, the wood will be much lighter. If you wipe a cloth with mineral spirits across a few boards, you will see how the wood will accept stain. Since pine and fir have more of an open cell structure, I suggest you condition the pine to minimize blotching. I also suggest you stay away from anything "walnut". The black pigment will only serve to over-emphasize the wide grain and color variations along with any potential blotching, damage and less-than-professional repairs. When the flooring is a multitude of 2 1/4" strips, emphasizing such variations can be unappealing. If the boards were wider, the transition of grain pattern and color from one board to another would be more visually appreciated. Whatever you decide, do test patches vs. the Ipswich floor color and see how the sanded pine accepts the stain first.
Jim_Livia Monteforte
4 years ago
Gorgeous floors! Love the color choice you selected. Did you go with a satin finish or a matte? We are trying to decide the same on our heart Pine antique floors currently :)
Hannah
3 years ago
@Sally Wright -- we are thinking of refinishing our heart pine floors. Yours turned out so nice -- are you still enjoying the color (has it changed, become redder, over time)?