G & S, Would it be unheard of/really difficult to start over with a different stain?

You can try to layer a darker color like provincial on top. Test an area first. Otherwise, best bet is to start all over.

Applying a second coat of stain can be risky and lead to adhesion failure. It can work, but the risk of failure jumps very, very high.

This is red oak. Red, orange and cinnamon = to be expected. If you want to get rid of the red, you need to go dark. And the stain needs to have green undertones. It is very difficult to get a 'mid tone' stain on red oak that is NOT red/orange/cinnamon/salmon coloured. The darker you go the more you can HIDE the red. Midtones don't hide anything - they can enhance, but they don't hide.

And this stain looks perfect for Early American. I'm going to guess the test patch was not viewed during all 5 different lighting stages of a day. Did you view the stain patch with a coat of finish over it?

Thanks, Cancork. While I initially wanted to avoid using dark colors like Jacobean, I now realize that may have been the way to go, and I also realize that my expectations were completely unrealistic. We did have a 2x2 test patch stained, but no poly, over one week before the job started, so we did get to live with it and see it at all times of day. Some parts of our floor are patched in, as we recently removed two walls to create a more open floor plan, so even though the sample covered a piece of both patches, it probably wasn't big enough to account for the variations.

The Flooring BlogIMO that looks like a beautiful floor. Unfortunately if you don't like it now, once the oil based poly is applied (Im assuming you're using oil-based for longevity and durability) the red oak will look even a bit more orange, and over time, will amber further. With Red Oak, you really have to expect the wide variation of hues it naturally holds. We, professionally, don't ever recommend applying a 2nd coat of stain, simply because of what Cancork mentioned above (adhesion failure of the finish) but if you want a different stain, they will have to re-sand, and definitely water pop prior to the stain, it's crucial for deep penetrating colors. You can see from your photos how the naturally more open grains of the red oak are darker, while the straight tighter grains are the lighter color. Water popping will open everything up and allow for more even and consistent color. Provincial is pretty dark when applied after water-popping. If you were to have your flooring people water-pop and apply a Jacobean, it would look a lot like a black floor. Something like Coffee brown or provincial may be something you should see if you like.

Good luck!

Water-popping

The Flooring Blog

If you want to salvage what's been done, want it more brown but not too much darker and don't mind using oil poly I would suggest you have your finisher make a sample using oil poly tinted with ebony stain. We have used a maximum of 8 oz. per gallon but I'd recommend a sample at 4oz. per gallon. The green tone in the ebony will counteract the red. If a sample looks good, do the whole floor. If it looks good after that one coat of clear on top and you'll be done.

@kellykct - could you share what stain color or solution you ended up using? (Tinted poly, second coat, Re-sand?) we had this EXACT issue today - same wall

colors even - and I am super bummed.