House will be black and white if that makes a difference to your opinion

Is the thought that dark floors go better with the house or just look better overall?

I will never have a floor that dark in my life. Did it once,never again. Not even now with the kids mostly grown & gone. That said,there are many shades between those two options. But,if I had to pick just between those two, Scandinavian. Also,are these going to be solid floors?

I had medium stained wood in my last house and dark floors in our current house. It’s just the two of us and I find myself vacuuming every day as every piece of dust or lint shows up. I can’t imagine the upkeep with kids and pets, though my son has dark floors with three kids. It’s up to you with how laid back you can be and not stress over the daily detritus of children and pets.

Can you get light floors now and if you later (after kids are okder) want dark, you can try re-staining them then?

Light, Scandinavian floors do not go with that style house at all. And the others are right--dark floors show every mote of dust (and if they are prefinished, with beveled edges, even more so).

But the bigger issue is wear. Years from now, you will never be able to refinish those floors as they are new. For practical purposes, you are much better off with a natural, clear finish.

I would love to see a French Limed Walnut. It would be a beautiful, timeless look and be not too dark and not too light. I will get example for you. Bbl

Here is a choice you might like.

@Flo ManganI do really like that! I love wide plank floors. We would be refinishing 2.25inch oak floors

yes! flo mangan’s pics above!

We have light flooring downstairs (similar to your Scandinavian look above) and just did dark upstairs (similar to your dark floors above).

I'm very OCD when it comes to having a clean house, and I actually notice less dust, dirt, etc., upstairs than I do downstairs AND I much prefer the dark timeless look upstairs.

What kind of wood will you be refinishing? It makes a significant difference, especially for the lighter option. You may not be able to go light and achieve the tones in your example pictures.

This is my house (the listing picture). There is a lot of light in this picture so our floors really appear darker than this. People always come in and comment that they love our floors. I love the looks of our dark floors but I’m blond, my 7 year old is blond and I have a golden color dog and live where there is Bermuda grass that goes dormant (dead and light colored) every winter. Between those 4 things, the constant mess on our floors drives me insane- everything shows. If you have blonde hair or a light dog, don’t do dark floors unless mess doesn’t bother you. I’m too ocd. Our old house had the honey colored floors (think 2000) and we didn’t have this issue. I’d go mid toned like the above pic.

Medium brown wood stain...not espresso and not the current trend of white oak farmstyle. You have a very classic home. Keep the finishes classic and timeless.

Lighter natural floors are more forgiving when it comes to showing damage too. Also the mix of tones work well with a variety of other woods in a home.

A mid-tone brown in the cool tones will offer the drama you are looking for without the headache of the dark floor syndrome. Something like Provincial will do very nicely on a traditional 2" plank floor. It looks VERY handsome and very much in place with the overall age/appearance of the home.

White oak will take stain in medium direction you want. But it has more grain so that picks up more stain. So you will have some variability of overall look. Get some white oak planks and test out various stains til you get the look you desire. Get some Ebony so you can darken as needed but keep track of ratios.

One more thing. Also, test in a unobtrusive spot on your existing wood. New oak is different than older wood so it will look a bit different too likely. Testing is very important.

I asked the OP what kind of wood they have. I didn't get an answer. Where did they refer to White Oak? The only reference to existing floor that I see is " We would be refinishing 2.25inch oak floors". The light taupe and gray tones being suggested would be difficult, if not impossible to achieve on a Red Oak floor. BTW, Red Oak is MORE grainy than White Oak because Red Oak pores are more open, resulting in surface "valleys" that fill with stain. White Oak grain is largely filled with tyloses, which is why it's preferred by boat builders.

https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/distinguishing-red-oak-from-white-oak/

I’m not sure if it’s red or white oak. This is how it looks now

I’ve seen how the NordicSeal looks on red oak and I think it still looks okay. I don’t want ebonized floors but I just don’t really like the medium tone much. The current floors look redder in person than the photo.

It looks mixed to me.

Hmm. Can't tell from the pics but if I have to guess, first would be Red Oak, followed by a mix of Red and White. It looks beveled, which means it was probably prefinished. Over the years, most prefinished Oak floors were Red Oak.

I rather like NordicSeal on Red Oak and I'm generally more of a fan of White Oak.

Here is a Scandinavian inspired project we completed in WA. The clients used our White Oak with Bona Naturale' finish. It turned out really nice!

Johnson Flooring Co Incthe floors are original to the house which was builtin 1912. Im not sure if that makes a difference for prefinished vs not. Personally I prefer white oak but we'd prefer to not rip out all the floors and replace them with the white plank white oaks (which I would love to do but we dont have the $$$ haha)

I think I could also see doing natural and not a white seal, The Fox Group does this a lot and I really like it.

1912? Wow! Those lines I see in the end of boards in the second picture must just be gaps. Post a closer picture and the wood can probably be identified. The length of the rays is the best way to tell. Check the link I posted above for details.

You need a timeless look with that house, not modern or trendy. We had red oak in our last house and used a custom mix of stain (not sure what it was, though). We had our floor installer put several different blends on the floor so that we could get the perfect balance of not too light, not too dark, not too red/orange, etc. I'm sure that whomever you use could do the same for you.

I also saw these floors by another Houzz user and I love the color for a dark. Would this also show a lot of dirt?

Not as much as a really dark floor.

Are the floors in the last pic you posted white oak or red oak? I'm guessing they are white oak and if that is the look you want, it's going to be harder (if not impossible) to achieve on your floors, which appear to be red oak. Do a google search for medium stained white oak floors and medium stained red oak floors. You'll quickly see the difference in undertone for the stains. Personally, I prefer white oak but we did red oak because we got it for a steal and were doing over 4000 sf of it.

shead they were originally red oak floors in that last photo

You can tell those are red oak because of the pink undertone. The only way to not get pink is to go really dark. And that is why I think your's are mixed because most of it looks red but then there are some blonde slats. The natural ones you posted are likely white oak. You'll see when you get it sanded, but if you don't want pink go dark. And I love you house.

I guess it's my monitor because I don't see the pink undertone in the Houzz photo you last posted. If those were red oak, they did a very good job toning down the red. These were my red oak in a medium stain and you can definitely see the red undertone:

My SIL did a darker stain on her floors and she says the cleaning is brutal.

sheadthanks for sharing. This medium tone looks really good. I might prefer it a tad bit darker but that still looks good and I dont really see the red THAT much. That said looking at the Nordic Seal from Bona on red oak doesnt appear to be too pink to me

That looks like mixed to me.

White oak also has less grain.

When I saw the outside of your house [love it-so nicely proportioned], I thought of light floors--natural, clear sealer/stain, or a lighter medium stain.

I have brazilian cherry floors and they do show dirt--we have 2 cats and every bit of dirt shows. I love them, but would go for something else next time.

Over White Oak the Bona Nordic Seal is a really nice option. I used it on my own floors with beautiful results.

Just wanted to come back and update and say that we did go with light floors, just not THAT light although I wish I had gone LIGHTER

Wonderful. Can you explain why you wish you had gone lighter?

I wanted a bit more of a European feel than what we ended up with