Love the aged barrel.

I like the one on the right!!

The third one down on the right is about perfect as it's gray with some warmth. You don't want to overload gray in a room as it can get gloomy looking.

The right side is all the same samples in all pics. Just different lighting and locations in the room.

The lighter one

I like the lighter one, too! Very nice! The darker one hides all the warm character and looks like it's constantly in a shadow, almost dingy even in all three lighting.

Another vote for the right!

Hi! We are deciding on warm grey on red oak too. What does adding neutral do to it?

BTW which did you pick and I’d love to see photos!

Cd you need your flooring guy to make samples on your floor. Do you have white oak? Red oak? What kind of finish is being used? Why grey?

Our flooring guy put down samples last night after their first round of sanding. He didn’t bring Warm Grey, so he’s putting a sample down this morning.

I have red oak and plan to do Bona Traffic HD. I like grey with a hint of warmth. The previous owner did a Swedish finish on them (not sure which color stain) and they were very orange.

This is a photo of my friend’s house with red oak and Duraseal Warm Grey. It turned out really nice.

These are samples of my floor with the grey stains (L-R): boba grey, Duraseal dark grey, silver grey, rustic beige. Bottom: classic grey

I have a section of new red oak, which is much more pink than the original boards (15 yrs old). In fact I don’t see any red in the original red oak boards.

You can’t evaluate the color until he puts a coat of finish on. All the top ones are too grey imho

He put Bona AmberSeal on the top half but I didn’t like it (so I didn’t post that photo). I like the far right color in Rustic Beige, it had less pink showing through. I agree the others are too grey. I’m thinking Rustic Beige or Warm Grey (which I’ll see soon).

Pic of Rustic Beige with the AmberSeal on the top half

@CD - I hope that I haven’t repeated myself by asking you for photos of your final floor! I’ve looked at several posts here on Houzz and I’m worried that I may have hit one of your earlier today! Thanks!

@dcmac1108 here are some photos of our red oak with the “warm grey” stain. I see some purple and blues come through but overall has a soft grey tone that turned out nicely once the kitchen and furniture was back in. If I were to do it again, I would have added a touch of “Jacobean” to cancel the red tones more.

@CD I really appreciate your post - your home is beautiful! Also - your comment re: the tones you actually see in your floor is VERY helpful. It’s very difficult to know if what I see in a photo on my screen is accurate. I definitely want to help limit blue/purple/red tones, so I’ll ask my floors guy to add a sample of the warm grey with a little Jacobean in it.

While I’ve learned so much lurking around on Houzz, life sure was easier back in the old days! When I built my house, I don’t even remember choosing the “white” paint used on my ceiling or trim - or the stain color for my floors. I’m pretty sure it was just whatever was the “norm” back then!

I truly appreciate your help!

Post photos of how it turned out!

Why is neutral added to these gray colors? what is the benefit? im about to stay my red oaks and plan to sample aged barrel, dark and warm gray

Curious to know if you chose the aged barrel or grey for floors? making the same decision myself.

@aciochetto Supposedly if you add Jacobean stain mixed with a grey stain, it helps to cancel the red tones in red oak. I didn't know about this until after we used only 'warm grey' and noticed there's still a reddish hue coming through. Now that all of my furniture is back in, I don't really notice it anymore. I'm really happy about how it turned out.

@kimlm

Here are some comparison photos when I tested aged barrel, dark grey, grey and warm grey.