I can't help you with your current problem, but I kind of think that folks who are going to notice every tiny dent and scratch in a wood floor shouldn't have wood floors. Your floors have a lot of grain, nice variation - I imagine that no one but you would have noticed that little dent.

Are they engineered floors? Can you have the damaged piece replaced?

Yes, that’s why I’m so mad at myself since no one one would noticed the dent and I should have just left it alone. I’ll never do that again, that’s for sure😢. No, they are not engineered. I’m going to have the flooring company come back out (they are on vacation so it will be a couple weeks), and I’m sure I’ll have to pay them a pretty penny to just touch up that mark. And just hope it will blend. I just don‘t know what caused it? I assume the paint stain even tho it was just a tiny bit and I wiped it off immediately after ...

@ksc36 thanks! Will it really? Or it just an Illusion since I won’t be starting at it anymore🙈

The stain is just that...stain. The FINISH is the stuff sitting on top that gives it a sheen. Stain is always matte. Your finish looks to be a satin or a semi-gloss. It is *possible you can find a 'finish pen' (a small metal tube with a brush tip that is full of polyurethane/urethane) and give your finish a touch up.

A flooring professional will have a 'job minimum' for a quick visit. That is to say they will charge you 4 hours of work for a 15 minute visit. If they bill out at $50/hr (a common hourly amount) and then charge you 4 hours for the visit.

Go and visit a Home Depot, Rona, Lowe's etc and visit the flooring section. See if they have a finish pen in satin and semi-gloss. Purchase both of them. Try out the satin on the stain. Let it dry. See if the finish matches. If it doesn't then try the semi-gloss. Repeat the repair.

If you botch it up completely you can always call the flooring company to repair the spot. At that point you will get a little bit more than a 15 minute visit....which makes it worth the while.

As for dark wood floors...they are HE!! to live with. They always look dusty. They show the lighter wood if you have a large dent or a heavy scratch (that gets through to the wood). They are the least forgiving of all the wood colours. A natural wood colour (ie. no stain at all) or a medium toned floor (like mushroom brown) would have been the most forgiving wood floors you can imagine.

And yes wood dents. A pot. A pan. A mug. All will dent wood if dropped from a standing position. It's what wood does. The dents are removed the next time you do a full sand and refinish (in 25 years from now). Other things crack/break. They need to be removed and repaired.

@SJ McCarthy thank you so much!

It's sort of late in the game at this point, but what you're experiencing is why I've been recommending various options in finish "styles" for over 40 years. Traditionalists push for the "sand in place" smooth finishes, whereas my preferences (due to those 40+ years experience) have been to suggest or recommend (when asked) something in a more "forgiving" format.

Options range from smooth with a wire-brushed "lightly textured" surface, to a wide variety of hand-scraped or "distressed" styles. There are choices in that realm that lean toward a more subtle result, and they'll even cohabitate readily in a contemporary or traditional design.

The key is to avoid that "piano-top" finish which will emphasize any mishap, which let's face it, is part of everyday life if you're a floor.

What I've always contended was, that a "distressed style" finish doesn't HAVE to look like it's been home to the Clydesdales.

Let me see if I have this right. It sounds like "distressed style" floors are supposed to look kind of like a century home's neglected original floors with a new finish brushed on, but without sanding first.

I give up. I'll never grok 21st century home decorating ideas.

TTJ, don't lose too much sleep over this. It just doesn't look that bad, and I bet that the weird shine will dissipate in a few days or weeks. By that time you'll have found far more important things to think about anyway.

Don't worry that you'll be embarrassed when guests come over. If you keep them entertained well, they'll never even notice your floors. Heck, most won't look down even if you don't entertain them well.