When combining the red tone of the oak with the red tone of the stain, you ended up creating a color result that has a ton of red tones in it.

At this point, the only way you can really do anything about it (without having to refinish the surface, which means you will have one less refinish that the wood can handle having done) is to stain the floor VERY dark. It will still have red tones, but ideally they won't look so obviously red/orange. I used a dark brown with green/ashy undertones to neutralize the barn red color of our deck and achieved a more neutral brown solid stain result.

Thanks. I'm.so sad. I thought I researched this thoroughly. From the sounds of it, I'm going to have to live with it. 😪 We don't want to go dark. And our floor company doesn't have green to mix with the sealant. So very bummed.

The floor company can't go to a paint/stain store and get a green tinted light/medium brown to put over what's there, and THEN seal the whole thing?

They said they'd have to special order it, and it would be an "experiment."

I'm so bummed because I specifically said we wanted a stain to neutralize the red.

Stain has to soak into the wood. When you start adding additional coats, it sits on the surface, and retards adhesion of the top coat. The only real safe way to get the color that you want is to sand again to bare wood and start over.

Your flooring company sounds like they should be replaced so you can hire someone else... :P

A store that only sells paint/stain products (like a Sherwin Williams) should have a green tinted light/medium brown in stock, no special orders that take forever to arrive - depending on how busy the place is all you have to do is wait for them to finish mixing the brown with the green tint using the power mixer.

Yes it would be an experiment, but if I could dye my hair red (red over green = brown) to correct the color mistake that left me with greenish streaks - the paint/stain is a concept that follows the same logic to a successful outcome. And only people who go inside your house will see it, if my hair hadn't turned out the way it was supposed to with the red dye application, I'd have been stuck going out in public like that until it faded/grew out. :P

The stain used looks like it's a semi-sheer/sheer, so depending on how many coats of that has been put down, doing one with the green tinted brown will sink into the wood just fine. Won't be able to seal it until it properly sets, but still can do so once it has.

I hope you grow to like your beautiful floors. They are not red, just warm in tone, which many people these days perceive as orange compared to all the gray toned wood flooring that seems to be the trend these days. Your floors are a classic color that will look lovely with all styles of furniture. They bring warmth to a room. You can use a lot of gray/white/black furniture and decor if you choose and the room won’t look cold. Your floor will not readily show dust or scratches. I know this because my red oak floors are stained with Early American which is a similar stain color to Special Walnut.

Your floor color will stand the test of time.

Special Walnut is not a red stain. Compare it to Sedona Red and Red Chestnut in this stain chart. Yes, Special Walnut will appear a little redder on red oak than on white oak, but it is definitely not red.

Oops forgot to post the stain chart

Two of the stains on the left and one on the right are decidedly more yellow than they are orange or red. Then there are four reds, and three orange. :)

She used Duraseal not Minwax. And stain needs to be one coat. As mentioned above you start doing multiple coats and you very well be asking for adhesion issues. Choose wisely.

The guys did two coats on my deck, but used a 'solid stain' which is more like a paint than actual stain. :P

They showed me some options of putting grayish or whitish shades over the Special Walnut, but I'm afraid they are too cold !& trendy, and would mess up what we have. It doesn't look as bad in the daylight as it did to me at night and early morning. We are lacking some overhead lighting at this phase in our project. I'm hoping good lighting will make a difference.

See, I prefer the grayish tones and so forth, as long as they are cool based shades I like them. We have wood cabinets and LVP flooring that is brown with a hint of red to them, so I picked a neutral gray paint (Sherwin Williams light french gray), neutral gray carpet, and then various blues/greens/grays for the sofa with chaise/other decor items. A balance between the neutral-ish and cool tones that didn't look awful with the slightly reddish brown wood of the cabinets/LVP and all my wooden furniture pieces.

It can be done! ;)

I'm hoping we can work with the floor we have. We have new Dove White cabinets, and a navy buffet will be built in soon (both with stainless steel pulls). An off-white backsplash and a Quartz (Minuet) counter will be going in. SW Accessible Beige for the walls. Do you think that will help balance the super warm floor? I am so bad at envisioning the big picture. Wish I had a designer's eye.

The floors are fine. Don’t much about with trying to put anything else on top unless you want things to peel later on down the line.

Look at the photos in this article. The floors are bamboo and lighter than yours but also note the warm wood color of the built in cabinetry in the bedroom and bathroom. These warm wood tones add color and go beautifully with the grays and blues in the home.

Your choices sound lovely with your floor, especially the navy buffet.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/an-inviting-contemporary-home-with-a-focus-on-art-stsetivw-vs~128645009

Thanks, all! ❤

I think it will turn out beautiful Jodi! I know the feeling so very well of being overwhelmed with the decisions you made and in the moment it’s the only thing you can focus on and consumes you. But in a few days and weeks that feeling will disappear and you’ll have something else on your mind. Enjoy the house I’m sure it will turn out amazing!

That's so kind of you to say! Thank you so much, T! These things that should be so fun do often turn so stressful with the time and expense involved...Trying to keep my eye on the prize. Much less stressed than I was this morning. I really appreciate the words of encouragement. 🙂

I know exactly how you feel! I felt that gut sickening feeling so many times during our build. But we closed a few weeks ago and I’m trying to enjoy it now!

Thank you so much, SJ! That is great information! I did not realize you should wait 6 months on rugs. Thanks for the save! I was thinking I could add them after a couple weeks. You are right about the sealer. I am already seeing a difference after one coat. 🙂 As you can see, our renovation project has a little ways to go. But I am feeling much better & looking forward to the outcome! Thanks, again!

I know. You are doing fine. The anxiety of it all caught up with you at a point where everyone's does...just before the end. The floor looks good. As you can see the time of the day makes a big difference. That's the way it should be. You have a beautiful floor with a great colour and a great finish. Just breathe. By the time you are all finished, you will look back on the floor issue and smile. Sometimes things happen for a reason.

Is it bad to use an oil poly?

Define "bad". If you mean is it bad to have yellow/orange floors? Only you can say what is pretty and what is ugly. If you mean is it bad to have floors that give off strong chemical odours for 30+ days? Only you can say what you can handle and what you can't.

Is it bad to have a floor that takes 15 days to cure (before you can move furniture back in)? Only you can say whether or not that is a bad thing. Is it bad to have a finish that could be illegal in California and 11 other states because of impossibly high VOC content? Depends on where you sit in the 'Air Quality' debate.

Glad to know SJ but how does anyone not put rugs down for 6 months? I just sanded and stained my living room floor and can't imagine not putting furniture in and being able to use it for 6 more months. Hopefully someday we can come up with more durable floor products so that's not necessary.

I just read this thread because I also used Special Walnut on my white oak floors thinks they would be lighter and less orange. I cried after it was done but I am starting to love them as others have told me they are classic and timeless. Did your floors lighten up at all? I am using a lot of modern decor, black and greys!