Green minimizes the pink by turning it brown. You can't minimize the pink without using a stain that has a green component unless you're willing to bleach the wood before staining. This would entail using a two part wood bleach and applying two coats before staining.

Hi Tim. Thanks for answering. Not going to bleach first. Can you advise which duraseal has a green component to minimize the pink? Thanks so much

green base or ashy based stains, won't look greeen on something that's red. that's color science 101. green will neutralize red. (same premise happens w/dying hair)

what do your samples look like? After 20 you can't pick one?

maybe you want natural?

Hi we’ve picked a few and then after applying water poly and letting them dry, they look green. I was originally trying to match as sample of engineered wood, which is impossible. Was just looking for a more modern twist and tried a lot of mixes. as well as non mixes. It looks different in various places in the house.

Here’s a small sampling of what we’ve tried…

provencial is prob your best bet if you want a medium-dark brown w/no red

50/50 spec walnut and jacobean is another one. maybe a tad darker

What are you going for? Light, medium, dark? Brown, gray?

Hi Sofia. Was originally hoping for a brown/gray medium brown. Light doesn’t work there, we tried. I’m not at all against a deep rich dark brown either..just don’t want it to look dated.

@Beth thanks for your recommendation

I’ve also been thinking about going with a deep rich dark brown. Found this photo online of two potential 50/50 mixes. The top one might be more red than you like.

Duraseal Aged Barrel is very nice. A bit of gray mixed with a rich brown. This is shown on Red Oak.

@sofia If you have a choice I would suggest white oak, not red. Less issues picking a stain. We already had red oak from the previous owner, so we had to match the existing and sand and stain all. That’s why mixes are giving me such a hard time.

@kristin thank you so much for positing this picture. It’s what I’m looking for but for some reason my floor guy keeps telling me it’ll be very gray. I just don’t want it to be too trendy because I’m not redoing my floors anytime soon! This is looks amazing! I love this!

That’s for the suggestion on white oak. It may come down to budget. We’ve made decisions to go over budget on some things with our new build, but can’t do that with everything :) Looking forward to seeing where you end up. Please keep us posted!

@sofia I definitely will and I totally understand being budget conscious! We have been as well.

Here's a wider room view. It doesn't look too gray to me, but they should sample it on your flooring first.

The Aged barrel someone mentioned is nice, though we just made a sample of it on some Pine that was red and it didn't look great. It might be better on Oak. Other colors with green tone are Jacobean, Coffee Brown and Ebony. You can use Coffee with a mix of White and Neutral to make a nice creamy brown, or use more white to achieve a gray/brown.

Water popping before staining will make the hard grain darker, minimizing the projection of red tones, though you may want to temper the darkness of the stain with Neutral to keep the whole thing from becoming too dark.

@tim I really appreciate your detailed feedback! Very helpful!

@kristin thanks it looks beautiful! My kitchen island is iron ore and so is my front door so I was a bit concerned about what floor stain to pick. The rest of the kitchen cabinets are decorator white and the walls are chantilly lace (?) but I want to make sure it all works together, of course. Thanks for the photos! So helpful!

This is Rustic Beige on Red Oak with a similar cabinet color combination.

@kristin thank you! The visuals really help me!

@jmandelkern1 Hi! Would you mind sharing what you decided, please? Any pics? Same dilemma I’m in now. Thank you!

Hi Kara. We went with duraseal Aged Barrel and Bona Traffic HD extra Matte. I actually had posted some pictures on another post but happy to send again if you need. I must say we are VERY happy with our choice.

Hi! Would you please share pictures of your Aged Barrel?

Hi Tammy. I’ve actually posted some pictures on a different discussion thread I started but let me see if I can send you some on here. If you want more please message me and I’m happy to share Hope this helps

About to refinish our red oak floors and im having such a hard time deciding! ive been leaning towards aged barrel. it is beautiful in the above pics, but I’m hopinh it isnt too dark. my stair treads are black, and i want a good contrast. the wood is also in the kitchen and kitchen will be all white. opinions, please please!

I dont know what current stain is but its very traditional

Hi Jennifer. We have the aged barrel as shown on the pictures above and we are thrilled. I would suggest trying an actual sample on your floor in various spots (and with whatever finish you want to go with) so you can see it in different lights and against different places. Hope this helps.

jmandelkern1 how are you liking the Aged Barrel now? Has it turned pink at all? We think this is what we want to go with too, so curious if you have any regrets. Thanks.

@jmandelkern1 what are the 2 stain on the top right of your test samples picture with 13 samples? I'm also picking stains, mixing stains that will neutralize the green.

We chose 50/50 Jacobean/Classic Grey in some light it looks a bit brown and in others a little grey. We love the color on red oak. Give it a try

@jmandelkern1 I know your post was a while ago - wondering if you remember the mix of your duraseal Aged Barrel and Bona Traffic HD extra Matte? I like how deep the color looks and how it picks up on gray. I want to use this on my stairs. So hard to match over red oak. Duraseal's stain gallery only shows images on white oak. Definitely not the same! Thanks!