I think to try to match 60 yr old oak to the new oak is never really going to happen even the grain will be different I think it would have probably been better to just get all new but now IMO it will depend on how thw kitchen is going to be layed out and until that is on paper and decided there is no way to know how much will actully show. If it had been mine I would have gone a dark stain since you have lots of windows .

Thanks. We toyed with ripping the entire floor up, but we made trade offs with other design decisions and simply could

not fit it in the budget!

The darker stain would have been an interesting approach and honestly was not something we had considered. The entire house is hardwoods with a natural finish, so we kind of locked into keeping that kind of color scheme.

When you get furniture and rugs the flooring will be less obvious. Right now you have nothing to distract the eye.

The only way to truly "blend" 60 yr old to new wood would be a custom stain on both sections. It looks like the contractor did a good job - with rugs and furniture, it will be much less obvious.

We have done the same thing in our 60 year old cape cod house. I think your floors look beautiful and they will blend over time. Like someone else said, with rugs, furniture, and your island you won’t notice the difference as much.

You could stain the lighter section darker to match the darker section. I personally like the darker better, but it still looks good. When you get everything in it probably won't be noticeable.

When we did this we had the new stained to match the old. They did a very good job. For me the difference on yours is too noticeable, and I think the difference is such that they may never look the same, but it's up to you whether you have them redo the new. If you told them to clearcoat it and to not try to match the old the additional cost will be on you.

Before you're too critical about the floor, think about how much will be covered with area rugs.

Good point on the rugs as there will definitely be some in there. There will also be a 7’x3’ island just to the left of the heating duct in the floor. So, you’re right, a sizable portion of the floor will be obscured.

I’m seeing some mixed feedback overall, but I suspect the floor is “good enough” to keep as is. :)

For what it’s worth, the difference in color actually looks less extreme in person than in photos!

Yes, put in the island, carpets, etc. and I'm sure it won't be very noticeable. I'm glad to hear it looks less extreme in person.

You mentioned hardwood through out the house. If you ever do similar in other parts of the house, make sure you verify that the floors are indeed, red oak.

I had a very similar floor of your LR in my 50 year old LR and when I removed the wall between LR and kitchen, my every experienced contractor was sure it was red oak so that's what he ordered for the new kitchen floor. He happened to see the back of a piece of some of the flooring that had been torn out and saw it was stamped as white oak. Back went the uninstalled red oak, in came the white oak and below is the result. Old on the right, new on the left.

How could a flooring professional consider that acceptable? Strip the finish and stain the new to match the old please.

I wouldn’t be happy with this. Some is shiny and some isn’t. Part looks unfinished.

Honestly, no. You can clearly see it. Vintage floors or not, that’s noticeable af.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. These floors were completely sanded down and both were applied with the same clear coat (no stain). Is it possible I have a mismatch of red/white oak here?

No not red and white but perhaps two different grades of red oak.

The difference might have been less noticeable if a darker stain had been applied

Sorry to say. But such a nice open space marred by mis-matched flooring is not attractive.

A can of dark stain wouldn't have likely broken your budget.

I think tozmo1 above is on the right track here as a clear coat of poly should not result in two colors (one side yellow/the other pinkish) unless you have two different species of wood which will never age the same way. They will not stain the same either. It looks like your original floors were white oak and a mistake was made putting in red oak to "match". I would ask the flooring people to feather in white oak boards on a section of the seam and see if adding poly gives you a closer match to your original floors. No, it is not good enough as is.

I can see why you think this is not acceptable. I had 40 year old and new oak hardwood feathered in when we had an addition built and you couldn’t even tell the difference between the two once the floors were finished.

For anyone who cares: I went to a local flooring store and showed them the photos. Was told that without a doubt the old floor is white oak and the new floor is red. He even lent me a test kit to test the old wood to verify it is in fact white oak (it was). So may have to rip this up and start anew.

Oh dear, is the flooring installer taking responsibility?

TBD…

Ugh. I hate that for you. I was afraid that was the case. My contractor came sooooo close to making the same mistake.Those old white oak floors must have been stained to look like red oak in the late 60's early 70's. At least mine was and it sure fooled my contractor who has been doing this for 40 years.

Fingers crossed for you. Even if it is replaced at installer's cost, what a mess to deal with twice!

I love a happy ending.

Show us the re-do after it’s done. The floor will look better with the right wood laced into it.

My thoughts exactly...good news.

The floors have been replaced with the proper white oak. It certainly blends much better. Even though it does look like a few red oak boards may have been left behind :)

Looks good. Won't really notice once you get the island in and some rugs and furniture. The shadows caused by the island and any furniture will also mask any stray boards.

The test kit is inexpensive ... the hardwood guy we used in our previous house was the third generation running the family business and he said he never guessed/assumed the wood species and always tested. You can't run a successful business having to relay flooring with company money. Hopefully your floor guy learned that lesson!

So much better

Even with thie white oak it will be noticeable. Put a stain on it.

we did a reno taking down walls. some wood was birch and other was Chinese maple. We had floors refinished. Each of these woods takes stain differently. To get them to match, the flooring restorer did several samples pieces of each wood with different stains. He even mixed stains to get a good match. We chose the best match. Even though the two different types run parallel to each other in kitchen and dining room and living room and family room, the difference is negligible. No body notices the flooring is two different woods and we get many compliments on the flooring.
I think you will be disappointed if you dont get a better match. The difference is too noticeable

I think I’ll live with the flooring at this point. :) The camera is exaggerating the color difference between the new and old
wood. Sanding a 3rd time and and staining at this point would break me mentally!

It’s fine, really. You still have to put furniture and rugs on it. No one sees your house without furniture. Don’t go through this again. You’ve done a great job.

Much better. Looks very good. Don't do a third sanding, I don't think you'll gain anything. Furniture and rugs and you'll be good to go.

It is for sure better and something you do doubt will learn to not see...but for resale I am thinking if that ever becomes a need this floor will be a sticking point.

Looks great!

I suspect a potential buyer who is worried about floor condition would have an issue with all the other floors in my house before this one! They are all in sad state due to age and wear :)

This floor will NOT impact resale in a negative way and in fact will be a value add because it's hardwood and it's beautiful now. So much LVP out there now, even in $1M+ builds in my area, finding a a great home like this with hardwood is a gem. Nothing against LVP, it has its place. I'm putting some in a room on a slab in my own house, It's just not hardwood.

Love your outlook @Mike Brennan, the real world rules.

But don’t get me wrong. The remodel is certainly going to be ROI negative! Haha.