This is the sample options he initially showed us.

This is how it naturally is - no finish - just sanded.

This is how the original floors looked like

Do you have a photo of a test sample showing what you actually want? You may need another half a dozen test samples on your own floor.

This is the only sample test he gave us. The one circles in white is the one we picked out. But I think now I’m going to ask him to do the one circled in blue. Which is more in line with the natural color.

Just sanded looks good. Maybe with just some poly on top of it.

Just go white wash, it will yellow and turn blonde over a couple of years.

No option for plain water based polyurethane?

Well YOU selected the most yellow/ orange of the samples.

Get it sanded off.

What was wrong with the middle sample?

That your floor guy would agree to sand the floor and not charge you is a gift!

Your floor guy is a Sweetheart!

Years ago, I had my oak floors restained and the color was not what I wanted. I was devastated. But, my sweet floor guys sanded everything down and restained in the color I wanted. It was worth every extra penny to get the floors I really wanted. My own fault as I had thought medium was what I wanted.

The floors are not wrong, but rather what you first chose was wrong. Get the floors re-sanded and the stain you want. However keep in mind that any poly you put on the floors will make it slightly more yellow. @G and and S Floor service said it perfectly, Just go white wash, it will yellow and turn blonde over a couple of years.

If it was me, I would ask for a sample of medium walnut stain, something like this...

A dark stain will hide a lot more of the urine stains.

Thank you all! We decided to strip it back and sand it again. We’ll go for a bit of white color and water base poly this time. The oil finish was making the floors way too orange. The natural color like the photo below seems to open up the space. It’ll take longer but live and learn. We don’t have southern light coming in so the space feels smaller. I’ll share photos with the furniture once it is in place. The previous owners had no control with their dogs so there are urine stains. Hopefully the white will help with that if not, a rug will do the job. Thank you for the messages. It helped me a lot make the decision and it helped me feel like I wasn’t crazy 😄.

Not seeing how white will help hide the stains. Darker definitely would but.

Maybe you can whitewash them like this link.

Addisons wonderland whitewash wood flooring

I think your second decision is correct. It seems pretty obvious that if you like the raw wood color, you should choose the center sample color. It looks almost identical to the raw wood around it.

Okay here is a photo of the second sanding. Now our floor guy is asking we want a see through poly or if we want a bit of whitening. My first reaction is that we do want the whitening as it will tone down some of the reddish / pink of the oak and help a bit with the stains. But what do you all think? Right now it doesn’t have anything on it. It’s the raw wood.

Do you like the variation in the wood, or are you trying to make it more uniform? If the latter, I think a darker stain might be the best approach.

Wow, you have a true white and red oak floor mix. I would use Bona Natural seal and Traffic HD extra matte or something similar like Aqua choice natural white and ceramic star ultra matte.