Wow, from the pics your floors look great! They look neutral like they can go with anything and I wouldn't touch them:)

IMO red oak can best be stained dark to hide the red . I know there are some ways to get the red out but they do not always work and are expensive . Make sure all your lighting is not casting some yellow in the space I like all LED 4000K for lighting it momics bright daylight and can sometimes make a huge difference in color perception . On my monitor the floors do not look terribly orange and really by the time rugs and furniture are added thye will probably be fine . Save the money from the redo for something else unless you want to go very dark.

^ amen

As you said orange tone don't really show so we don't know if it's worth the bother. I agree they look fresh and beautiful. Darker they will show every scuff.

Did your floor refinisher not do some sample stains on the floor? The floors look nice with a classic finish that will outlast color trends.

Your dog looks like he is ready to have the project be done and move his dog bed back in!

Your floors look like a medium brown stain on red oak. To kill the red in the oak, you have to go darker. Are you prepared to do that?

You're focused on the color of the floor. Are you going to place area rugs and furniture on the floor or just leave the rooms bare? Your attention will be elsewhere when additional items are installed in the rooms.

I love your floors.

What color did you want? Do you have an inspirational photo?

I totally understand wanting one thing but not conveying that and winding up with the wrong results. Hairstylists and Floor guys have to deal with wish vs reality. Wood is sensitive, temperamental and often not cooperative. You need the right wood type and the right stain and a talented wood person to make this all happen. I too, had my floor guys redo my floors years ago on a different reno because they were not dark enough. I totally get it.

Did you want dark? or maybe medium brown?

Before you rush to have them sanded and re-stained look at as many inspirational photos to see if what you have might work into your design. I happen to love your floors and think they are not orange.

Heres another gardenweb houzzer struggling with wood floor colors.

help hardwood stain problem

Use a water base top coat over the stain instead of oil.

Darker doesn't eliminate the red, just masks it. To balance red you need to add green. That could be done without refinishing with a toner coat on your floor if you have a good floor person who can apply it evenly.

That said your floors look great and there;s no way I'd pay more to change them. I concur fully in the notion that the current obsession with purging any hint of natural red/orange colors from wood surfaces has gone way over the top.

As others have said, these look timeless and classic and great and there is no way I'd pay more to change them to chase some silly TV trend. I agree that the current obsession some people seem to have with purging any hint of natural red/orange colors from wood surfaces is bizarre.

What you have is CLASSIC. What you want is a 15 minute fad. Wait 1 year, and it will be something else. Just like the gray floors, and the black floors, and the burgundy floors. Natural is always in style.

OP Here! Thank you. The posted photos are beautiful, but as soon as we turn a light on they look orange! My phone photo doesn’t look like the Live Photo. I’m looking for a classic, warm, medium brown tone. Timeless is the goal. I’m Just disappointed that we spent the money to refinish them and they look the same under a light. Thanks for your thoughts.

Do a search here on Bona Red Out.

I think they are beautiful, but they are light. A darker stain will camouflage the orange that you seem to see in a different light. I concur that Provincial and Special Walnut are good choices for red oak.

And yes, this obsession with petrified wood devoid of any life is a horrible trend that I wish would go away.

None of us will convince you they are fine. Have him back, test a few options, which is what should have happened to begin.. Just know that a square yard of stain sample, without a clear coat and swiped on with a rag, is not representative of an entire floor. It's wood and will do what wood does.

I went through that with a client who had a lovely cherry kitchen. Rip, replace, them, stain them, two months wasted in agonizing.

Your focus is on the floors here? You focus on the "clear coat over nineties oak" ? , which was the final solution as nothing looked great next to the cherry in the kitchen? We don't, we moved on.

The client has his art collection, his wonderful old rugs after a rip of god knows how many miles of builder beige lumpy nineties carpet in a big suburban home. A home is more than the tone of a floor. The only truly awful floor? The unfortunate miles of very UN natural gray that were installed across the country, only to be rued ........: )

Traditions refined · More Info

Traditions refined · More Info

Traditions refined · More Info

Traditions refined · More Info

Any brown stain may appear orange in the right lighting conditions, as brown is shade of orange, and the problem gets worse with age if the finish is oil-based!

That said, some of the responses above are a bit...over the top. You could consider a darker brown or otherwise a brown stain with more gray in it (yikes)! The irony is that natural red oak looks quite nice with taupes!

If you insist on going lighter, then Bona makes a product called Red Out that you might want to consider. I wonder if that product would also work on beech (since it has a pretty grain)?

Bona Red Out anyone? (houzz.com)

The floor pictured above doesn't look much different than the ones the OP posted.

It seems as if you must be present in the space to determine the color and what could be done.

Tricia, as someone asked earlier, what color stain is this?

It doesn't matter what color stain is in the photo. Photos online are notoriously unreliable for discerning the actual color. Whatever color was used on the floor could look totally different in real life in her house or in your space. The only way to get what you want is to have your flooring professional put samples directly on your floor so you can see the color in person.