For background- the floors look gymnasium yellow in person and there is so much dark wood inn the house as well so the contrast is not good at all

The floors are in no way the right color or width for that massive door wall. I think you will need to go very dark for the floor to hide the fact the boards are too skinny I would do the floors the same color as the newel post and remove those goofy spindles and enlarge the newel. The stair case is not right either for that front door. What was the reason for tha massive entry wall ? Was it something you did or was it there when you bought the house ? That door needed a grand staicase to work properly.

It was all like this when purchased. We need to make the best of it now.

The wood on the door looks reddish. I don't think you're going to be happy if your floors are also that color. I would paint the inside of the doors trim color and refinish the floors to a color you like. It looks like trying to stain the doors a different color would be hard labor because of the dentil molding and fluted trim. I like to have medium brown floors and avoid the flip flopping back and forth between light and dark that trends dictate. What is your style?

Its a colonial home and im trying to make it more modern. Rich, warm warm, and cozy. The issue is that there is wood all over the house. I agree with painting the doors. I’m also painting the baseboards and crown molding but the windows all over the house have wood framing too and that has to stay. i need to offset the orangey tones in the windows. the kithcen is an orange nightmare too!

Its a colonial home and im trying to make it more modern. Rich, warm warm, and cozy. The issue is that there is wood all over the house. I agree with painting the doors. I’m also painting the baseboards and crown molding but the windows all over the house have wood framing too and that has to stay. i need to offset the orangey tones in the windows. the kithcen is an orange nightmare too!

Which color wood do you like the most? The dark beautiful color of the front door? or maybe the golden warmth of the floors? Or maybe the staircase hand rail? Maybe that is the same color as the front door? Or maybe a color not shown is a favorite wood color? Or is it white? The one thing I notice about your lovely home is there is a lot of wood. Wood trim, baseboards... everywhere. Do you like this?

I would try to find the wood color you like and stain all wood that same matching color. Or just keep the floors and front door a matching wood and everything painted white.

Notice how nice the mixing of trim and floors look. Is this something you want to do? You wrote that you are worried about a contast that you have.

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dark floors and dark matching trim

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If you went darker on the handrails and floor you could paint all the other wood trim white to create a beautiful space.

Lorraine Vale · More Info

i like the dark door, dark floors and matching stair treads

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I also like the idea of darker floors, painting trim white, removing extra spindles.

I wonder how the entry door would look in a charcoal or black? I wonder if you remove those ornate panes and replace with plane glass. Also change out door knob.

Thanks so much! i love dark floors but the house has so much wood already. wood window casings, door franes, molding and the kitchen is WOOD. its also a red wood and feels very 90’s. this pic doesnt capture how yellow the floors are/how red cabinets are. i have dogs and kids so while i love dark floors i worry about scratches. what do you think if door and moldings are white and floor is light- like a natural white stain? the cabinets are so red and not pretty cherry either. they also dont match the front door/moldings OR windowframe.

all of those pictures do make me love a dark floor…i wish there wasnt 3 different wood colors in one room. its too much for my eye. hard to decide what is best! i like the framed windows even though they lean orange brown..maybe i need a floor color that looks best with them…

Can you remove the crown molding and paint the window frames or stain them to match floor?

Omigosh all that wood is beautiful, as are the front doors. It would be a shame to paint or modernize them, if they fit the style of the home. It would be a big job, but I might refinish them in a lighter wood color. I think you could do a floor color that isn't too dark (dark will show every speck of dust and footprint) but reduces the golden color and blends with your existing wood. The boards are not too skinny and are typical in many period homes.

maybe a med brown

or a lighter floor?

Hmmm i was thinking of doing something like the pic below. paint railing and spindles black and these really light floors. i just hope the floors look ok in the kitchen which pulls more red than orange. The color of the doors below look warm with a bit of orange just like my window frames. im going to paint the crown molding and baseboards light. i wish i knew these paint colors. would it be so awful to also paint for front door black too?

Can you do a lighter stain similar to white oak for th floors? I think you could paint the front of the door also. I guess it might depend how the exterior looks but I think if you can, I would. I like how the pic you posted with the black railing. looks great.

Do you think white oak would work with the kitchen wood too?

I hope white oak works with all of this orange

What year was your house built?

You posted that you’d like for the house to look more ”modern” - I’m assuming that you’d like to have a transitional style (mix of traditional + modern). There are things that you can do in order to make it look more transitional. The stained crown + stained baseboards would look more modern if they were painted. Have you considered leaving the windows stained - but painting the window trim? OR - making the windows + trim darker (using a toner?)

The last photo you posted really shows how orange the windows are (+ trim around the windows). On my screen (which we all know isn’t completely accurate), the crown + baseboards look like they are a darker stain than the windows. I understand your frustration - especially when you throw the color of kitchen cabinets + floor into the mix!

What is your plan for the kitchen?

In the photo that you posted above (with the black railing and balusters), the flooring looks a lot like my European Oak floors - are your floors white or red oak? It’s important to know which species of wood that you are starting with in order to determine stain colors. If you were going to use a medium to dark stain, the species wouldn’t be as important (at the onset) because both white and red oak are able to be stained to look similar when using those types of stains.

If you want a creamy light brown color (as in the photo) - my understanding is that if you have white oak, it will be easier to achieve a similar color.

I am updating my house also - basically every room is being redone (bedrooms are easy - paint + some new furniture + bedding - while other rooms are complete guts - four bathrooms + kitchen). It’s a lot of projects - and feels overwhelming at times. Two bathrooms are being finished and the kitchen is next. The bathrooms were a huge headache - I can only imagine what the kitchen will be like!

The house is 80 years old. I cant tackle the kitchen right now because the estimates are so high. I will live with that for probably 2 yrs. the house is quite large so painting and floor refinishing is all i can do the first year and im trying to get most bang for the buck here. you’re right that the windows frames are orange. so i have orange, yellow (floors), brown red (molding/door) AND red/orange (kitchen) - its not good. also there are so many windows i cant address those now either. just floors/doors/molding/walls. I believe the floors are white oak- waiting for my floor guy to confirm tomorrow. sorry to hear you understand renovation pain. i really an quite stressed out

Paint it all.