I suspect there are regional preferences. We install a lot of red oak floors including the floor in my personal home. Twenty years ago the preference in our area was for light/natural oak floors. The current preference is to stain them.

Red oak is very popular because it's much less expensive than white oak. Light white oak is what is popular now, but a medium brown stain on red oak is pretty classic. Plenty of people don't have the budget for white oak throughout. I prefer to have a medium red oak rather than flip-flop back and forth between very light and very dark as fashion seems to dictate. If by cherry you mean Brazilian Cherry then I think that has always been a very specific taste and was never for everyone. Now its momentary popularity is long past and I don't think very many people like it. While context is important (you haven't posted any pictures so this is a shot in the dark), I suggest refreshing the upstairs if it needs it and replacing the cherry with oak to match. Please post pictures if you want the most appropriate advice for your situation.

IMO red oak unless stained dark always has a pink undertone you have cherry on the main floor what are you doing with it ? IMO stiain them all to match in a darker shade .

Classic. stain them darker if you don’t like the pink/orange. mine are 100 years old and definitely on the orange side but i love them and would not go dark brown.

I have dark brown stained red oak floors in my home. Our Brittany is predominantly white haired. What the heck were we thinking? Dark stains make any dust and dog hairs more apparent. I won't make that mistake again.

Natural or no stain on red oak is classic. Waxes & wanes in popularity but endures.

Agree with Boxerpal above--those are beautiful examples of red oak. I would keep the red oak and stain it a more neutral darker color. Special Walnut and Provincial are neutral medium toned stains that work well on red oak. I'd much rather have that than the Brazilian cherry.

Thank you all for your input! My Brazilian Cherry on the first floor is an Engineered wood floating floor and can easily be replaced in whatever color I choose. That was the fad in 2009 and I am so sorry I chose it. I have never been a fan of dark floors and now that I have a dog keeping it clean of little paw prints is impossible.

What would I love to do? Replace everything to be a light oak as in the 2nd picture above, but that seems to be what is ‘in’ now and in another ten years may go the way of the Brazilian cherry.

Picture #5 is what I have upstairs right now and is not a fad, so I am thinking of keeping my red oak orangey floor just the way it is, and matching the downstairs rooms to it. My original question was are they dated, but what I am hearing is a resounding no - they
have stood the test of time.

Than you all for your time and your input.

Janet

What's "in" today is responsible use of resources. Folks put in hardwood floors for their long life span. Ripping out hardwood flooring because it may be "out of fashion" is very wasteful.

Take into account your decorating style, or your new direction, especially what wood finishes in furniture you like, plan to keep, want to change, and upholstery color goals. You want to use a floor stain that supports that direction. Yes, certain stains are pretty neutral and forgiving- but within that are variations, mostly whether leaning warmer or cooler , more red- orangey or less, or even whether you plan lighter furniture: darker floor or vice versa. So when you test stains out at home you can try to have some of the other furniture or fabrics ( or placeholders/facsimiles) nearby.

AnnKH, I'm not sure what to make of your comment. My Brazilian cherry engineered wood floors are floating floors that are scratched and damaged so badly I do not believe they can be refinished. I would much prefer to replace them match the red oak floors to have consistency throughout the house. I do not feel that is an irresponsible use of resources.

My style is classic with a coastal vibe. Lighter woods and whites, sand and sea colors, lots of texture in natural shades and accessories. My floors (and style) is similar to family room in the photo attached by Boxerpal, repeated below. As long as those woods pick up on the red and warmth of the oak floors, and my area rugs tie everything together, I think it would look lovely.

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Engineered wood floors can be refinished 1 to 3 times, depending on the thickness of the wood layered top. Agreeing with AnnKH, that it is wasteful to rip out wood floors which still have years of life left.

I completely agree about the responsible use of resources, however the cost of refinishing floors is extremely expensive depending on your region. If your floors are in rough shape and you have gotten 15 years worth of wear, you don't need anyone's permission to take them out. Depending on the installation and removal method, you can offer the used planks on a Facebook free site.

Options based on current technology can offer new choices. European Oak uses different species than N. American red or white oak. Those species do not have the same open grain that darkens with stain/finish. Add to that water based matte poly finish. No yellow warmth. Unlike oil finishes standard in the past. Lack of open grain means you can use wide flat cut veneer for the top layer in engineered plank. 7-12 inches wide planks will show off the flowing complex structure and beauty of the wood. The color can be pale brown without yellow and the finish a casual matte.

Yves Behar

I misunderstood - I thought you were thinking of replacing the existing oak.

We're currently replacing the Coretec laminate floors in our house with solid oak. I'm carefully removing the laminate so it can be reused in my son's townhouse. Is your engineered floor floating, so it can be removed and reused?