I personally don’t like Red Oak. I don’t like the graining and I don’t like the natural orange tint. So when I say that I hate the floors in my house, I mean just that. I don’t like the floors in my house. Because they are red oak and they have an orange tint. Also, I am not a fan of narrow plank flooring at the moment. It’s not just in my closet either…it’s everywhere.
Material choices are a matter of personal taste. There is no right or wrong. What might appeal to one person might not be another persons first – or last choice. Taste is nothing more than personal preference and everyone has their own! So please don’t feel affronted by this post if you happen to think the floors in this picture are the bees’ knees!
I don’t think we’re going to drop the cash on new floors for the entire 2500sq.ft of main floor.
If we did, I’d buy this flooring from BuildDirect. Because I personally LOVE wide plank, bevel edged, hand scraped, dark wood flooring.
If I did tear out and replace the floors, I’d try to pull it up nicely and reuse it upstairs. (The upstairs has crappy builders grade carpet now.) And then I’d definitely paint it!
Maybe something like:
BUT, I’ll probably just refinish the the main floor when I tear out the kitchen …and then maybe I’ll tear out the carpet and paint the subfloors upstairs.
I’m trying to like the flooring I have for now and because the Master Closet is the only room that is done, I’m trying to figure out how to love that space with the existing flooring. I thought about painting it too. I think instead, I’ll just go buy a couple rugs and call it good!
(But I sometimes I get overcome by hairbrained ideas and sometimes I act on them, so I just never know WHAT I’ll end up with in there…in the end.)
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My taste is very similar with yours I don’t like the orangey/redish wood tones either. I woudl either go dark or light. No in-between. We have dark laminate in our formal room that was put their by the last people who owned our home and I’ve been dieing to get rid of it, but it will cost us a fortune! I’d love to pain the floors… but I don’t think Mr. Woodsy will go for that!
Oh how I hate red oak too! I prefer the really light woods, or really dark woods. I do have to say that I would take the red oak floors over the ugly tile that was put in my house. It looks permanently dirty.
Oh Sandy! Everything you do is by far .. fabulous! But I am dying to actually see the chandeliers in the master closet without the lights on. They were so shiny you couldn’t see jus thow beautiful they are. Would you please show them to us again?
Who is Sandy?
Your wish is my command (as long as it’s that easy). I didn’t have anything interesting to show you tomorrow except the white curtains that definitely are NOT it!
~ Sandra
Don’t be so hard on the red oak
While you might not like the narrow planks, they can hold a super dark stain well. Our floors are red oak stained so dark you would never know. Granted you would have to refinish them but it would be a whole lot cheaper! I love super dark hardwoods and while it requires tons of cleaning I love my floors.
I love the painted wood ideas too if you recycle the wood somewhere else!
My friend had hers refinished by a hardwood floor company. They were an orange tint oak and she had them redone in a beautiful walnut stain. SO gorgeous and you could still see the wood grain. Her family went to a hotel for 3 days but that is all they really had to do. It wasn’t really that expensive either considering how much work it is! I am planning on taking mine from cherry to more of a walnut someday but it is on the 5 year plan I’m thinking.
Ha-ha! I have exactly the opposite floors (aka -your dream floors) and I hate mine! We had red oak a few years back in another house and they weren’t my fave, but cheap at the time. So when we built our new house we splurged on Brazilian Cherry 5″, prefinished w/ a beveled edge. (alas, no hand scraped).
Anyway, long story short: I’d rather have red oak! My B. Cherry also have an orangey tinge to them, although darker. What I hate the most is that they show EVERY spec of dirt and EVERY bit of dust and EVERY scratch. (Of course, I have three boys and you have 1 girl – might be a difference there.) I can clean my floors and less than an hour later they look dirty. Drives me CRAZY!
I have yet to find the perfect floor covering, so good luck in your quest. If you find one that looks good and cleans itself, please do share! I DEFINITELY want that one!
We are definitely with you on the Red Oak flooring! We had that in our last house and actually refinished it completely to a darker stain (took two coats, and we basically made it look like Walnut).
We have Brazilian Walnut floors now and really love them. Instead of red-ish they have brown tone variations with some subtle reds and greens. You can see pictures that my hubby put up here:
http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/hardwoods-complete-brazilian-walnut-after-pictures/
We went for a wider plank too (3-1/4 instead of 2-1/4). Our floors came from Lumber Liquidators.
Hi!
I have red oak floors in my one bedroom condo and am looking for a wall color, preferably gray, to compliment them and make the space more sophisticated. I like the color of your walls in the first picture. Do you know what it is?
Thanks!
Stacy