I never would've dreamed that picking a floor stain could be such a complicated process. I mean, sheesh! My vision for our floors was something rich, but neutral… deep, but not too dark, with a variation of high/lowlights to enhance the grain of our oak floors. To my dismay, not a single one of the testers I tried delivered exactly what I was looking for. Serious issues, I know.
Luckily, I recently stumbled across an article about mixing stains to create custom pigment cocktails. It sounded super risky yet fascinating at the same time, so I decided to put my money on a formula which consists of 50% Jacobean and 50% Ebony (both by Minwax).
Although these two stains didn't work for me on their own, their combined forces completely knocked it out of the ballpark!
The mix of hues intensified an array of tones in the red oak.
*Something to keep in mind – Make sure you use an orbital sander when sanding down parquet flooring (We have parquet in our living/dining room, and strip planking throughout the rest of the apartment). A regular drum sander works well on on straight beams, but its linear sanding belt could gouge cross-grain scratches and potentially rip out the intricate multi-directional wood panels.
The hybrid pigments also brought out the deeper walnut trim that borders each room.
We topped off the gorgeous new color with three clear coats of water-based polyurethane. (Oil-based poly tends to give off a yellowish tinge.) I went with a semi-gloss finish that shines without looking glossy, and does a beautiful job at sealing and preserving the natural texture of the floorboards.
I am sooo happy with this beautiful transformation. The new color wonderfully compliments and unifies all the different rooms in our home, and it also sets a lovely backdrop for Chris' new obsession: Rugs. More on that later!