It's an exciting time when my design vision (slowly but surely) becomes reality. The most recent transformation is the completion of hardwood floors all throughout the house.

As I mentioned in my previous post, solid red oak is our wood-of-choice, and it's the perfect type of wood to get creative with as the options are endless with the stain level and finish color. Also, you can always re-stain the wood at a later date to create a new look at a low-cost (talk about a win/win!)

I also adore solid red oak as it is timeless and classic and compliments our existing dark espresso stained wood and when it comes to additional statement pieces (glass & metal), it all comes together in a subtle yet sharp contrast look (ohh la la).

PROCESS

I did research on minwax wood finishes, google imaged and searched on Pinterest for examples of dark brown stains (no red hints) to find examples. I came across Dark Walnut and Jacobean
I purchased quarts of each stain to see what they were like. You can purchase them at most paint stores, Home Depot or Lowe's. The quarts are around $6 each.
I tested the stains on red oak samples. When testing the stains I noticed that 1 coat wasn't doing it for me and I wanted something deeper and richer. So then I applied 2 coats and the color became more saturated, which is what I was looking for. The Dark Walnut wasn't as deep as it appeared in photos and the Jacobean ended up being darker, which is what I wanted.
The decision was made - Minwax Jacobean 2750

Below you'll see the two samples showing 1 coat versus 2 coats. As you can see, in the 2nd coat the grain has filled in more.

The thing is, the pre-fabricated stair treads took on the stain much darker which made the wood at the top of the stairs appear lighter. In order to match the color of the stairs to the color of the rest of the wood we had to do 3 coats! Luckily our flooring guy didn't mind and we achieved our goal.

Check out the photos below!