Hate my new floor stain! (dark walnut)

10 years ago

Our floor people have just refinished our floors and it looks miles away from what I wanted it to. 4,500sq feet of it.
I wanted a soft medium/dark brown with no orange/red tones and they suggested dark walnut mixed with a little English chestnut. It looked fine on the sample.
The first coat went on and it looks too light/yellow. So they mixed 2 coats of poly with dark walnut to make it darker but now it looks red! They said it would look fine after the last coat of poly but I hate it. I just have to live with it nowI guess. Here is a picture of what I wanted on the right and what it turned out to be on the left.How could it come out SO wrong??

Comments (6)

IliN
Original Author
10 years ago
A couple more photos... please excuse the quality, they are taken from a video.
IliN
Original Author
10 years ago
Am I crazy or does this not look one bit like dark walnut? I hate it!
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lazy_gardens
10 years ago
What is the wood they stained?

" It looked fine on the sample. " ... like color on a paint chip, when you get a larger area covered, it will look darker, and the undertones will be more obvious. If you are trying to match a certain floor color, the best way to do it is to put the samples on the floor, back up and squint at them to see which ones blend in the best.

Keep in mind that the apparent color WILL also change with lighting and the color of the surrounding materials.

The second picture looks very close to the picture of the color you say you wanted. The stair and hallway shot looks darker, but there is less light in there.
Vertise
10 years ago
To me, the requested color and sample they did looks nothing like what you got. It also looks much shinier. Was it supposed to be shinier than the sample?

As far as I can tell, they did not deliver. They should have seen the difference at the get go and stopped for approval or adjustment, imo, not continued anyway. It would have been so much easier at that point. You can only sand it back down and start over.

Heartbreaking. Try to live with it first to see if you adjust, but I imagine it throws everything else off in the house too. Hope you can get it resolved to your satisfaction.
tuesday_2008
10 years ago
I really, really like they way it turned out. This is coming from someone who has clear poly (no stain) on red oak, thus LOTS of orange.

I just think floors look more "warm and alive" with a little sheen and a little red/orange tones showing. I would love for my floors to look like yours :)

I am so sorry you are not happy with them.
Vertise
10 years ago
"Am I crazy or does this not look one bit like dark walnut? "

Notice your other question. No it doesn't look anything like dark walnut. Actually, in the first photo, which could be distorted, the sample looks more yellow than I've seen before.

What type of wood is your floor? It might not be able to stain just the color you want it. This is something they should also know,. their woods. Did they do any in-house sampling first?

This post was edited by snookums2 on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 12:58