I wouldnt recommend bleaching. Its irreversible if it doesnt turn out correctly. And if youre trying for a golden color. Bleaching wont help that.

What size planks are you getting? 1.5"?2.25?
Ive noticed that the 1.5 " tend to be more brown overall. And i tend to see mor of a golden color with oil poly on larger widths 2.25" +.

Another point to make is white oak does get more golden honey tone as it ages. Obviously that wont even com into play for many years. But in the mean time have the refinisher if not you put the sample of oil on youre floor.

No two floors are the same so seeing the sample is step one before any other actions are considered.

Hi, Greg, thanks for your response. The planks are 2.25". Here is a photo of the wood samples. The one on the left has the water based finish and the one on the right has the oil based finish. Im sorry the quality of the photo isn't better. I think the photo does make them look a little darker than they actually are, but not by that much. I don't even necessarily think they look bad. It's just that I was going for a lighter look for the floor and after looking at so many photos online of white oak, I thought that was the way to go. I was just kind of surprised at how dark the samples turned out.

Is there anything that can be done to lighten them?

Where did you buy the flooring? Are you 100% sure it's supposed to be white oak and not red oak?

Keep in my those samples are of single boards. Youre going to get light boards and dark boards and with everything mixed in will help.

Thats why i suggested you wait until your floors installed and then have the oil applied directly to the floor in a test area.

Hi, hollysprings, thanks for your response. I'm actually not sure where the wood was bought. The guy who is going to do the floors got it. I'm pretty sure it's white oak, although even if it is red oak, it's much darker than the natural, unstained red oak photos I've seen online. I like both white and red oak so I would be okay with either one. I'm just puzzled by how dark the samples look.

Hi, gregmills, you make a good point about the mix of light and dark boards. I guess ultimately I will have to wait until the floors are installed to know what it will look like. I guess I'll test it then.

Youre samples are white oak.

Not a heck of a lot you can do to lighten the result, other than some light pickling treatment, but with that you are definitely making a design statement. Bleaching would lighten the floor, but it would be difficult I think to get an even-looking result.

When working with White Oak you can't make a color decision using one sample board. White Oak has fairly significant color variations from board to board.
As it's been pointed out, you could pickle the floor or you could use a mixture of white pickle and neutral, then apply a non-yellowing water-borne urethane.
The other light color option is to use a sealer that doesn't amber the wood so much, like Bona Seal, followed by non-yellowing urethane.

I have a white oak floor with a "natural" finish.

I am seconding the comments that there is a LOT of variation between boards. I have a couple strips that are really light, a couple that are really dark, and then a whole range in between.

I have come to really like it - but I wasn't expecting such variation and I was initially surprised by it.

Colors are hard to do online, but the overall look of my floor is somewhat lighter than what you have posted above. As it darkens with age, it is getting more golden.

Hi, gregmills, thanks for the information. I think you are right that they are definitely white oak.

Hi, glennsfc, thanks for your response. I looked up some photos and information about bleaching and pickling. Some of the results look nice.

Hi, JFCWood, thanks for responding. In the samples I posted, I don't think there was any sealer applied, just the semigloss finish. Would a sealer like Bona Seal, if applied first before the finish, really help keep the wood lighter? This is all new to me.

Hi, partriceny, thanks for responding. I think it's true that the boards can vary widely in color. I'm gong to have some more samples done. You mentioned that your floor is lighter than the samples I posted. Do you know how they were finished? I mean, did they use a sealer first and then a water based finish or something like that?

We installed prefinished white oak, so a little different in that respect. I too really wanted a light look and wanted the durability of the oak. Your samples, esp. the water-based finish, look exactly like some of our boards. Then, just like a previous poster, there are some that are very very light, and a bunch that range in between. Even with all the variation in color, the overall look is rather uniform and light-ish. It's nothing like the look you'd get with something like hickory. Does sound like it might work out for you....I would be very hesitant to go messing around with anything to lighten it.

Hi Renovate - my white oak is an engineered hardwood, so it was pre-finished.

I like the look of the wood itself, including all the variability. I'm far less thrilled with some of the pre-finished aspects of it, but that is a separate issue.

The attached pic shows the coloring fairly accurately on my monitor.

Hi, krdpm, thanks for your reply. I agree that I should probably not try to do anything to lighten the wood. I've been thinking about it a lot over the past few days and I think I am just going to go with a water based finish. If some of the boards are lighter than the samples and the overall look of the floor is light I think I will be very happy, but if not and the floor turns out darker, I think I will be okay with that.

I really am learning a lot through this whole experience so next time, if there is a next time, I'll be better prepared.

This post was edited by Renovate on Sat, Sep 28, 13 at 4:10

Hi, patriceny, thanks for posting the picture of your floor. It looks really nice. I like the color a lot. The whole room is nice. What color are the walls? In the photo they look cream or pale yellow. I was thinking of painting one of my rooms a similar color but I just can't decide.

Hi Renovate - the house was still under construction at that point.....so the wall color was "primer." Ha-ha. The floors were also filthy in that shot, but all the drywall dust didn't seem to alter the overall color of the floors in the photo.

I used Sherwin Williams paint, and their color Downy ended up being almost a perfect match to that primer. It is a very light cream color....really more of a warm white I guess. That room gets southern and western exposure, and the Downy ended up getting too washed out for my tastes. So I moved up to Believable Buff, which is a perfect yellow/gold for me.

Hi, patriceny, that was nice primer! lol Anyway, thanks for the Sherwin Williams paint color names. I looked them up on their website and they are very nice. I'm still trying to decide what colors to paint the house. There are just so many shades of every color that I'm having a very hard time choosing.

This post was edited by Renovate on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 13:36

Hi,
Yes the Bona Seal applied before the urethane would give you the lightest version of natural possible. As I wrote earlier another option would be to apply a penetrating stain/sealer that's a mixture of white pickle sealer and neutral. I'm not talking really white though, maybe 1 part white to 5 to 10 parts of neutral. Whether you go with the Bona Seal or a thinned down white pickle you'll follow it with something non-yellowing like Bona Novia or Mega Clear.

Hi, JFCWood, thanks for the advice. :) I'm going to talk to them more about the floor finish later this week. I mentioned some of your suggestions to them and I think they're going to make some of the samples doing something similar to what you're describing.

Thanks again! :)