The new oak floors in the kitchen were stained and finished last week, which is an exhilarating step in the renovation. I had dreams of moving a few simple pieces of furniture in to feel a bit more settled, but there will be one more coat of finish applied once the base cabinets are installed, so I’ll just have to practice more patience! While the crew (and as an aside, when I’m talking about “the crew”, it’s the contractor, Nathan, and his right-hand-woman, Brianna, and some subcontractors coming in for specialty jobs) worked on applying the stain, I was hearing comments and questions from where I was working in the studio. “Does it look redder to you? What do you think…?” Of course, this made me peek my head into the kitchen to see what was “looking redder.”
These floors are the exact same species and the exact same stain as the floors that were installed in three rooms in our house last fall and they look different. The wood has a more distinct grain pattern and the boards, overall, lean more red. When they first stressed over it as the stain was being wiped on, I felt a little stressed about it. I mean, what would we even do about that now? But, I took a step back and looked at the bigger picture. This wasn’t a mistake, work that was poorly done, or an ordering error. This is just the nature of working with natural materials. All oaks are oak, but they are not all the same.
And, there is definitely beauty in uniqueness, so I decided to embrace it. Even though the floors aren’t identical to the new ones in the family room or the old ones in the adjoining hall and dining room, they are gorgeous.
This is a shot of where the new floors meet the old ones. When I look at them in person, I can tell that one is old and one is new, but they still flow and make sense together. It’s not jarring. When I look at them in a picture, the differences are magnified. We will eventually refinish the floors in the hallway and dining room, so they will match a bit better in color, but again, these oak floors were milled and installed 50 years apart, so they need a bit of latitude.
What I care about more than how they look in a close-up is how they look when you’re just walking through the house, and they look great.
Welcome to our bowling alley.
The fridge and pantry will be installed on that wall, so the view from one side of the house to the other will be disrupted a bit, which is a good thing, I think. The natural light will still pass from the kitchen to the hallway, but it won’t look like a runway.
We had the weekend to enjoy the space of the kitchen, walk through, and dream about it a bit without the bustle and noise of work happening. Each morning, I have to stop to admire the sun reflecting off the floors.
The base cabinets were brought in from the garage yesterday afternoon and, today, they are being installed. I think we’ll also finally crack open the crate containing the range so we can make sure the cabinets are set properly around it. I haven’t peeked at the range, yet, and it’s been sitting in the garage since October! I just haven’t wanted to risk opening it and incurring any damage with all of the coming, going, and storing happening in the garage. I felt it was safer to leave it in the crate and open it when the time was right.
The template is also slated to be made for the countertops tomorrow, so we’re cruising right along!
I don’t think we can ever hope to have an exact match between old and new floors, for a variety of reasons. Your new floors have a much more dramatic grain pattern and the only way you could potentially match the stain color is to have sanded off all of the old floor stain and redo it along with the new boards. That of course is not something to be easily done while living there! In time, none of these things will be as noticeable as you get used to it.
I agree that once you have your kitchen finished you will never give another moment’s thought to the differences in the old and new flooring. It’s all beautiful and just part of the story of the house!
I admire your peace with imperfection!! You are able to see the beauty in everything.
Older wood grew at a much slower pace, if you will, so the grain was “tighter.” Newer growth trees are harvested earlier, because of the demand, so the grain is no longer as “tight.” In the 1960’s, in Hawaii, containers were regularly made of what we would call high grade teak. It was cheap and abundant, so countries could afford to harvest this wood. This is no longer the case as teak has become harder to get, and more expensive to boot. We have a boat with teak and holly floors, as well as teak decks, and it is virtually impossible to match with the new stuff. We just embrace what we have and try to make it work. You will always be able to tell the difference between the older stuff and the new—and to a woodworker the older stuff is, by far, the better quality. You can put a stain on all of it which may help the color, but the grain will always be there.
Yes Mary…we recently had some water damage on tongue & groove paneling. When we replaced the 7 boards then stained them we noticed they were so different. It was the sherwin Williams manager, who was working to get me the same stain color, that informed me that GMO trees are being planted and used in the market because they are modified to grow faster…hence the open grain, less density (not nearly as heavy) and the stain doesn’t absorb the same.
I love them all. Wood is beautiful, you are blessed to get to have it in so much of your home. I love it.
Completely agree about the differences in grains….really can expect to match that..your floors look gorgeous. I recently had a bath makeover and changed the wood floor drastically from the hallway wood. In retrospect I think it was an error but a rug helped me there. I also found that the room was too warm in tone and changing the lightening to a more blue light really helped cool the room . So when you get the room painted, add the colors of your cabinets, table,linens,dishes wall art etc that may also make difference in color tones. Really looking forward to seeing the completed room.
EEEEEKKKKK!!!!! I’m so excited for you and your family. Thank you for sharing the journey.
Your kitchen floors are beautiful, The installer did a awesome job.
Your floors will look gorgeous with your green cabinets, breathtaking range, and countertops. Every little step is a step in the right direction. I know it is the hardest to live without a put together, functional kitchen. In one of out past house kitchen remodels the contractor took 8 months from beginning to end😳. We set up our new refrigerator, range, and a card table for everything else. There was no way we were eating sandwiches for that long! So things are moving for you at a good pace and in the end it is going to be the beautifully charming kitchen that you dream of!
Saw the floors with your cabinets on IG. They compliment each other well. I can’t wait to see the next installment of the kitchen Reno.
With my luck, if I didn’t take a peek at the range sitting in my garage, when I did go to crack it open for install, it would be the wrong range or color. 😜
When we renovated our kitchen our appliances came long before the cabinets were installed. I was so afraid something would have a dent or scratch or not fit. The problem then would be that we had them in our position for so long. All went well. Renovation is exciting on one hand and stressful on the other.
The floors are gorgeous! As we look down your ‘bowling alley’, we are looking at basically empty spaces & light colored walls, with nothing else to focus the eyes on. Once the furniture, appliances, art on walls, etc is all in place even the pickiest nit picker won’t even notice a slight difference in the wood from room to room! I am loving this trip & that it is going so quickly, although I know it seems a much slower trip to y’all, especially always hungry teen boys!
Absolutely gorgeous wood floors and you have zero to be stressed about. You won’t even notice once it’s all done.
Such quality workmanship. Be proud. This is all just so awesome.
We live in an old house and had 3 rooms, the steps and hallway done last month. Yes, they don’t match exactly, yes, I stressed out about it. After a month,I walk into the house and say to myself…..wow , my floors sure do look nice!
Your floors are absolutely gorgeous! Can’t wait to see your beautiful kitchen all completed. It will be stunning.
All the oak floors are beautiful, no worries.
Marian, I’ve been reading your blog for years, not because our ideas on decorating align perfectly (they don’t), but because I love your attitude. You find contentment in chaos and imperfection, and you have patience with both people and projects. You experiment without fear of failure and humbly study the work of others to learn more. Most of all, despite your career putting you squarely in the jaws of consumerism, you remind us that floors and ironstone and such are just things and not to be held too tightly. All so refreshing and encouraging! Thank you and God bless!
Hi, do you mind sharing what sheen you used on your floors? They look beautiful! I will be having mine refinished shortly & not sure what sheen I need to use. Thank you for any input.
It is a satin finish water based poly.
When combined with your green cabinets, stunning range, and beautiful counters, your flooring will be absolutely stunning. Achieving even a modest goal is progress. Without a well-organized and fully-functional kitchen, I know firsthand how difficult life can be. Our previous kitchen renovation took the contractor 8 months to complete.