We had the painter stain one small cabinet, and because we hadn’t advised him well, we knew as soon as we saw it that we needed to change directions. The cabinets are made from quarter sawn oak, which has a really pretty, timeless-looking grain…but this regular wood stain was too opaque and didn’t bring out the grain at all. (Plus it was too red…too brown…too everything we didn’t want.)
So my mother-in-law suggested using MinWax stain instead. We had him put some on a sample of the quarter sawn oak, and it was indeed what we were after. Look at the difference between these two samples and the cabinet in the previous photo!
So then we had to decide what color of MinWax, which was a little bit of an odyssey, but we finally figured it out and they’re being stained as we speak.
In other news, here’s the naked floor. I wish we could leave it naked, but that wouldn’t work for the wood…and we’re afraid a clear coat would either a) yellow over time, or 2) be too pale in relation to the other things going on and III) look to contemporary.
a, 2, III. It’s how my mind works.
The responses to my post the other day were quite mixed! Many of you championed leaving the floor light, but several of you were in favor of going darker.
In the end, since both Marlboro Man and his mom have leaned toward darker floors from the beginning, we decided to do a Hail Mary pass and stick with that plan. And I have to say, I do really like it! I saw benefits to both light and dark, and my concern was that the natural grain and variations of the wood floor would be covered up if we went with a dark stain.
But I don’t think that’s the case at all!
Even though it’s dark, you still do see the lighter areas of the wood—and in person (probably not my iPhone photos!) the lighter areas tie in with the color of the baseboards.
The refinisher stayed until late last night getting it all done, so I’ll run in later and snap some photos so you can see the whole thing.
In other news…I got this chandelier to go over my desk because I’m a girl and I wanted to be a rebel in the midst of all the agricultural business that will be going on in this office of ours.
Next time Marlboro Man says “You need to pick out a light fixture to go over your desk,” I imagine he’s gonna think twice.
Heh heh.
More updates to come!