Decorating and Design - hardwood floor & color matching

25 years ago we tiled our dining room with California Tile's honey oak parquet tiles, 1 sq.foot with little strips going in 2 different directions. The floor has lost its shine, it's original color and warm look. We decided to finish our adjacent living room with tiles too and thus replace the allergy giving carpet. However, we never found the same tiles and thus chose a Bruce Hardwood tile, desert smooth color. We want now to match those 2 color tiles so that the 2 rooms are unified in floor color.
Questions: beside sanding the old floor, how do we get the 2 floors to match in color? Do we need to stain or just put urethane? Is there a colored urethane that will give us the matching tone?
I would be much obliged to any advice on that matter.
Dominique

Hello Dominique.

I see these problems with color matching all the time. Seeing the way you are going about this project I would suggest that you go about it a different way.

The room that you are laying the new Parquet tiles to my understanding is your going with a prefinished tile. The problem with any prefinished flooring is it comes with a factory finish. therefore if you try to match another floor or moulding to it, it will never be exact.

My suggestion to you is to consider a new unfinished tile to install, then sand down your old floor, choose a stain color and finish both of them. Make sure to purchase the same species of wood as your old floor. Red oak and White Oak will take differently if your not careful.

Good Luck

John K

CLassic Touch Windows Doors and Hardwood Floors

I can see the wisdom of your answer. Thank you. However, we already have done the installation. I should have contacted the forum a lot earlier. We are kind of stuck now. We will try the best we can.
Thank you for your input.

Dominique,

Im not sure if youll like this idea but have you considered refinishing the new floor? I know you probably wont like the idea because it is a new floor. It probably came with a warranty on the finish too. If the warranty is what holds you back I can tell you that 99.9% of the time the manufacturer will not honor it. Take my advice im in the flooring business for 27 years now. Sand it all down and refinish both of them. Its the only way to do it correctly.

Good Luck
John K
Classic Touch Windows Doors and Hardwood Floors

Hi,
That's something that I didn't consider and I will discuss it with my husband. THank you very much.
Have a nice thanksgiving.