Custom Color for Wood Floors
One of the first things many people do before moving into a newly purchased house is to refinish the wood floors. This makes sense because it's easiest to tackle such work without furniture or people in the way. But, no matter when you choose to do the job, it can be a wonderful opportunity to make the place your own. Since the boards are being stripped anyway, you or your refinisher can stain the wood before applying fresh polyurethane. With the right color, you can accentuate the natural tone of the wood, darken it, or lighten it.

The secret to staining floors is not to use a stain right out of the can, says Leroy Cousins, a 20-year veteran floor refinisher who heightened the natural hue of the oak floors at Martha's home in Maine by combining stains to get the desired effect. Many refinishers just show their customers the stain chart and tell them to pick one, he says, but there may not be a stock color that works on your floor. There are several factors that determine how a stain looks, from the species of wood and the idiosyncrasies of its grain, to the lighting in the space and the palette of the decor. Ask your refinisher to create options by mixing stains in different proportions (it's even easier than mixing paint) and applying them to samples of the same wood used in your floor.