• Home
  • About
  • Stay With Us
  • Our Design Studio
  • Gift Guides
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Decor
  • Our Homes
    • The Blonde Vic
    • Pearl St.
    • Historic Townhome
    • First Home Tour
  • Press
  • Contact

Beginning in the Middle

How We Matched Old and New Hardwood Flooring at White Cape Cottage

DIY· Kitchen· White Cape Cottage

7 Jan

This post is sponsored by Lowe’s.

One of our goals for the kitchen renovation at White Cape Cottage was to make the room feel cohesive with the rest of the house, especially after opening up the wall between the dining room and kitchen.  The rest of the first floor had beautiful original red oak hardwood floors, so we set out to install brand new ones in the kitchen that looked like they’ve always been there.  We found unfinished red oak hardwood floors from Lowe’s for about $3 per square foot and got to work.  Here’s how we did it.

Here’s what the old vinyl flooring looked like in the kitchen.  As remodelers, we were actually thankful they were vinyl and not tile because it made demo much easier!

First things first: wood flooring needs to acclimate to the environment it’ll be installed in for at least a few days before it’s installed (it varies based on species and product).  The goal here is to reach an equilibrium between the moisture of the wood and the air where it’s being installed to prevent excessive gaps, warping, buckling, etc. in your floors.  We had ours sitting in the house for several weeks before we installed them.

Next, we knew we wanted the transition between the old wood floors and new wood floors to be completely flush.  Our hardwood floors were the same height as the old wood floors sitting directly on top of the subfloor, which meant that we needed to do the same in the kitchen.  We removed the vinyl layer plus all of the other old flooring layers to reveal the subfloor and create an even starting point.  After cleaning and removing the old nails and debris from the kitchen subfloor, we laid down a thin Rosin paper underlayment and began installing the wood flooring.  (We’ve used this flooring nailer on a few projects this year and have been really happy with it!)

We considered a few different options for flooring layout.  We could either 1) feather in the new boards with the old boards to keep the pattern going without a transition, 2) switch the direction of the flooring to be perpendicular of the dining room, or 3) add a perpendicular transition piece and resume the pattern to match the dining room.  We chose option 3 because it would allow us to keep the flooring running vertically down the center of the kitchen without going through the extra effort of feathering the boards in with the old.

… Aaaand kept going until all of the boards were in. (We chose to run the flooring under the base cabinets, but not everyone does this!) After we finished the install, we had our flooring guys come and sand everything down on the entire first floor.  The old wood is a bit more saturated than the new, but for the most part it looked almost exactly the same.

We considered going natural, but don’t love the orangey tint that natural red oak develops over time so we chose to use Minwax Provincial stain.  We’ve used this stain on red oak in almost every project we’ve done (including our own home!) and it comes out beautifully every time.  In the photo below, you can see how the stain looks nearly identical on the old wood and new wood.  Mission accomplished!

We’re SO happy with the end result!  It was worth the extra effort to go with unfinished flooring that would allow us to create an exact flooring match in the kitchen.  It looks like it’s always been there.

Big improvement, right??

Here’s a few more photos showing the transition.

What do you think?

2 Comments

Previous Post: « Under $50: A Roundup of 23 Affordable Gift Ideas
Next Post: Decor in the Kitchen? YES. »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Molly says

    January 10, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    We used Provincial in our kitchen, too. It looks great!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 11, 2021 at 3:24 pm

      It’s the best!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Currently Loving

Faux Plants

Lighting Picks

Rug Picks

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Browse by Category

After > Before 🖤 After > Before 🖤
What a difference a dormer + 60 extra sq ft can ma What a difference a dormer + 60 extra sq ft can make. Swipe for the before! 😱 #whitecapecottage #beforeandafter
So happy to see sunshine for the first time in for So happy to see sunshine for the first time in foreverrrr! ☀️ #sodomino #cottagebedroom
Old vs new floors: can you tell the difference? To Old vs new floors: can you tell the difference? Today on the blog, we’re sharing how we sourced & installed brand new oak hardwood flooring in the kitchen to match the originals. Link is in our bio! #lowespartner #sponsored @loweshomeimprovement
Saying yes to more arched mirrors and wood vanitie Saying yes to more arched mirrors and wood vanities in 2021!
We’re thankful for a brand new week and lots of We’re thankful for a brand new week and lots of exciting projects to plan for. We’re also feeling the intense heaviness of what’s going on in our country. I know many of us come on here for an escape, but we’re finding it hard to continue with business as usual when reality feels impossible to escape. Taking it one day at a time, focusing on things we can control, and praying on the things we can’t. 🖤
#7thGenPartner Doing laundry just got a whole lot #7thGenPartner Doing laundry just got a whole lot easier! We’re partnering with @SeventhGeneration to share their EasyDose detergent, which dispenses the exact amount you need every time you do laundry. 1 squeeze = 1 load (it’s that easy). Because it’s ultra-concentrated, it uses 60% less plastic, 50% less water, and weighs 75% less than a standard 100 fl oz bottle! #easydoseit #generationgood
Some say white kitchens are overdone. We say who c Some say white kitchens are overdone. We say who cares? ☺️ #whitecapecottage #beforeandafter #interiordesign

Copyright © 2021 · Refined theme by Restored 316