# Help With Luxery Office / Wainscoting Stain Color - Red Oak



## NNatic (Feb 11, 2009)

Hey everyone!

I have just converted a room in my house to an office and want to stain the red oak wainscoting that I have put up.

Pictures can be found here:

http://www.neilnatic.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6743 
take a peek through the pictures to get an idea of the floor colors etc.

I want to stain it a dark color so that is looks like a luxery office. I am thinking at least as dark as the floors. I am thinking that it should be a mahogany or possibly cherry - although i think the cherry will be too red.

What suggestions do you have for me? Do you have a specific color (like exact color and brand) that you feel will best suit this room?


----------



## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

The Wainscoting makes the room look smaller (any form of border will). Given this, a dark color will make the room look even smaller. I would use the natural color and go with a clear finish. 
This is just my opinion and I am no expert.


----------



## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Natic,
I would tend to agree with Tony. If you want to stain it at all, I would use a very light stain just to get an even tone color throughout. That room doesn't look that big to go real dark. The other thing I would recommend if you were to do this again, cut the sheets of plywood and stand them up so the grain is vertical instead of horizontal. It will look more natural, and if you cut the sheets at just a blade width under 32", you'll get 12 lineal feet out of each sheet. That puts you at a typical chair rail height. You could stretch that up a bit with the 1 x wood you used for the base and the cap to get close to what you ended up with in the pics. 
Mike Hawkins


----------



## creative novice (Jul 25, 2008)

*stain color opinion*

i agree that you should no go darker than the floor. i opinion you stay within the same hues of the floor but go slightly lighter on the new. the darker you go the smaller feel to the room and then floor will seem to pop out at you too much. and if u go dark mahog or cherry the lighter floor will "cheapen" . also consider how old is the flooring? ( in terms of darkening with age) jj


----------



## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I would normally say go natural, but that would not match with the floor.

Stay as light as you can. The office will still look "rich." It does not have to be dark to have that luxurious look.

Your pattern is VERY similar to what I have recently done in my dining room. When I got through I counted and there were 127 separate pieces. In that instance I painted it brilliant white.

G


----------



## NNatic (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks for the comments. 

The house is about 2 years old and has a darker wood tone throughout. The Kitchen, hardwdwoods, stair case rails, etc are all darker woods. I think that the lighter wood color will not fit in and most luxery offices that I see have darker wood in it.

The room is not all tha large, I would say about 12 x 12 or so.

I agree on the grain being vertical. We just did not have the saw to do that properly and therfore just layed the 4 x 8 sheets on the wall and nailed it up  I dont mind it, but i do agree that would have been the right way to do it.

Any other thoughts?

What color is the typical dark wood stained office? Am I correct in assuming Mahagony?


----------



## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Neil,
Do you have any scraps left over from the floor? You could take that to a paint store and have them match that up. Are you planning on leaving the floor, or carpeting? There really isn't a certain color stain for an office look. It's really what you like. Also, do you have any furniture for the room yet? If you are planning on a nice desk, I would consider trying to match the color of the desk. 
Mike Hawkins
PS, almost forgot, when you have paneling like that to cut, you can use a circular saw. Put a decent blade made for crosscuts and cut it upside down. You can also put a piece of blue painter's tape across the cut line to help control splintering. Normally the cut edge will be the top and/or bottom and it will be covered with your 1x trim.


----------

