Sometimes the inspiration for a hardwood floor color doesn't come from a stain chart.

It comes from somewhere else in the house.

That was exactly the case with this recent hardwood floor refinishing project in Avon, Connecticut 06001.

The home had an older red oak floor, but the homeowner wanted to move away from the traditional red and pink tones associated with the wood.

The inspiration was a beautiful custom mantel.

The painters had sanded the mantel, reduced its red tones and used a burning technique to create a natural, weathered appearance with beautiful tan and brown undertones.

The homeowner loved it.

Then came the question:

Could we make the red oak floor work with that mantel?

We weren't trying to make the floor identical to it. They were different materials and would naturally react differently.

But we wanted the hardwood to live in the same color family.

That meant this wasn't going to be a simple stain selection.

We needed to create one.

More Samples Than I Normally Make

Normally, when we're helping a homeowner choose a stain, I like to narrow things down.

Two or three well-chosen samples on the actual floor are often enough to determine the direction.

Not this time.

For this Avon project, we put down quite a few samples.

I had a little fun with this one.

We tried different directions, looked at how the red oak responded and kept comparing everything back to the colors in that custom mantel.

That's important because a stain color on a chart isn't necessarily the color you're going to get on your floor.

The wood species participates in the final result.

And red oak brings its own natural pink and red undertones into almost any color you put on it.

The Custom Color We Found Almost by Chance

I've always liked working with DuraSeal Weathered Oak, particularly when a homeowner wants to soften some of the red appearance in red oak.

During our experimenting, we ended up combining it with another DuraSeal color.

The formula that finally gave us the direction we wanted was:

50% DuraSeal Weathered Oak
50% DuraSeal Fruitwood

And it worked.

The Weathered Oak helped move the floor away from some of those stronger red tones, while the Fruitwood introduced the warmer tan and brown character we needed to relate the hardwood back to the mantel.

It was one of those combinations that we arrived at through sampling and experimentation.

Once we saw it on the actual red oak, we knew we had something.

Matching Doesn't Always Mean Making Things Identical

This project also illustrates an important part of interior color selection.

The floor didn't need to be the exact same color as the mantel.

In fact, trying to force two different woods and two different finishing techniques into an exact match can sometimes make a room feel less natural.

What we wanted was coordination.

The mantel had its burned-wood character, with natural browns and tans.

The red oak floor had its own grain and personality.

Our custom Weathered Oak/Fruitwood mixture allowed the two to complement each other without pretending they were the same material.

The red oak was still red oak.

But the strong red direction had been toned down, and the new combination of tans and browns connected beautifully with the mantel.

We didn't match the mantel. We found a floor color that belonged beside it.

The Homeowner's Reaction Said Everything

One of the best parts of a custom-color project is seeing the homeowner's reaction when the floor starts coming together.

This homeowner was in awe of how well the color came out.

That's especially satisfying when you've gone through an unusually large number of samples to get there.

There wasn't a standard color formula handed to us.

We experimented.

We looked at the actual floor.

We looked at the mantel.

We adjusted the direction.

And eventually we found that half Weathered Oak and half Fruitwood combination.

Sometimes the best custom colors aren't the ones you planned before arriving at the house.

They're the ones you discover while you're working with the wood.

Hardwood Flooring in Avon, Connecticut 06001

Avon is a community where we've done a tremendous amount of hardwood flooring work over the years.

We've worked in new construction, established homes and remodeling projects throughout town, including work associated over the years with builders such as LaCava Construction and Canelly.

What's particularly interesting now is that we're returning to areas where we worked years ago.

Floors we saw when homes were newer are now reaching the point where homeowners want to refinish them, change the color or give the house an entirely different look.

For a fourth-generation flooring company, there's something pretty satisfying about that.

Sometimes we're not just returning to the same town. We're returning to floors and neighborhoods we've known for decades.

Avon's primary ZIP code is 06001.

The town sits in the Farmington Valley and includes familiar areas around Avon Center, West Avon and the Route 44 corridor, with neighboring communities including Simsbury, Canton, Farmington, Burlington and West Hartford.

Avon Landmarks and the Farmington Valley

One of Avon's most recognizable historic areas is Avon Old Farms, including the distinctive architecture and campus of Avon Old Farms School.

The town is also closely associated with Talcott Mountain, which rises along the eastern side of the Farmington Valley. Nearby Heublein Tower is one of the most recognizable landmarks overlooking the valley.

The Farmington Valley Greenway/Farmington Canal Heritage Trail runs through the area and connects Avon with neighboring Farmington, Simsbury and other valley communities.

Avon also has a long transportation history tied to the old Albany Turnpike, today's Route 44, which helped shape development through the Farmington Valley.

Those historic areas now sit alongside newer residential developments and homes built during the tremendous growth Avon experienced in more recent decades.

And we've worked in a lot of them.

Avon and the Neighboring ZIP Codes

Our work takes us throughout Avon 06001 and the surrounding Farmington Valley.

Nearby postal areas include Simsbury 06070, West Simsbury 06092, Canton 06019, Collinsville 06022, Farmington 06032, Burlington 06013 and West Hartford 06107 and 06117.

These are communities where Patrick Daigle Hardwood Flooring, Inc. has worked for decades, from new hardwood installations to repairs, sanding, refinishing and custom color changes.

Four Generations of Hardwood Flooring Experience

At Patrick Daigle Hardwood Flooring, Inc., hardwood flooring is our specialty.

Our family's hardwood flooring tradition dates to 1927, and our Connecticut business began around 1972. Today, we're the fourth generation carrying on that craftsmanship.

We're proud members of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) and proud to be ranked #1 in Hartford County and #1 in Connecticut by BusinessRate.

This Avon project is a good example of why experience with stain color can't always be reduced to picking a name from a chart.

The homeowner had a vision.

The custom burned-wood mantel gave us our inspiration.

The red oak gave us the challenge.

And after putting down more samples than I normally would, we discovered a custom mixture that brought everything together:

Half DuraSeal Weathered Oak. Half DuraSeal Fruitwood.

The result softened the red tones, introduced beautiful tans and browns and connected the hardwood visually with the custom mantel.

And judging from the homeowner's reaction, we found exactly the direction they were hoping for.

Sometimes the right hardwood floor color isn't sitting in a can.

Sometimes you have to create it.

Patrick Daigle Hardwood Flooring, Inc.
Fourth-Generation Hardwood Flooring Craftsmanship Since 1927
NWFA Member
Ranked #1 in Hartford County and #1 in Connecticut by BusinessRate
Serving Avon 06001, Simsbury 06070, West Simsbury 06092, Canton 06019, Collinsville 06022, Farmington 06032, Burlington 06013, West Hartford 06107 & 06117, and surrounding Farmington Valley communities.