Custom Rubio Monocoat on Walnut|Neenah, Wisconsin
Posted by Aaron Schaalma
This job took place in Neenah, Wisconsin and there are some pretty cool things we did here. The floor was originally stained a medium brown, which, at the time was good. But like most things, it was time to update the the space's color. I'm always amazed by how much just changing the color of your hardwood floors can transform a space.
As you can see, all the old finish has been removed from the wood floors and they are down to bare wood. The floor is nice and flat, which now makes a good foundation for the Rubio Monocoat to be applied. We then water pop the floor, opening up the grain so the monocoat can penetrate into the wood fibers.
Generally when we use Rubio Monocoat we apply one coat, just like the name refers to "mono". But certain species have a more open grain and require multiple coats of Rubio to ensure that the floor is fully protected. This is the first layer of color applied to achieve that custom look the client wanted.
Now that we have the second coat of Rubio on the wood floors, it's time to work on transforming the mahogany herringbone border.
Another part of the project we had to tackle was the mahogany herringbone border around the formal dining room. We needed to get this as close to the final color of the finished walnut to blend the two different species of wood together. As you can see, mahogany is naturally a very red hue. This added another element to figure out, which is one of the enjoyable things we get to do.
So we worked on a few different samples before we came up with a solution to mute out the red in the mahogany and get the color very close to that of the walnut floor.
Now that the floor is all completed and the furniture is back in, you can really see how color can change a space. No two floors and spaces are the same and neither should the color be that way. Custom colors can truly transform a space and make it your own.
