Leave the floorboards. Learn to love them. If you do anything to them you will regret it every. single. day.

It feels sacrilege to say this as I have jarrah floors and love them, but if you really hate them Ka ren why not sand them back and stain them Japan Black or something similarly dark (so no red will be visible)? I read that engineered boards are usually between 4-8 mm thick so you have to be careful you don't sand down to plywood! But apparently it can be done (so says a floor sanding professional one one site I just looked at). May be worth looking into what is possible, though I would ask how long you have been living with the existing boards, and if it's not been long maybe give yourself a 'cooling off' period first to see if you might grow to love the colour. All the best!

Ps. In my experience, using warm white rather than cool white lighting can also make a difference- in this pic you can see my boards are quite red directly under the floor lamp but look more chocolately where the light bounces off.

loved it how2girl..makes mine look so bland ..hubby caught me measuring this morning for a dilemma and his first question was what are you up to? I think seeing me with a measuring tape freaks him out hehehe

how2girl nothing much at the moment as trying to sort out our trip..got a week off work after the holidays..someone in our photography group posted a trip away..weekend away great ocean road to take photos not sure if I want to go..as it's that weekend that we come back then the weekend after I've got a Christmas in July with my recipe group lol

planning to get Roman blinds for my bedroom sick of my red drapes..too bright and well takes up room when the ducted heating blows it's in the way

@Vy I made Romans for the bedrooms, they're great, I like the uncluttered look, but if you don't have them extending past the window frame you'll get light peeking in each side. To solve that I added side curtains, which I don't pull across, they stop the light on each side problem.

can't do side curtains as the builder popped our ducted heating vent there silly him so when it's on the drapes gets in the way..I have blinds at our beach house no probs there and yes they need to extend..

me too just can't remember why I chose drapes lol the rooms needs a re-do as kids are getting older now just costs so much money that I'm having second thoughts about it all ..when we moved in the blinds/drapes costed like 8-10K or something and that's only blinds to 4 bedrooms..they are double layered though..

I miss the jarrah floors from my last home. They showed up the dust a lot but their tone was so lovely.

Ka ren, if you're changing or adding lighting, do so before making paint selections. The lighting will affect the colour.

Do you have a sample piece of your flooring? It might be worth while taking one in to lighting stores where you can see how different colour temperatures change the tone of the wood.

I agree with what most people have said, the floor is a little dark and reddish right next to all that white cabinetry in the room. If you don't want to change the floorboards (which is very tricky anyway) I would suggest a gentle lime green for the back wall (which will be in harmony with the beautiful dining table that you already have). Changing the rug to something a bit more earthy in colour would also create more harmony in the space, inc a painting that highlights the wall.

Another possibility is painting the walls a particular shade of grey (not too dark), otherwise the space will be too dark. Its careful consideration, and the right accessories that will balance the overall look, the right colours to make areas in your space pop, but also gel and work together.

I think the problem with the floor is the gloss finish. If the flooring is solid timber, get it resanded and finished in satin or matte. It will make a huge difference to the overall look.

Sorry, I must have missed that they are floating boards, so you'll need to check if there's enough thickness to do this.

I understand you having a preference for a deep black brown floor, as this would tie in better with the overall room and white colour.

However, if it is possible, replacing the gloss finish with a matt finish would help with overall appearance.

Another suggestion would be to replace the dining table, chairs and rug. Opting for a darker timber colour and a chunkier piece, would ground the pieces to the area better than existing furniture.

Hi Ka ren. You really need to get a professional in to advise you as to whether the floors can be sanded and restained a dark chocolate or even black Japan but be wary, the darker floors are high maintenance although so very lovely. I have done this to several clients' homes but it all depends on the thickness of the engineered timber which is covering the substrate underneath. If too thin, it cannot be sanded. Sorry to everyone who likes red jarrah but this colour flooring is my pet peeve and I would go to any length to remove it if possible! Ka ren, it should not cost you anything to get a professional opinion. If you let me know where you live ( if in Sydney) I can put you in touch with my expert flooring people and they can advise you of what can be done. If you have any offcuts of the flooring used somewhere, you can have a look at how thick the top layer of timber is and let them know over the phone and they should be able to tell you immediately if this can be done. If sanding is not possible then by all means change the wall colour, add rugs etc. Be careful to stay away from colours that are complementary to red ( green for example) as they will just make the floors look redder! Also stay away from colours that are next to red on the colour wheel such as orange or yellow. I think a muted warm grey is your best option although I really like the navy wall posted by a houzzer above! a large statement art piece on the end wall and some hanging large pendants are both excellent ideas to distract the eye!

Thanks again everyone :) The furniture isn't mine so I will be able to influence the look quite a bit by using different furniture, paint, rugs and artwork. But it's great to know if I wanted to change the colour of the floor, it MAY be possible depending on the thickness of the wood layer :)

There's a special trick we know from a member of our team in her paint mixing days - if restaining the floors is an option, you actually need a green tint to knock out the red.

It sounds scary, but truly, an obvious green tint in the polyurethane floor finish will neutralise the red tremendously. You can actually get the jarrah closer to a walnut finish with this trick.

That's a trick with makeup too. Concealer with a green tint will cancel out red cheeks.

Mortar Studios ..you're brilliant ..green and red does make brown

Sand the floor back and re coat with a water based flat finish. This will mute the high red gloss finish . Environmentally more friendly and visually softer.

Well said Fiona!

Hi Ka ren

We chose to stain our floors, it's also a type of engineered base with Jarrah top and it was set with tongue and groove joins so quite tight ( I think). We chose Japan Brown by Feast Watson with a 5% tint and satin finish and love the result. It does show dust quickly and the semi Matt appearance can show scratches but its something we just have to live with now. The best thing is its not freezing underfoot during winter like tiles. The finished product is extremely slippery in socks is another con.

Photos show Jarrah with the stain plus high gloss varnish, the raw stain pre satin finish, finished floors with reddish colouring under sunlight.

Have fun with the process whichever you choose!

Good to know how you did it Nelle 111 and thanks for the photos. The finished floor looks gorgeous!!

Listen to the people telling you that dark floors show every hair and speck of dust. We get heaps of dilemmas across the world on Houzz with people complaining. Medium toned floors don't drive you nuts cleaning.

For my two cents worth, as others have said, don't touch the floors, work with them!

We have Jarrah floors too, and I also felt they were too red. I asked a professional floor sander/stainer about getting them stained a dark chocolate colour, and he said don't do it because the stain can sometimes get caught in very tiny tracks left by the sander and leave an uneven, unnatural finish - this doesn't occur when sticking with the natural colour. I have a white kitchen and white walls, and we just purchased a new chevron rug in Black and white. The Black and white really tones down the red, in my opinion. I'm also planing on changing our lounge to a sage/olive green, as I feel this will also help "cool" the red. I also have an acrylic painting on the wall with green and white colours in it, an a lot of leafy house plants, and a some furniture (bar stools etc) in black. I like the floors a lot more now.

Hello,

If your looking for some ideas regarding staining or liming timber floors, take a look at our Budget Floor Sanding Brisbane website for some floor sanding and staining inspiration. Just click on blog and type in "staining timber floors" or "liming timber floors"for some more information. Good luck in finding a solution.

http://budgetfloorsanding.com.au/

Would love to know how you got on with your jarrah floor dilemma Ka ren. What did you end up doing?

Hi jdublya, happy new year and sorry about the late reply! I ended up doing the safe / lazy thing... left the floor untouched and painted a feature wall deep grey, as well as having two-toned grey curtains to both the sliding doors, and a dark grey area rug. The open plan living / dining gets lots of light, so it's still bright even with all the dark greys. We've paired it with mismatched sofas in light grey and brown, and sage green throws. Overall, it's still a "warm" look and not the cool Scandi look I would have preferred, but it's cozy and the greys have really calmed down the red. It's a lot more to my taste now than the show room furniture was.

Bits of the floor finish are coming off though, I think (where the kitchen island stools have been dragged over the years by the past occupant), so in time I will get the opportunity to re-do the floor and it'll no longer be red!

Sounds great Ka ren. Thanks for the update, and happy new year back at you! :-)

I think the room would look amazing with the feature wall in teal or verdigris. A striking combination