So I hired a guy to refinish the hardwood floors in my new house. I have an entire design in mind. But he can't seem to get anywhere near the color I want for the floors on one level. The floors are all maple. Every test run he makes at it turns out looking like the floor was just painted gray rather stained light gray. He's done well with the other colors I wanted. But he now says that maple can't look this way that it is all oak. But I've found pictures online of maple that looks like this. Here are the samples of what I'm looking for:

http://www.houzz.com/photos/205686/Gallery-Loft-modern-hall-los-angeles

http://www.houzz.com/photos/279337/--nteior-design-1-modern-home-office-other-metros

http://www.houzz.com/photos/279336/--nteior-design-1-modern-home-office-other-metros

http://www.houzz.com/photos/661378/media-room-contemporary-basement-



Any ideas how to achieve that look that I can pass along to him? Thanks!!

The pictures/links you posted appear to be pre finished or possibly laminate floors. I can't tell for sure .In any case pre finished flooring is finished board by board in a factory and they have some finishing options that are not easily duplicated on a job site by hand.

In some cases, special pre finished colors are achieved by sealing the wood and spraying on a color coat and this is something that is not easily done in a customer's finished home without making a mess .

As far as staining maple, it is very tough to do because maple inherently stains very un evenly.But he basic process for sanding maple is to sand, screen the floor a tremendous amount to remove any sanding lines or swirls, then usually condition the wood with a thinned shellac to partially fill the grain .At this point , you can try using a solvent based stain or possibly even going to a good paint store to have a shellac or urethane tinted grey.

In my area, there is an outstanding faux painter that is capable of creating one off colors .Perhaps you can track down a faux painter in your area to work with your flooring contractor.

Some guy in Australia started using watered down paint as a stain for those difficult woods. Not sure if anyone here has tried it. And I aint no finish guy so try a spot first before doing this.






_________________
Stephen Perrera
Top Floor Installation Co.
Tucson, Arizona
Floor Repairs and Installation in Tucson, Az

http://www.tucsonazflooring.com

You can do that .It's like popping the floor as you stain.But in general, water based stains or a thinned latex paint are really hard to spread and you tend to end up wit ha really opaque floor.You can still see the grain but it can come out like a deck that is stained with your average exterior solid stain.

It does work well for black and white floors.

I would check out what people are doing with hardwax oils. rubio has some of those greys and it works great on hard to stain floors. check out the fume product.
http://www.monocoat.us/