What oak does to a room over ten years

Oak is not a finish. It is a material that keeps changing, and that is the point of choosing it. We specify it often, and we try to be honest with clients about what the next ten years will look like.

The first year

New oak is pale and slightly raw. It darkens quickly where light reaches it, and slowly where it does not. A table by a window will look different from the same table in a corner within a few months. We tell clients to expect this and not to correct it.

The fifth year

By now the floors have a path. You can see where people walk from the door to the kettle. Oiled oak takes this well. Lacquered oak scratches and has to be sanded, so we rarely use it.

We prefer soap and oil finishes because they are easy to repair. A mark on a soaped floor can be washed and treated again by hand in an afternoon. The finish becomes part of how the house is looked after, and not something that sits on top of it.

The tenth year

After a decade the wood has a depth that nothing new can imitate. The edges of stair treads are darker. The top of the kitchen table has a few rings and a pen mark from a homework evening. We think the room is better for it, and so, usually, do the people who live there.