We’ve had our Stuga floors for over six years now, and it’s time to give a big update. Would we choose white oak flooring again? How much did they cost? I’ll share it all, along with some practical advice for anyone considering these high-quality wood flooring options for their home.
A few times a month, I’ll get a question about our white oak floors that we installed in the summer of 2019. Do we like them? Would we buy them again? How do we clean them? I figured it would be helpful to write an entire blog post answering all of those FAQs, while also reviewing how these floors look six years after installing them.
Fixing Our Subfloors & Finding New Flooring
When we bought our current house back in May 2019, we wanted to simply refinish the oak hardwood floors. We thought we would sand them down, stain them a light color, and seal them up. That’s exactly what we did in our previous condo to bring the hardwood floors back to life. 
Unfortunately, these floors weren’t salvageable and we even found that the subfloor underneath them was rotting and unstable. That was one of the curses we experienced buying a 100-year-old house! We ended up removing the oak flooring and donating the wood locally.
On the first floor, my contractor laid new plywood over the floor joists to make everything stable. Upstairs, he ripped up the carpet and we found that the plywood underneath was in good shape so we were able to keep it!
With our contractor addressing the subfloors, I had to quickly choose new flooring. It felt like a big decision, especially with our budget in mind. After a lot of research and a few second opinions, we decided on Stuga’s floors. Their European white oak planks checked every box for us: soft blonde tones, even grain, and a design that feels timeless. Oh, and they don’t require a lot of maintenance.
Choosing White Oak Flooring From Stuga Studio
We ended up going with these white oak floors from Stuga Studio. The color was called “Oak Muse” at the time, but now it looks like they call it “Moonlight” on their website. It’s a great color (not too pink, yellow, or green) and the plank size is 5 inches wide, with all full-length boards.
I like the wide plank design, subtle soft blonde tones, and warmth of these floors. Not to mention, they’re incredibly durable, which was a must for our family.
Adding this new flooring transformed our entire house. Here are a few before and afters…
Flooring FAQs
Now, let’s dive into some of the frequently asked questions I receive about my white oak floors.
Are they real hardwood?
Is it real hardwood flooring or engineered flooring? The short answer is…both, kinda.
It’s real Swedish wood that can be refinished, just like traditional hardwoods. I like that because a future owner could always sand and stain them a different color down the line. And this real wood should last for 100+ years! Plus, Stuga Flooring offers a lifetime warranty.
But unlike traditional hardwood floor planks, these are engineered into a secure locking system so there isn’t any separation between boards. The locking system prevents separation from seasonal humidity, which is what I like about the product.
Did you float, glue, or nail them in?
The floors we went with have three installation options – glue, nail, or float. I honestly had no idea which one would be the best for our home and I chatted with my general contractor, Patrik, about all three options.
The most labor-intensive, and therefore most expensive, was the glue option. The least expensive was the floating option.
He recommended the floating option for our house, so we went that route for the second level, which is where they started the installation. I ended up buying this underlayment to make things cushier and give some extra padding.
On the second level, the main bedroom floor isn’t super level. Because of this, we noticed a few hollow feeling spots in the room after the floor was floated on top of it. It felt kinda bouncy.
Not loving that feeling, we had Patrik pull up a few boards and nail them into the plywood underneath. This made things a lot sturdier!
After that, we decided to go with the nail-down technique on the first level and it feels really solid without any bounce. If you’re going with these floors, I recommend nailing them down but talk with your installer because every floor is different.
My contractor was not super familiar with this particular product, but he said it ended up being a pretty easy installation.
Is it okay to use these in a kitchen?
Absolutely! These floors work beautifully in kitchens, as long as you’re mindful of regular cleaning and avoiding standing water.
While they would work in a half bath, I probably wouldn’t opt for these in a full bathroom with a shower. Full baths are never a great place for wood due to the moisture and water.
How did you refinish the stairs? 
The stairs were actually in great shape and Patrik was confident he could color match the stain to the new white oak color.
He sanded, stained, and sealed them instead of ripping out the wood completely. Sorry, I don’t have the exact stain color he used.
How have they held up over the years?
Six years in, and I’m happy to report that these floors are still going strong. While they’re not completely dent-proof, they’ve proven to be some of the most durable hardwood floors we’ve ever had.
In our old home, we had hardwood floors that we refinished when we bought the place. Unfortunately, they got really beat up, even with us being extra careful around them. High heels were the enemy of those floors, so I was always worried when we entertained. I didn’t want to make guests take their cute shoes off, so our floor had quite a few divots.
The floors in our new house are much sturdier and they’ve held up great. I’m not saying they’re completely dent-proof, but for the most part, they’re still in great shape.
The main area where we’ve seen a few dings is in the kitchen and dining area. These are mostly scrapes, however, they are not noticeable unless you have a flashlight or sunlight directly aimed at those spots. The only reason I notice them is because our new vacuum cleaner has a light and I now see any mishaps. Ha!
Oh, and I recommend getting these for all of your chairs if you have hardwood floors. They help!
There have been one or two times where a very heavy item has made a gash in the top layer of the floor, but for the most part, we’re happy with how durable they’ve been. We have two young kids, entertain often, and we beat these babies up!
Can you do minor touch-ups if you see dents or scrapes?
The good thing about these floors is you can easily take a section out and replace it if you see any damage. For that reason, I would highly recommend buying extra flooring, just in case! We bought extra and we store it in our crawlspace.
The floors can also be sanded down two different times before you will need to purchase new flooring, but here’s what Stuga says about that. “The likelihood of you sanding your floor twice is essentially zero. The main reasons for sanding/refinishing your floors is if they’ve been heavily neglected and abused to the point of severe damage, or if you wish to change the color.”
We don’t plan to ever sand them down, but perhaps we will swap out a few sections if they get too worn down over the years. They also recommend this oil in the color “white” for minor touch-ups, but I’ve never used it before.
Do they show a lot of dirt?
Our old floors were dark and they showed everything! This light color is so much better and thank goodness, because our floors are always filthy. It’s a crumb city over here!
I don’t think the color of this flooring highlights the dirt any more than it should.
How do you clean them?
I try my best to follow the maintenance instructions that come with the flooring. They recommend dry cleaning most of the time, so I typically just zip around with my Dyson vacuum every night after dinner.
I leave the deep cleaning to our cleaners who come every other week. They lightly mop them with water and a splash of Lysol. The brand recommends maintaining them with this hardwood floor cleaner and I use that if they need a really good cleaning.
How much did they cost?
All in, the flooring project cost about $25,000.
This included removing all of the old hardwood and carpet, as well as disposing of the materials ($5k), repairing the subfloor, laying a new subfloor, and laying the new hardwoods ($8k). It also included the cost of the hardwood for the entire home, totaling 2,200 square feet ($12k).
Keep in mind, not all floors need to be replaced like mine did. Most can be stripped and resurfaced at a much lower cost. We did that in our first home and you can read about it here.
Would we buy them again?
YES! If anyone ever asks me, I always tell them the truth – these floors are expensive but they’re worth it! I think they’re the ideal choice for just about any home. And honestly, I think you can never go wrong with hardwood floors. They will always have a classic look and bring in the beauty of nature!
So there you go, all of the details about our white oak floors. It’s six years later and I still absolutely love them.
Casey