How I Stained Our Wood Floors with Coffee

Hello there!

You read that title right! I took my love of coffee to a whole other level! Lol! Today I’m going to share how I stained our wood floors with coffee! Awhile back I shared what I was planning to do HERE. But basically Ed and I have tried A LOT of stains and A LOT of stain combinations to create an aged wood finish and always missed the mark. Then I read an article someone had written about using coffee and tea to stain wood. I did some experimenting, loved the look, and after we laid our pine floors I went for it!

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Materials Needed

Coffee

I used ground medium roast Marketside coffee from Target, but I’m sure any brand would do. I made the coffee with a french press and used a generous scoop full. I didn’t measure it because after experimenting with it before it didn’t seem to matter as long as you made it strong the color seemed to develop more richness with each coat. I also preferred it be gradual because I wanted to keep it light.

I ended up making and using about 3 of these gallon glass heritage jars full.

Sponge Mop

After doing the first coat by hand with a sponge I switched to this sponge mop. I’m sure you could also use a brush or whatever method you prefer.

How to Apply the Coffee

I literally just mopped the floor with coffee lol! I added coffee into a paint tray and dipped my sponge mop in. Then I and made sure to ring out the mop pretty well each time. Mop or apply with the grain of the wood. As I mentioned this is a very gradual process as the wood can only absorb so much of the coffee with each coat. I also learned to let it dry really well in between applications after noticing when I didn’t wait as long the coffee started to smear or lift up.

One thing to note is that once you have the floor stained to your liking, and it’s completely dry, it will have to be sealed. If I were to scrub it before sealing it would most definitely remove some of the color. It doesn’t penetrate the way stain would so a good sealer is essential.

I’m painting a pattern on the floors in the kitchen before sealing so I’ll be sharing what I use in that article soon!

How Many Coats of Coffee

The first coat looked pretty yellow, but I expected that since I had done several test samples, which I would definitely always recommend. It took 6 coats to achieve the look/finish I wanted. Each coat would add a slightly darker, richer, and more brown tone.

My goal was to match one of the natural lighter wood tones of our (original to the farmhouse) front door and it’s about as close as you get! In some of the photos it’s looking a bit more orange than it does in person because of the lighting. The photo below with my feet is a good reflection of the final finished tone.

Final Coat

How I Stained Our Wood Floors with Coffee

I realize staining wood flooring with coffee is a bit out of the box and not for everyone. This was my first time doing this and it’s not an exact science by any means. If you decide to try it I do recommend doing test samples and give yourself time to play with it a bit.

I am so pleased with how the floors turned out! Plus it smelled delicious! Lol! I’ll be using this same technique on all the wood floors we install throughout the downstairs. And of course I’ll be sure to share what I learn as I go!

Thanks much for stopping by the blog today!

You can check out our DIY pine wood flooring HERE! 

And how I experimented with coffee stain HERE! 

Our full kitchen design plan is linked HERE! 

We also installed tongue and groove walls in the kitchen, which you can see HERE!