A Brief Guide On Our Oak Finishes - The Wainhouse Co

Updated: Oct 19

Our timber furniture is available in 4 distinct colours. Two of them are our own, and the other two are a Neptune Iso Guard treatment. In this brief guide, you'll learn a bit more about the qualities of our shades and what makes each of them unique.

Weathered and Natural Oak

These inviting colours do little to change the natural look of timber. We feel that the natural beauty of wood should be embraced, and created these two light brown colours to achieve exactly that.

Weathered Oak

At the time of writing, Weathered Oak is the darkest of the lot. Weathered Oak is a beautiful, light brown colour that, critically, contains no orange or yellow tints. Weathered Oak fills the short grains of oak, creating a silky smooth finish. With added UV protection, Weathered Oak will keep its rustic charm for years to come.

Natural Oak

Our Natural Oak colour preserves the light colour of European oak. It doesn't have a grey cast compared to Neptune's Natural Oak. It's formulated to solely protect the wood, rather than to change its colour. While a pale brown colour, this tone doesn't have any yellow undertones.

Our Neptune Iso Guard Colours

Our 4 colours for our timber pieces include; Weathered Oak, Natural Oak and two Neptune colours, 'Neptune Natural Oak' and 'Neptune Chalked Oak'.

Our Neptune colours are the original Iso Guard treatments by Neptune, and can be used on our oak tables, bar stools, chairs, and oak living room furniture. Like our osmo oil treatments, the Iso guard treatments are oil based and protect the wood from spillages, but they also change the colour of the wood at a molecular level.

Neptune Natural Oak

This grey finish, as you would have guessed, is the most natural of the two colours. It does a great job at protecting the timber from spillages and preserves the colour. It crucially has no orangey or yellow tones which you can sometimes get in oak furniture.

Neptune Chalked Oak

Chalked Oak is the palest of the lot, and has a translucent white finish. It's a similar affect to limewash. The product nestles into the short grains of oak to make these bits appear white, giving Chalked Oak its distinctive appeal.

Our Matt and Satin Finishes

We are a bespoke, English interior brand who craft sustainable, solid wood timber pieces that will last a lifetime. One of the ways we make our furniture last is by using high quality oil osmo oil treatments on our products.

These osmo oil treatments are hard wearing, and are available as a matte or satin finish where matte simply means no shine will be reflected, and satin means some light will. Both of these finishes are smooth and equally durable. Without protecting the wood, the colour will change over time, these oil treatments ensure our pieces don't oxidise and with added UV protection, these treatments ensure each pieces preserves its original colour.

Kindly note that on a few select listings, there may not be an option to choose matte or satin. In which case, the finish will be matte.

Why Oak?

Why Oak? Oak is one of the most unique, durable, versatile and most prestigious wood materials available. It's also one of the most sustainable. We chose oak not only for its beautiful, swirling grain patterns, but also for its qualities. It's also prized for its resistance to rot and decay due to its high tannin content which makes oak a natural insecticide.

Discover Our Timber Furniture

Take a look at a brief selection of our handmade timber pieces.

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