Calling any home decorating/remodeling peeps....

[lizzyann]

So here is my dilemma...hardwood flooring!

I live in a newer colonial, built in the early 2000's. We are the second owners. The original owner who built the house put prefinished oak hardwood floor in most of my first floor. The formal living room which is huge, the foyer, hallway and stairs are all in the oak flooring. The whole backside of my house is one long open room consisting of dining area, kitchen and family room, which do not have the hard wood. I would like to install hardwood there now. The kitchen and dining area are a hideous linoleum and there is berber in the family room portion. I'd like to match the hardwood in the rest of the downstairs but when I contacted the flooring people who originally put it in, they said that the maker, Columbia, has different options now but they may have one that is a pretty close match to my current hardwood. The formal living room does open up to my dining area so I would need a pretty good match so it doesn't look off. So my question is...do I just go ahead and get the best match oak hardwood for the dining/kitchen/family room portion? Do I do a completely different wood for that portion - like a darker wood or something (might be weird to have two different hard woods though)? Or do I bite the bullet and just put in an entirely new hard wood in my whole downstairs so it all matches? I'd like to avoid this though to save some $$.

Couple things to note - I do not love tile, so that is not an option. My kitchen has maple cabinets with black granite, stainless Viking appliances, tan walls. WIll oak flooring look ok with maple cabinets?

Any help much appreciated!

 

[Gypsy]

I'd get a couple people in (at least 3) to take a look at your space, LEAVE and then come back WITH SAMPLES of what they are proposing and a written quote, and then make up your own mind. See what you think yourself. I would be surprised in this day and age is most wood floors can't be matched closely-- but it does depend on your definition of 'closely' and what your floors are made of and look like. And in some cases you may have to have the existing wood refinished to get a cohesive look.

 

[lulu]

We had fir floors butting up to yellow pine floors in one of our homes. After we had them refinished with the same stain they were noticeably different, but not distracting. No one who came to the house seemed to notice. With oak they should be able to get them very close.

 

[lizzyann]

lulu, Gypsy, thanks for your responses. Can prefinished hard wood be refinished? Sounds like a dumb question now that I ask it. My hardwood was already finished when it was laid plank by plank. It wasn't raw and then stained/poly on site, if that makes sense. So I don't know if it can be finished again to match the new wood.

 

[ame]

So here is my dilemma...hardwood flooring!

I live in a newer colonial, built in the early 2000's. We are the second owners. The original owner who built the house put prefinished oak hardwood floor in most of my first floor. The formal living room which is huge, the foyer, hallway and stairs are all in the oak flooring. The whole backside of my house is one long open room consisting of dining area, kitchen and family room, which do not have the hard wood. I would like to install hardwood there now. The kitchen and dining area are a hideous linoleum and there is berber in the family room portion. I'd like to match the hardwood in the rest of the downstairs but when I contacted the flooring people who originally put it in, they said that the maker, Columbia, has different options now but they may have one that is a pretty close match to my current hardwood. The formal living room does open up to my dining area so I would need a pretty good match so it doesn't look off. So my question is...do I just go ahead and get the best match oak hardwood for the dining/kitchen/family room portion? Do I do a completely different wood for that portion - like a darker wood or something (might be weird to have two different hard woods though)? Or do I bite the bullet and just put in an entirely new hard wood in my whole downstairs so it all matches? I'd like to avoid this though to save some $$.

Couple things to note - I do not love tile, so that is not an option. My kitchen has maple cabinets with black granite, stainless Viking appliances, tan walls. WIll oak flooring look ok with maple cabinets?

Any help much appreciated!

If it's NOT an exact match, I would rather do the entire floor to match. But that's me. I wouldn't be able to handle it not matching.

 

[aviastar]

lulu, Gypsy, thanks for your responses. Can prefinished hard wood be refinished? Sounds like a dumb question now that I ask it. My hardwood was already finished when it was laid plank by plank. It wasn't raw and then stained/poly on site, if that makes sense. So I don't know if it can be finished again to match the new wood.

I don't see why not, they just stained/sealed the individual boards before they were installed instead of after. A day with a belt sander should have exactly the same results!

And I also think the finish is key; oak can be finished to many colors, see if they can give you some samples and if one is super close, awesome, if not, pick an unfinished oak in a similar tone and strip and redo the finish across the whole space.

That said, my parents have many types of hardwood in their home and unless you are looking very closely it's hard to tell them apart. Especially several years of wear and tear in.

 

[megumic]

lulu, Gypsy, thanks for your responses. Can prefinished hard wood be refinished? Sounds like a dumb question now that I ask it. My hardwood was already finished when it was laid plank by plank. It wasn't raw and then stained/poly on site, if that makes sense. So I don't know if it can be finished again to match the new wood.

Lizzy I don't think you can refinish prefinished wood floors. How long will ou be in the house? If this is your forever home, I'd want a pretty darn close match. I like continuity and so I'd try to find a great match. If I couldn't, I'd redo all the floors to match. Personally I don't like the look of maple cabinets with oak floors, but that's just me. I tend to like tile with maple cabinets to give some contrast and texture to the room. Since tile is out, have you explored if there are other flooring options? I know bamboo and cork are both newer options. Maybe worth considering! Good luck!

 

[aviastar]

lulu, Gypsy, thanks for your responses. Can prefinished hard wood be refinished? Sounds like a dumb question now that I ask it. My hardwood was already finished when it was laid plank by plank. It wasn't raw and then stained/poly on site, if that makes sense. So I don't know if it can be finished again to match the new wood.

Lizzy I don't think you can refinish prefinished wood floors. How long will ou be in the house? If this is your forever home, I'd want a pretty darn close match. I like continuity and so I'd try to find a great match. If I couldn't, I'd redo all the floors to match. Personally I don't like the look of maple cabinets with oak floors, but that's just me. I tend to like tile with maple cabinets to give some contrast and texture to the room. Since tile is out, have you explored if there are other flooring options? I know bamboo and cork are both newer options. Maybe worth considering! Good luck!

Meg, you made me question my assumption (always a good thing!) so I did a little google-ing. Turns out it depends on your definition of 'hardwood'. A true, 100% hardwood floor, pre-finished or not, can always be sanded down and re-finished. An engineered hardwood (which is NOT the same as laminate) can only be sanded down with care and only once, to be re-finished cause it has a veneer of hardwood over plywood. So, you'd have to know your floor is truly oak all the way to the subfloor to be safe.

But I love the cork suggestion! I've wanted to add a cork floor somewhere, anywhere! I love the way it looks, it's sound proofing qualities, the cushiness of it on your feet. Unfortunately, I keep hearing/reading that it's not so great for homes with dogs- their little paws will wear a high traffic path pretty quickly

If you're open to a little mixing and matching there is all sorts of stuff out there that's definitely not tile, but most has it's quirks, so it depends on what's a best fit for your household. I've installed granite, marble, slate; pintrest is full of paper bag and penny floors. You could get really crazy!

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

I'm sending brain waves to Enerchi~~~~

 

[lizzyann]

YT, ha ha! Yes, I was hoping Ms. Enerchi would pop in and give her 2 cents!! Maybe later today?!!

Aviastar, yes all good points! I think mine is the engineered hardwood as it is definitely wood, but not quite the same looking as a true hardwood floor like my previous house had. I don't think I'd be comfortable refinishing it. I can't believe I am saying this but I am leaning towards maybe trying tile in the dining/kitchen portion and then sticking with berber in the family room portion. Like I said it is one LONG open room. I wouldn't want tile in my family room though, thus just maybe updating my berber. The more I think about trying to match hardwood it makes me feel like I am always going to be scrutinizing it if it doesn't match ya know?

Meg, you have me reconsidering tile. I just think finding a match to the hardwood is going to be hard and I will always be scrutinizing it. My DH doesn't love tile either because it is so cold and hard but if we just did it in the dining/kitchen portion and stuck to berber in the family room maybe I could sway him. I still love the look of hardwood in the kitchen though, but I worry that even if I found a good match, I may not love oak against maple.

Ame, I'm with you. I'm afraid that even if it is a close match, I may end up not liking it and constantly second guessing myself?

-------------

So now I am debating between trying to find a match, maybe still going with hardwood but darker or lighter than my current or bamboo (but would that be weird against my current oak?") or doing a tile in dining/kitchen and then berber in the family room? Thoughts? I really don't want to pull up the oak flooring and redo my entire first floor. Nothing wrong with that flooring so I'd hate to put the money into it.

 

[Octavia]

If the current wood is engineered and you don't want to refinish it, you might explore whether you can get a close match to the current wood, and put a thin, contrasting wood "border" in between. I think it would separate the new and old floors just enough that nobody would notice slight differences. Not having seen the rooms, I don't know that (subtly) differentiating between the front and back rooms with a border would look right, but it sounds like they are visually separated now so it could work.

 

[Jax172]

We are in the process of refinishing our kitchen (which had tile put on top of the original linoleum floors - and they did it around the cabinets instead of taking them out and putting the tile under too so we literally had to break the tile to put in a new dishwasher - brilliant). The adjoining rooms had engineered hardwood floors in them. We were told that while they could "match" it it would never be an exact match because the existing floors would have faded a bit over time due to wear, cleaning, sunlight, etc... So we choose to redo the entire lower floor with new bamboo floors (which is harder than most wood floors and better for the dog).

 

[lizzyann]

Octavia, that actually is a great idea if we can't find a match. We could do like a darker wood or something. Thanks!

Jax, I am intrigued by bamboo. I don't know a single person with it but it is definitely sold in my area (Massachusetts). Do you happen to have any pics you'd feel comfortable sharing of yours. I found this link with maple cabinets with bamboo flooring and I love it!!! The cabinets in the pics are very close to mine. Is bamboo more durable - i.e. less scratches, dents, discoloring? I have two little boys, no pets but I'd love to know that is more resilient ya know? How do you clean yours?

http://www.houzz.com/projects/45038/Custom-Maple--painted--and-oak-cabinets

Anybody else have bamboo flooring? How do you like it? Pics? Thanks!

 

[Enerchi]

Lizzyann! YT's brain waves found me... all the way across the continent!!

You CAN sand prefinished hardwood down, as long as it is true wood and min of 5/8" thick. Any wood floor has about 3 'sandings' in their lifetime, because the sander removes enough of the actual wood each time, that you approach the tongue and groove joints or it just simply gets too thin. Bottom line - yes, you can sand off the finish of the prefinished, but it won't change the micro "V" groove inbetween boards - that's probably why they caution against it because of the embedded dirt that just gets packed in there... We have prefinished hardwood throughout most of our main floor and after 14 years here, plus an array of 6 dogs at varying times in our lives during those years --- these floors have stood up exceptionally well, but still show they have "lived" a family filled life!! When we do sand and refinish, I still think I will stick with the natural maple finish on the maple wood - I just love the light colour and it hides sooooo much!!

As for bamboo, we also have that in our home in the upstairs 4 bedrooms. We bought it from Home Depot and love the finish and colour... but I don't think the product was installed properly even tho we asked the sales person, sales manager for flooring AND I emailed the company for confirmation, as well as the installer --- shouldn't we be putting the sub floor sheeting down under this?? oh no - this particular brand doesn't need it... blah blah blah... well, we live in a 4 seasons climate where we have high humidity in the summer and very cold winters so our furnace will dry the wood. After a few months, you'd swear you were walking on a 100 year old farm house floor!!! It creaks and crinkles... it is SO LOUD!! (although, when DS #2 comes sneaking in after 1 or 2 am, there is no "sneaking" involved!!) This was a design flaw with this manufacturer and I am SO sorry but I can not recall the name... if I find it, I will come back and post it. We did change the flooring in our main floor office to bamboo as well and it looks amazing! That was about 8 years ago. The only issue is we put down hard plastic office mats to protect the floor from the wheels on our chairs - those mats have had dirt and grit trapped beneath them and that is what has damaged the finish -- looks like CRAP! but oh well...

If I had to chose for a main space that would get a lot of family activity, as tempting as cork is, I would not recommend it. IT is soft and it does not have the longevity that hard wood does.

I think I've rambled and maybe lost your original question -- sorry!!

 

[lizzyann]

Enerchi, thanks for all of the info! I'm glad you popped in!

Couple of questions...

I live in Massachusetts so we have 4 seasons too. Was the particular bamboo that you used upstairs the issue or do you think I'll have a similar problem with bamboo in general. I really like it!

If we did bamboo, I'd have to replace my entire first floor flooring as I think it would look weird butted up to my oak prefinished. How much more expensive is bamboo versus oak flooring? Also you mentioned maple, I heard that is pretty expensive. But maybe going with maple will look better with my maple kitchen cabinets?

Has your bamboo scratched much? I know you have pets!

Also, I have oak pure hardwood on my stairs in my colonial. If I ended up putting bamboo down do you think it would clash terribly? I'd hate to have to redo my stairs/runners etc.

Anyways, if you had an open kitchen/dining room/family room in one long open room, what flooring would you choose? My cabinets are much like in the link I posted above. Black granite, stainless appliances.

Thanks!!!

 

[Enerchi]

Enerchi, thanks for all of the info! I'm glad you popped in!

Couple of questions...

I live in Massachusetts so we have 4 seasons too. Was the particular bamboo that you used upstairs the issue or do you think I'll have a similar problem with bamboo in general. I really like it! I think it was the particular brand that we used. In general, most bamboo is just about as thick as other hardwoods, so it can also be sanded and refinished... but I think there is a 1 x only limit with a bamboo sand... be SURE to check on that for accuracy with whatever company it is you purchase from. In general - bamboo in a 4 season setting should be fine. WE do have a humidifier on our furnace and we use a dehumidifier in the summer... its just this particular company was SH$T!!!

If we did bamboo, I'd have to replace my entire first floor flooring as I think it would look weird butted up to my oak prefinished. How much more expensive is bamboo versus oak flooring? Also you mentioned maple, I heard that is pretty expensive. But maybe going with maple will look better with my maple kitchen cabinets? hmmm... I don't know the price difference exactly but you want "premium select or better" for the type of hardwood. Anything less has a lot of knots/marks/variable shade variations in the package--- IMHO, totally NOT worth the few hundred you'd save. Do it once and do it right... that's my Mike Holmes advice for you! I think all the hardwoods, including maple are fairly comparable. Its the exotics that go insane on the pricing. Same tone of maple floor + maple cabinets could be a bit too monotone in the end --- I'd mix it up a bit if you go for maple - darker or lighter on the floor, if you already have the cabinets in place.

Has your bamboo scratched much? I know you have pets! Overall, not very much. It has worn EXCEPTIONALLY well in the office and it does not creek at all - this company was a perfect choice! The scratches are just under the perimeter of the plastic mat to protect the wheels from scratching the floor. So my pondering thought is... which would have been worse? No mat and wheels on the bamboo or mat and the dirt scratches from that? We'll never know but overall, the rest of the floor is perfect - I'm very happy with this bamboo product.

Also, I have oak pure hardwood on my stairs in my colonial. If I ended up putting bamboo down do you think it would clash terribly? I'd hate to have to redo my stairs/runners etc. The stairs are a transition point and the light hits it differently, I think that would make the stairs appear as a 'feature' in the hallway and no, you do not have to redo your stairs. Depending on the colour of the stairs, if you can get an almost exact match- AWESOME - but if you can't get super close, then I'd personally play up the difference in shades. A lot of seniors facilities are doing that now with new installations, because it provides a visual cue for a change in surface. If you have kids, it would help them as well... or drunken friends...

Anyways, if you had an open kitchen/dining room/family room in one long open room, what flooring would you choose? My cabinets are much like in the link I posted above. Black granite, stainless appliances. I do have a big open concept kitchen/family room/eat in kitchen/hallway area! I'm living your life but with white cabinets, charcoal laminate on the counters with a large Uba Tuba (green/black/gold) granite island and stainless appliances!! So my natural stained maple floors make it a very light and open/airy space and I love it! We went for hardwood because of the option of resanding it when we no longer had dogs or small kids. Now, no more small kids, but we added another puppy --- go figure!! I guess I am really not *THAT* concerned with my floors, in the overall scheme of things!! Scratches and things just happen... I know that cork is often recommended for the warmth and softness and comfort when standing in the kitchen. I had a decorating client that moved into a 4 year old home that had cork in the same main living space you and I have... looked like a dog had been digging to the centre of the earth!!! It had lost its sheen, was all chopped up and "pitted" and really showed the traffic wear pattern. We opted for site finished maple hardwood in a walnut stain --- --- it suited her home to a "T" and looked like a show home! but.... she had a long haired dog (Golden Retriever) that shed professionally ( I swear, I'd be outside at the front door and I'd be covered in dog hair before even entering!! OMG!!!) and the dust really stood out. So just be aware that while the dark floors are very au currant, and they do look super sexy, they do show dust, scratches and animal fur/hair, a lot!

Thanks!!!

Hope that was helpful!

 

[Jax172]

Ill post some pictures later tonight. I am on my phone now. My installer put underlayment under ours. I live in IL so we have huge temperature swings. The kitchen is not done yet so I haven't cleaned it yet but we were told to clean it like any hardwood floor. Ours has a Janla rating of 5000 which is harder than almost all woods used in flooring. We bought it online from Cali Bamboo. We have a large Labrador and two boys so we choose it for its hardness.

 

[megumic]

I still vote for tile in kitch/dining area and berber in lr area. I think any professional tiler will know how to make a smooth transition. My parents had this in the house I grew up in and it worked well. If you do tile, definitely select a tile that doesn't show dust and dirt. That means selecting something that has variation. Tile can be tricky, but I have found that looking at it frmo a distance of about 6 feet can really help. Plus, it's kind of a waste to tear out all of your existing wood floors when there isn't anything wrong with them. I think going with an entirely different material to replace the linoleum is your best bet. And sincerely, I actually like cold tile floor in the winter. I never understood the heated tile thing. Tile is supposed to be cold! Ohhh, what about a travertine?! That would be BEAUTIFUL with your cabinets and wood floors. Mmmmm that is something to consider. Let us know what you decide!

 

[lizzyann]

Enerchi, wow! Thank you so much for your time! You have been a plethora of information!!

Jax, I went to Cali Bamboo's website! Love their floors! There are so many choices, how did you choose? And did you just find someone locally to install for you?

 

[Enerchi]

Happy to help Lizzyann!! Glad I can share my knowledge and hope it helps you in your decision making --- don't leave us hanging tho, do come back and let us know what you went for!

 

[lizzyann]

I still vote for tile in kitch/dining area and berber in lr area. I think any professional tiler will know how to make a smooth transition. My parents had this in the house I grew up in and it worked well. If you do tile, definitely select a tile that doesn't show dust and dirt. That means selecting something that has variation. Tile can be tricky, but I have found that looking at it frmo a distance of about 6 feet can really help. Plus, it's kind of a waste to tear out all of your existing wood floors when there isn't anything wrong with them. I think going with an entirely different material to replace the linoleum is your best bet. And sincerely, I actually like cold tile floor in the winter. I never understood the heated tile thing. Tile is supposed to be cold! Ohhh, what about a travertine?! That would be BEAUTIFUL with your cabinets and wood floors. Mmmmm that is something to consider. Let us know what you decide!

Meg, we must have posted at the same time. Right now I am thinking we are either going to do the tile/berber or do bamboo for the whole downstairs. I also hate to just tear up what we have already, so I think I am going to get quotes both ways and see what it looks like. I know NOTHING about tile - literally nada. I would have no idea when purchasing so I think I will go to a place that specializes in it so as not to screw anything up. I'm off to google travertine.

 

[lizzyann]

Happy to help Lizzyann!! Glad I can share my knowledge and hope it helps you in your decision making --- don't leave us hanging tho, do come back and let us know what you went for!

Will do Enerchi! I'll post some before and after pics! What are your thoughts on tile in the kitchen vs. wood of some sort?

 

[Enerchi]

I have ceramic at the front foyer - easy peasy to keep clean but cold on my feet and in the winter, we can get to -30C. Not that I hang in the foyer for long, but I don't like cold floors.. although I do lie the easy clean. In our dining room I had black rough hewn slate tiles installed - - LOOKS AWESOME! and after a meal that may possibly (ok... quite likely!!) involve a bottle or so of wine, THERE I like the cold tiles to cool my feet down!!

In the kitchen, we do have the wood floors and we've had our old dishwasher flood x 2... and woke up to pools of water!! ACK! but... the wood was not significantly damaged and there was no warping, so in our kitchen, we've been fine. If I were building again, I'd still put wood in my next kitchen, so I like the look and the product for that site.

Overall, there are pros and cons to both ceramic vs wood:

Pro Ceramic - easy cleaning, easy installation, cheaper (if the sub floor is already laid down for a thicker tile to support the weight) vast variety of styles/designs, cost effective.
Con Ceramic - cold, crack when something dropped on it, need a well skilled person to install - not always a simple DIY job

Pro wood - warm, traditional, classic, variety of woods and stains, things won't ALWAYS break when dropped, could be a DIY with an experienced installer/handyman on site
Con wood - cost, scratches show, dents when things are dropped, will need some upkeep over time but the patina does lend character...

Go with what your gut tells you to do. What I tell clients is that I don't live there - you do - so you are always best to go with what makes YOU comfortable and what you can afford to purchase and factor in the upkeep. It is not a bargain if it is not what you want (ISn't that DS's tag line???) If this is your forever house, it will be worth the investment to spend a bit more to get exactly what you dream about!

oh...this is fun! Decorating by distance!!

 

[lizzyann]

Meg, I found some nice travertine. Take a peek. Maybe tile could grow on me...

http://www.flooringspecialty.com/travertine-tile.html
http://www.tilesmarble.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Travertin-Floor-Tiles.jpeg
http://media.merchantcircle.com/204... Kitchen Cabinets with Cherry Stain_full.jpeg

 

[lizzyann]

I have ceramic at the front foyer - easy peasy to keep clean but cold on my feet and in the winter, we can get to -30C. Not that I hang in the foyer for long, but I don't like cold floors.. although I do lie the easy clean. In our dining room I had black rough hewn slate tiles installed - - LOOKS AWESOME! and after a meal that may possibly (ok... quite likely!!) involve a bottle or so of wine, THERE I like the cold tiles to cool my feet down!!

In the kitchen, we do have the wood floors and we've had our old dishwasher flood x 2... and woke up to pools of water!! ACK! but... the wood was not significantly damaged and there was no warping, so in our kitchen, we've been fine. If I were building again, I'd still put wood in my next kitchen, so I like the look and the product for that site.

Overall, there are pros and cons to both ceramic vs wood:

Pro Ceramic - easy cleaning, easy installation, cheaper (if the sub floor is already laid down for a thicker tile to support the weight) vast variety of styles/designs, cost effective.
Con Ceramic - cold, crack when something dropped on it, need a well skilled person to install - not always a simple DIY job

Pro wood - warm, traditional, classic, variety of woods and stains, things won't ALWAYS break when dropped, could be a DIY with an experienced installer/handyman on site
Con wood - cost, scratches show, dents when things are dropped, will need some upkeep over time but the patina does lend character...

Go with what your gut tells you to do. What I tell clients is that I don't live there - you do - so you are always best to go with what makes YOU comfortable and what you can afford to purchase and factor in the upkeep. It is not a bargain if it is not what you want (ISn't that DS's tag line???) If this is your forever house, it will be worth the investment to spend a bit more to get exactly what you dream about!

oh...this is fun! Decorating by distance!!

I really don't know why I am so indecisive about this. I think I like the easy to clean aspect of tile, but I like the warmness of wood. I have beautiful tile in my master bath but my son dropped something on it awhile back and I have a huge crack. We are the second owners so I have no idea what tile they used to try to match it to fix it so I am stuck with a crack till we decide to change things up in there. I think this is partly why I am adverse to tile. But if i did tile, I would still do the berber in the family room which I kinda like. When you help design for people do you recommend to use one flooring choice through the whole first floor? Do you think it flows better than having different types of flooring? Oh and a friend of mine has hard wood in her bathroom, not sure if I could pull that off with still one more boy to potty train!

 

[Jax172]

We ordered the samples to pick what we wanted. And yes, we just had a local guy do the install - got a recommendation from a friend. I think he used something called QuietWalk or something as the underlayment.

Here are some pics.

 

[Jax172]

Also, our downstairs looks bigger with the same floor throughout now. It used to be engineered hardwood in the living room/dining room then tile in the kitchen and then the engineered hardwood in the family room. The kitchen designer suggested we change the kitchen to match the other two rooms for this reason. Because we I'm picky and the floor people couldn't say for sure it would be an absolute match we went with the new floor throughout. I've never had a huge issue cleaning wood floors though - I think they are just as easy to clean as tile floors.

 

[lizzyann]

Wow! That's beautiful Jax! Bamboo is very sleek! What color/model of Cali Bamboo did you go with? Also what kind of cabinets do you have?

 

[rubybeth]

I still vote for tile in kitch/dining area and berber in lr area. I think any professional tiler will know how to make a smooth transition. My parents had this in the house I grew up in and it worked well. If you do tile, definitely select a tile that doesn't show dust and dirt. That means selecting something that has variation. Tile can be tricky, but I have found that looking at it frmo a distance of about 6 feet can really help. Plus, it's kind of a waste to tear out all of your existing wood floors when there isn't anything wrong with them. I think going with an entirely different material to replace the linoleum is your best bet. And sincerely, I actually like cold tile floor in the winter. I never understood the heated tile thing. Tile is supposed to be cold! Ohhh, what about a travertine?! That would be BEAUTIFUL with your cabinets and wood floors. Mmmmm that is something to consider. Let us know what you decide!

Meg, we must have posted at the same time. Right now I am thinking we are either going to do the tile/berber or do bamboo for the whole downstairs. I also hate to just tear up what we have already, so I think I am going to get quotes both ways and see what it looks like. I know NOTHING about tile - literally nada. I would have no idea when purchasing so I think I will go to a place that specializes in it so as not to screw anything up. I'm off to google travertine.

Just a thought: these folks re-did their basement laundry room and put in a heated tile floor:

http://www.ramblingrenovators.ca/2012/11/laundry-room-reveal-pt-1.html

They live in Canada and I think in the blog post explains that they did heated floors in other areas of their house and have loved it and it was worth every penny. I think that's a really genius idea for a kitchen/dining area where you want folks to congregate, because it completely negates the 'cold tile flooring' issue. I know they have done this in many This Old House projects, as well. This isn't the same as whole-house or even one-room radiant floor heating (like from Uponor) but it might make the pain of not having hardwood a little less painful.

Also, the Young House Love bloggers put in a cork floor in their remodeled kitchen, and I think it looks really cool (they have parquet flooring in other areas that they will likely switch out to hardwood later): http://www.younghouselove.com/2012/03/put-a-cork-in-it-okay-maybe-not/

 

[ksinger]

I would bet a serious sum of money that your pre-finished oak is not solid and is a laminate - meaning the surface wood is too thin (1/4" or so) and you can't belt sand it, as some have suggested. Do you know its thickness, because that is critical. And take it from someone who DID the sanding, DON'T. Just don't. Some things are better left to the pros, and refinishing floors is one of them. A belt sander is one thing, but the edge sander? Break your back, and leaves gouges unless you really REALLY know what you're doing. And corners need to be hand scraped with a blade that is sharpened almost every other pass. I had a pro come in and repair the edges, and stain and seal, and it was money well spent. I should have let him do the entire thing! Live and learn.

IMO, oak flooring looks classic with ANYTHING, so oak would be a good choice, even with the maple. I have gorgeous solid red oak (1950's vintage) throughout and I adore it, so yes, I'm biased.

And you need to reconsider tile, because they have some wicked tiles now that mimic wood to a high degree.