Hi,

I have any open concept floor plan. My present floors and wall to wall carpeting thought out the whole first floor, entrance way, stairs, hallway, dining and living room and bedrooms. The kitchen is waxed/oil(not sure) oak hard wood flooring. It is in pretty good shape. It is plank flooring, the width of the planks and different about 3 and 2 inches.The are spaces between the planks that are larger than all the new floors I have looked at. I think the floor is about 15 to 20 years old . Living room and bedroom I am leaving the carpet in these rooms.

My problem/concerns are:

1 Do I use hardwood or laminate in the hall way and dining room. I like the hardwood but everyone says it will scratch and dent. I have 2 large dogs. I like hardwood look better .

2 I have decided to tile the entrance way in tile(I did floor in the bathroom and it turned out ok).For the stairs I bought false Oak stair tread from home Depoe that you stain etc yourself and put directly over the existing unfinished pine stairs. Will the stairs look OK with the hallway it I get an oak finish and match the stain as close as possible. I am going to put a runner down the stairs.

3 Next, how strange will it look having the hallway one wood the kitchen original oak floor and the dinning room the same as the hall way. And then their are the stairs date are not the same. Should I also redo the kitchen. Their is no wall between kitchen and dining room. I hate to cover up the good kitchen floor and it will also increase my cost and work. But their is no point in doing all this work and it not look good at the end of it.

I am going to do the tiling and trying to get some help to do the other flooring. I am new at this type of thing so I might have to have the flooring done for me.

Sorry for the length of the email.

Jackie