We have visited two so far, one being a very high end store.seems like everything we have found is rotary cut not plain sawn. I was hoping the experts could refer me to specific brands. The Anderson's have the distressed finish but not plain sawn, same with Shaw. The mirage and lauzon are plain sawn but not a lot of distressed options.

I think it's cool that this thread started in 2007 and still lives, and thanks to all for keeping it alive, it is very inspirational. This is going to be a long post, so sorry about that. I'm sick, so lots of couch time yesterday, and I finally caught up on a few decorating mags. April's Elle Decor has several homes that sort of qualify as coastal, breezy, etc., though with more of a multi-cultural flare than the strict British Colonial. There is one beach house in Brazil that is nicely done; casual, quirky and fun. Even though we live at the 44th parallel, and as I write have ice on the pond and snow on the ground, I love the styles posted in this tread and the combo of having some time to think and seeing this thread again has given me an idea for our screened porch. We built this house 5 years ago, and 3 years ago finally screened in the porch (on the east side, we have a SW exposure and get hot afternoon sun, even up here in NNY, the porch is respite from that). The flooring and ceiling are lyptus, and we have wicker furniture, some white, some dark green with white and green striped cushions. Classic, yes, but we already have a lot of green, house exterior, LR, entry way, MBR, and while they are all different greens, I wanted something different. So, I sprayed the wicker dining table base a tomato red, sprayed the dining chairs purple and had new cushions made for the dining chairs in some Sunbrella fabric I have toted around for umpteen years. It's a very crisp stripe; yellow, green, purple, red, aqua, blue and white, and since I'm not a crisp gal, it was bold move for me. In the porch seating area I sprayed the white chairs a deep, glossy brown and painted the desperately faded cushions an ivory color. And while it looked OK, I could not put my finger on why it didn't feel right. Seeing this thread again has helped me to diagnose the problem, the look, while cute, is too cottagey, and the porch is more coastal. Aha! So, once the weather breaks, I'm going to spray the dining table base and chairs a deep blue (pulled from the stripe in the cushion) and probably paint the green wicker the deep glossy brown. Then I'll bring in some white and a lighter, but still strong, blue (sort of the colors Target is featuring in their latest collection of melamine plates, navy, white and indigo, I think, I'm not sure what color the lighter blue is called). I would also paint the currently green house walls that are the back of the porch the color of the trim out there now (BM Sailcloth) and maybe get a sisal rug. The wicker couch has been moved out, it wasn't working in the space, and in its place we brought in 2 smaller, vintage chairs, one wicker, one sort of 1950's porch furniture, with wide arms and a wooden frame. I'll need new cushions made for the wicker, not sure of the print, will paint first, make cushions later (I paint and paint is cheap, I don't sew and cushions are $$$). Here are a few pics of the porch, what do you think? Would that work or am I kidding myself that a porch in this style would work in the far north? I should add that we are on the water, so that does add some legitimacy (she says hopefully) to the "coastal" thing. The pics are 3 years old, and don't reflect the brown painted furniture, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the space. Dining area: LR area: Thank you for listening to my ramble, hope I haven't bored anyone to tears- sandyponder

In our townhouse we have many different floors, many are wood meeting wood. I think the key is to make it look planned verses trying to make it all look like it went in on the day the house was built. Our master suite butts up to a landing above the library. The library has beach and walnut. The stairs are walnut and beach (risers beech and the treads walnut) with a walnut landing. The bedroom is bamboo. The bedroom floor runs on a diagonal with the wood pointing to the view. The landing is horizontal. We have a transitional board between the two in the doorway that creaks the two apart (horizontal walnut covering the end boards of each room). The kitchen and hall are oak with that walnut and beech stair connecting that level to the library and the basement level is tiger wood run the opposite direction as the landing from the stairs. Each space is individual but united by the stairs. I really like it that way. In our Victorian we also have wood floors that run here and there in different direction and in different woods. Again each it's own designed space verses one boring floor running the length of the house (which I've had too...you just learn to highlight something else in the room because of the common floors). I guess I'm saying it will look great. By the way....the Victorian was built with different floors instead of all the same as well so it's not a new idea by any means.

We ended up switching from an LVP to Mohawk RevWood Plus, which is a laminate that has a “WetProtect” lifetime surface and subfloor waterproof warranty, maximum scratch protection, and a lifetime “All Pet” warranty against pet stains. We are SO happy we decided to switch from LVP to this laminate, for a couple of reasons. We are still getting the water protection benefit of the LVP, while also getting the durability of a higher quality laminate, and for less money. Another huge plus, in our opinion, is that the “grain” in the surface of the laminate is visual without being abrasive. The Paradigm flooring was actually rough enough that I could not run a dust mop across the boards easily, only in the directions the boards were laid—which isn’t always the most convenient way of doing things. The laminate is enough smoother than this is not an issue, and is also MUCH more comfortable on bare feet, and gentler on socks and the knees of our little grandies crawling across it. Just my $0.02.