Without seeing your floor up close and personal, there is no way for me or anyone else to assess what, if anything, is wrong with your refinishing job. By now you have dealt with your contractor, so anything I might say here about your floors will be moot, but I'll give a few of your concerns a go at it. The color difference between the two floors could be due to different wood species or different grade and/or sawing. Then, also, lighting could play a big part in adding color to a floor. Shoe molding can be gotten in long lengths, but it is common to have shorter lengths make up a long length. In fact, if you look at how the trim in many older homes is done, you will see several pieces fit together to complete a long basebord length. Sometimes it is even the baseboard that gets pieced together to complete a certain length. I usually spot fill floors after the staining is done and sometimes after the first coat of finishing material. This allows me to add just the right amount of color to the filler to get it to blend well with the wood. Wood fill is notorious for not taking stain in the same way as the surrounding wood. In your case it seems that the filler may not have been colored at all. Stain spills on baseboard can usually be wiped off with mineral spirits as they occur. They still may be removable. However, if what you are seeing is polyurethane splashed on the baseboard, then that may be more difficult to remove. You may be obligated to allow the company to address your concerns and to give them a chance to make it right with you.

Reolving what's under the lino and particle board shouldn't be hard: 1) Look very closely where the sink drain penetrates the floor, you may see what you need to know; or 2) pick a place in a bottom cab (I'd choose one with a bottom drawer, but any one will do.) Take a portable saber saw and cut out a square big enough to allow you to the take a lino knife and then a chisel to expose what's underneath. If you're careful you may be able to cut the cab floor hole on a inward slant giving you a piece you can just drop back in place and tape up. But even if you find that there's some form of wood floor underneath, you won't know what condition it's in. It could have been irrremediably stained and grungy, hence the decision to cover the whole thing with lino. (One of my floors turned out to have kerosene spilled on it, from an old kerosene cookstove. I'm covering up that with subfloor and lino). Or maybe the wood was fine but when they put down the particle board subfloor they stuck it down with black goopy (and maybe asbestos-y) glue (or leveling compound), or the sub floor was nailed down with dozens of now-rusted, ten penny nails. In any of these cases, the aesthetics of a wood floor may be not what you're hoping for. If you decide to go ahead and expose the floor, you can just cut the lino and particle board at the base of the cabs and install shoe molding to cover the exposed edge after refinishing the floor. Your countertops will be 1/2" higher, afterwards. hth L.

Hi, have to ask advice in this same line. Built last summer, have clear pine baseboard and trim I've been finishing (some natural, some with a touch of Minwax Honey Maple gel where window jambs were turning dark with conditioner, sill was light so touched with honey to blend in). LOVE it with my Navajo White and also with Thornton Sage and Antique Jade walls. Really goes with everything. Here's the problem - installing Brazilian Cherry in dining room next week, open to foyer (dark green tile) and stairs (oak tread with linseed oil/beeswax, unfinished pine risers). What do I do with trim and baseboards (1 long wall from dining to front door) to make it look good with cherry floors (will darken with age) and oak stairs/furniture? I haven't even thought about shoe moulding - but my uncle has lots of nice oak left over from his house. Too much with pine base and cherry floor? Here are some pics. Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: Snapfish floor pics

Joseph, I think you are preaching to the choir on a forum like this, so chill and give posters credit for knowing what they are dealing with. This is a 750SF house, built to house base support during the interwar period. It is as basic as basic gets, but hardwood flooring was par for the course in that era, even though a luxury to us. There is just no way to cosmetically salvage the floor. It has served faithfully for ninety years, but is just worn out. I appreciate everyone's advice on the shoe mold. I'm clearly overthinking it, but I was just so down in the dumps because of all that haaaaard work scrubbing and laying poly gone to waste. I was so proud of the job I had done. But we knew it was a gamble when we did it, because of the condition of the floor. We have found an unbelievable clearance deal on Trafficmaster laminate at the local big box, so we can at least keep the look of what was there.