FYI- I had seen a White Oak floor finished with waterbased polyurethane and it looked as light as Maple flooring. The veins in the wood weren't as prominent, but the floor was very pretty and light. Some flooring companies have samples so you can see what it looks like. If I can remember correctly, we had pine doors and pine trim in our previous house. We had the painters stain them just a touch darker than natural. You almost couldn't see any stain. It looked really nice, but I got tired of the yellow/orange like color. It seems that Oak and pine turn a little more yellow/orange if you leave it natural or don't stain it dark enough. I like both the white or the stained look, but recently I was wondering if a whitish/linen milk wash on pine doors and trim would look nice. I saw this pine wall at Ikea that had a linen color milk wash stain with satin poly over it and it looked stunning. I thought that a thin stain in off white with poly would give it a lighter look (for those of us who prefer natural or ligher wood), with virtually no further upkeep, and the wood wouldn't get the yellow/orange color). I wonder how paint would look next to that type of stain... I think I'll try to experiment with it and see if I would use it when we build our next house. PS-I'm noticing that the green homes around here seem to be going with natural wood (no stains), including the floors and the kitchen cabinets. In light of that, I wonder if white or stained kitchen cabinets will be phased out as the homes go green...

Hi crazyhouse6: After visiting the flooring store this weekend, I am considering brazilian teak also. The sample looked great and I understand the color doesn't change as much as the BC. If I did teak; I think I would want to match the color of the doors and trim to it. Our floors, doors, trim, etc. will be stained on site instead of prefinished. A few Q's for you: Are you trying to match the stain of the teak floors with the maple trim & doors? Have you experimented with any stains yet? Are you going with unfinished or prefinished? Thanks, jamms

Mixed woods are also the rule here in the Tennessee bluegrass region. The "fancy floor" tends to be blue poplar , which is yellow poplar from old trees where the heartwood turned blue with great age. ("Yellow poplar" is the lumber from the Tulip Poplar, which is no longer classified as a poplar at all, but the "Tuliptree"). Upstairs, one generally sees ash floors. Oak floors were disdained for their appearance, and one never sees pine floors until much later. It's sometimes called "railway pine" as pine lumber came into vogue only when railways were around to ship it into the region; pine trees don't thrive in this soil. I am guessing the red oak may well be original to your home as well. 2" boards were common by 1893.

Well, the wood interior of the windows, wood floor and wood cabinets are already a done deal, so subtracting those is out of the question. Just really need some advice on the interior doors...