Hi Casey, I'm looking at Minwax stains, so it might be hard to compare stain names between brands. I was surprised about the SW as well. It didn't look greenish in the brochure, but on the sample they made me, that was the first comment everyone made. Weird. Also, in the brochure, SW was darker than the Prov., but on the samples they did for me, the Prov. was much, much darker. But, like I said earlier, photos of finished floors with the Prov. just don't look as dark to me. I think the person that made the samples screwed up. The man I met yesterday who is actually doing the work was a sweet old grandpa type. I'm definitely going to ask him about diluting the stain as several have mentioned. He'll probably hate me by the end of the day...

It sounds like you already know all the pros and cons. For a tough decision I try to picture an imaginary scale stacked with the pros and cons of each finish and determine which way the scale tilts. Would it be worse to have a floor that stains with red wine than one that's hard to touch up if it gets scratched? I'm currently in the midst of refinishing my living room floor was finished with gym sealer and wax over 40 years. I've decided to use Rubio but haven't decided on the color yet. Of all the HWO floors I've done the only staining issue has been with dog urine on a White Oak floor finished in white. The client insisted on a zero VOC finish and I warned her the main problem would come if there was a dog accident. She assured me her dogs were all well behaved, then she got a puppy.

Option #2...because option #1 doesn't look very promising. The 'fibreboard core' is concerning. This isn't a 'wood' floor it would be considered a hybrid. It sits somewhere between laminate (HDF core) and an engineered hardwood (top layer of hardwood sitting on plywood). If you want engineered hardwood then PLEASE purchase hardwood. If you want laminate, then PLEASE purchase laminate. The hybrid of option #1 may not give you want you THINK it will give you. It will give you a laminate with all the issues laminate has with moisture etc. It will give you the DOWN SIDE of both floors. Option #2 is a NICE sounding product. The total board thickness is a snick more than 1/2" (5/8" = 16mm). The wear layer of 4mm is 25% the total thickness. That's a nice ratio. The 4mm means you will get a floor that can be refinished (you need a minimum of 3mm wear layer to get a proper sand/refinish). The thickness of the wear layer also indicates the stability of the product. A THIN wear layer often PEELS/splits/cracks because it doesn't have the hold needed to grab onto a different material. You will notice option #1 has 1.5mm. I am going to tell you a secret which not many people know. The HDF core is VERY dynamic. It is SOOOO dynamic it can/will move up to 1" over 25 linear feet! I can pretty much guarantee you the 1.5mm wear layer is NOT going to allow that type of movement. Which means the GLUE will be the ONLY THING from allowing the HDF from expanding MORE than the rigid top layer. The glue will fail and the thin wood surface will split/check/crack/peel under extreme movement (1" over 25 linear feet is considered extreme BTW). There are few surfaces that can handle that type of movement...hardwood is NOT one of them. Paper photographs sitting over the paper HDF = no problem = traditional laminate. Cork surface over HDF = no problem...cork is very dynamic/stretchy. Pay the up-charge or go with traditional laminate. Traditional laminate in the PRICE RANGE you are looking at for floor is going to outperform the hybrid. And the hybrid cannot go in a kitchen without SERIOUS moisture prevention the seams. The HDF will expand when it comes in contact with moisture. The wood on top will NOT expand in the same way. Remember: floors take the MOST amount of abuse of any finish. There is always something sitting on, touching, walking on the floor at all times...because gravity works. Do not go cheap with flooring. It works out to be far more expensive.

I'm not sure what LVT is. :) I have an appointment with the flooring person for Saturday to test out samples. Cherie, we hate forced hot air because it bothers my and the kids' asthma and allergies so I am actually very happy about these baseboard radiators as radiant heat is much easier on the lungs since it's not blowing hot air all over the place. There is central air for the summer months. We live in Northern NH... it gets cold here for sure. I am going to keep the tile in the kitchen for now and the rest will be new flooring *all going in the same direction* ! We are ripping out the red carpeting, which is in all four bedrooms as well as on the stairs. We want to replace that with flooring and we don't want yet another type of flooring in the house so it makes sense to do the living and dining room as well. When we reconfigure the kitchen, we'll have to match it up and remove the tile at that time.