Sorry, I thought I was posting this on the flooring site. I first posted it there but when I went to put in the link, my PC froze and then I did not realize I was back in the decorating site. Sorry... I better get some sleep.

Lynn, in photo's 9 and 10, I'd say the third from the left, the row up against the desk. It looks like the Makore, is it? Whatever it is I think it's perfect because it's just enough contrast so everything is not matchy, matchy and you can appreciate the different colors of the furniture and the floor. On 14, the one in the middle.

P.S. I don't think you have enough samples. LOL Sorry, I couldn't resist. Just a helpful hint so as not to make yourself crazy, you should go with the one that talks to you first and keeps talking to you, it usually is the correct choice. That has been my experience.

Go with the darkest one.

OK, I'm not going nuts. There are two threads. Whew, thank goodness, I thought I was in the Twillight Zone for a while there.

I can't really tell which samples are which, but I'll take a stab anyway.

What I would do with your space, when you decide on your wood (I love tiger wood and think it would break up the look of your solid, one tone desk) is to lay it on the diagonal. It will be a bit more labor intensive but should only cost an extra 20% or so.

With planks laid that way, you could pick just about anything (still liking one with different shadings of wood tones) and you desk will look great on it and the room would look stunning.

The masochist in me brings a box of kleenex into my office every morning as I peruse the local real estate listings.

This pic reminded me of what I was talking about for your office. Picture your desk on a floor like this.

Brutuses, Early in the day, I was all set to go with Makore or Amendoim (two days ago I was set to go with Cabrueva or Brazilian Cherry and take a chance of a dark floor) until a neighbor liked the very light Sakura and thought I should take pics and look at the pics to get an overall feel of the colors without being on top of them.

Well, I would have never considered the one you chose until you sent me a sample of it and then I ordered a few more samples of it and realized the Cabrueva was the Santos Mahogany that I liked at the store a few weeks ago when I brought home the big samples that I had to return. So you choose Bruce Park Avenue Cabrueva in pics 9 and 10 that you are right has a few tones in it that compliment my credenza. The Amendoim you chose I love also which is an engineered wood (BR-111 Triangulo the big samples is of that is in the middle of the Santos Mahogany and the Tiger Wood in Picture 14). Most of the Amendoim Samples I have here unfortunately are the solid wood with two planks in the engineered since I had to return that pretty sample that was large in picture #14.

I love the Brazilian Cherry but some of the pieces were more red than my furniture when I had the big sample here so I was not sure and I should have taken a picture when I had the bigger sample here.

I love the Makore and that is why I have 4 samples of it since it looks so real but in the pictures you did not choose it with my furniture and chose the Cabrueva. Now you understand when I say I love the Makore but I wish it had more red in it? The first samples in pics 9 and 10 on the left are the Bruce Park Avenue Makore.

Miller88, Thanks for your opinion of Amendoim or Makore which are my favorites along with the Cabrueva.

Caminne, Choosing the darkest sample would be either the Cabrueva or the Brazilian Cherry when it darkens up. Thanks for your opinion.

Al-Horses, I guess I really wanted a light floor but the real light colors did not do much for the room and seemed to have too much yellow in them or did not look right with the file cabinets so then I thought maybe I will stop thinking light or dark and go with what I feel looks good and so far that is Amendoim (the variations seem to have a red tint to it that looks nice with my desk and is neutral and looks nice in my family room also... I am told the wood will have a lot of knots), Cabrueva (which is Santos Mahogany and picks up colors in my desk and is rich looking and pretty in all my engineered, laminate and solid wood samples) and Makore (= African Cherry... but I wish it has a little bit of a red tint to it that sometimes it fools the eye that it has due to the shine in it picking up the red in the desk.. I love the tones it has and how it looks so real and beautiful)

Parma42, I also love the Tiger Wood but when I got solid samples that showed what it looks like at first and what it darkens up to, the dark piece has so many dark black streaks that I was not sure about the Tiger Wood anymore. If the Tiger Wood would not have the black streaks, I love the grain in it and the color variation so much and fell in love with it at the store on the floor along with the Santos Mahogany and the Brazilian Cherry. I like the grain better in the Tiger Wood and the Santos Mahogany than the Brazilian Cherry but I love some of the pretty reds in the Brazilian Cherry so much.

parma42, that room is beautiful and the angle does look very nice. Thank you for sharing to give me ideas. I have so much work to do and I am so behind. I will try to get some billing out and some work done today but since I am working on my PC, I will check this site when my mailbox says I have mail since I want to make a decision as soon as possible.

This is more difficult for me to decide when I had to decide on what color paint in each room since paint can be changed but once I put the floor down, I must live with it for many years.

Well Lynn it sounds like you've narrowed down your choices, so that's good. I had picked out a Santos Mahogany laminate that Armstrong sold exclusively to a flooring store in my neighborhood. Then when I saw the Makore, I changed my mind. It was a bit lighter, not to mention the other store gave me the Makore for $1 less a sq. ft when basically it was the same flooring, just under different names.

Can't wait to see what you decide.

Brutuses, You made the right choice for your home seeing your wall colors and style. I love the Makore that has a variation of colors in it and still could work for me since it has some darker streaks in it to pick up my furniture. I feel the Cabrueva looks best in my home office but I feel the Amendoim and Makore will both look nice also without being too dark. I guess I am still fearful of going too dark.

I just put all the dark samples (Cabrueva & Brazilian Cherry and Kempas) around one leg of my glass table in my family room and the lighter ones (Amendoim and Makore) around the other cherry leg of my glass coffee table. I am going to see how I feel regarding the dark versus the light since when I had black supply cabinets in my home office it bothered me so much that I moved them to the garage for storage and bought two new putty cabinets for the office.

When I have some time, I will send in pics of that room that I want to eventually put the same floor in.