You will probably just have to suck it up and go with site finished floors if you want it to match and flow well. It's possible to have someone come and move everything onto a truck (or into your garage) so that it doesn't all get dusty.

3katz, I don't have an answer for you, but your situation is similar to mine, except my carpeted areas are the bedrooms. I really and truly do not want to go through another site-finished wood floor experience, at least while I'm living here.

Your floors are very nice and I can see why you'd want to keep them. I really think that you can probably get a color close to your site finished, but the wood and texture will look quite different with pre-finished boards.

If it were me, because I love my site finished so much and they are so durable, I would just suck it up, so the site finished and put up with the mess. It will be short duration disruption will save you the "wish I'd just done it" regrets for many years to come.

If you just can't, I'd probably look at a tile that is close in color as possible to the existing wood and make it look like you deliberately chose a different floor for the living room. There are other choices, like bamboo or cork, but I think with them in one room only, it will look like an update that you didn't carry into the rest of your spaces.

There are new methods now that aren't as dusty. Dustless sanding systems.

We did factory finish enginenered oak wood in both our daughters co-ops. It looks fabulous! I wouldn't rule out replacing all the wood with that. No fuss, no muss, in the exact finish that you want.

I had site finished floors and was prepared for terrible dust. However, it was actually minimal dust.

Site finished is the way to go. Just do it right the first time ... the best way to minimize regrets!

You'll be inconvenienced for a few days and have to clean up some dust, but the results will last for decades and be well worth it.

We had site finished floors installed 3 years ago.....to match 27 year old floors. They look wonderful. Yes, there was dust....but you start at the top and work down. It is a good time for a thorough house cleaning.

I had a new oak kitchen floor put in this summer. My hardwood guy blended it seamlessly with the 100 year old dining room oak floor. People are amazed when I tell them one is new and the other a century old. There's minimal dust these days, and the worst part is the smell of the oil finish (yes, we can still use oil based products here in MN and most old home folk opt for them). If I were you I'd do the site finishing. Perhaps you can have it done when you are on vacation or something if the pain of it concerns you.

We have oak site finished floors throughout the house. When we added oak flooring to the kitchen, we chose site finished and the installer did an excellent job of feathering the flooring into the adjacent rooms. The dust is minimal and a good installer will tape off adjacent rooms to minimize the mess. I don't think you'd ever regret going this route.

We had pre-finished wood floors installed when our home was built in 1998. Four years ago we replaced the dining room and sitting room carpet with pre-finished that matched our wood floors. The only difference is that the new floors are a little less shiny than the old. You'd really have to study them to notice. We have area rugs in all of the rooms, so that helps disguise the difference.

Well you are reaffirming what I thought in the first place. Glad to hear there's potential for it not to be as messy as I recall from the last time I did this. Part of my problem is that I'm just not up for moving everything again after only a year which of course I'd have to do no matter what I replace the carpet with. The stairs are the worst so I think I'll deal them first - no furniture moving required and they can pre finish before installing with just some final touch up. Planning to add some kind of patterned runner that doesn't show dirt and wear. I guess I'll focus on that project for now.

The guys who did my floors moved pretty much all the furniture in and out. We just removed clothes from the closets, dresser drawers, and books.

Yes - we'd have lots of electronics to disassemble and bookshelves and cabinets to deal with. If I have the existing floors refinished at the same time we will probably have to move out for a week which we could do since we have a second home. The cats and I could leave and DH could probably live in the lower walkout level to keep an eye on things. Uggghhh....I'll have to work myself up for it. For now I'll carry on with the area rugs and Zep.

You can do a waterborne finish which will take less time and less smell.

I have Bona Commercial finish, which is waterborne.