I did not mean to let this thread drop. I want to say again, thank you all so much for your support. Greendesigns, that is probably the nicest offer of help from a perfect stranger I've ever received. And if you ever do roadtrip near Portland, hit Heirloom Roses in St Paul Oregon. :) Update---I did insist they refinish the floors. The GC told me the flooring guy agreed to "take care of the floors" which when pushed I discovered they were going to "repair" (which they'd already claimed to have done) rather than "refinish." I expressed concern over this to GC. They did the repairs last week. The spots are still there. :( Many/most of the spots are greatly lessoned/gone, but the worst spots (the ones in front of the front door and an area in the dining room) are still visible. It was because of those two areas that I insisted upon getting the floors redone. Obviously, I'm not happy and the GC knows this. (I'm sure the floor guy is not happy either because he's now invested another day on this job.) GC told me Thursday that he needed to talk to the floor guy and see what our next step is and I've not heard back yet. I'm sure his next step will be to tell me to shove it. You all understand--this is so exhausting--this has already delayed us moving in for several weeks, we missed our deadline of being in the house before school started because we made the floors a priority. And they're still not fixed! I gave floor guy 2 opportunities to fix it... what would you all do at this point? I am now done-stick a fork in me. I will live with those ridiculous spots--that never should have been there, had he done a careful job in the first place--but I refuse to pay this guy as if he did a good job. He did not do a good job and has shown he is not able to fix it. Does this seem reasonable...I am thinking that I should pay floor guy for materials and installation, but not the line item for finishing? That gives me the option to get them refinished properly later (I know it's a hassle) but then I am not seething that I've paid for/accepted an unacceptable job. What do you think?

I have not heard of that brand but we purchased the Bella Cera Ruscello flooring and when the boxes showed up it said the dreaded "Made in China" on them. What could I do at that point? We had it installed and are very happy. There is not one piece in the 1100 sq ft that has a flaw. Now, it has only been a few months, but no problems so far... And we also did about 60 sq ft of LM St Laurent flooring in our vanity area almost 2 years ago, it was "Made in China", which I did not know until later, no problems with it either.

It looks like the floors have been stained/finished to match the cabinets. If you must refinish them (and I would ONLY do this if they ABSOLUTELY need it) I would work with a water based polyurethane. Just as dcarendt has done, going NATURAL with a water based finish will offer a degree of separation which would be JUST ENOUGH to offer some visual interest. Personally I think the COUNTER TOPS need changing more than the floors. My first choice would be a CRISP white (no gray) or a soap stone/slate counter top would be EXTREMELY handsome. You need some CONTRAST in the kitchen. Right now you have mid-tone sitting on mid-tone sitting on mid-tone. You have the lightest version of "brown blahs" I have yet encountered. Changing the counter tops would be faster and probably cheaper than changing the finish of the wood.

instead of posting that listing, just post the pictures you need help with The ceilings are beautiful! The tile, not so much. what kind of furnishings do you have? what's your style? are you planning on keeping the stairway as is? (I switch out to something cooler looking This black w/the wood treads, and this wood floor, would look perfect w/your style home and the wood ceilings. these are all done w/wood flooring. (with updated staircase) you'd want to get a tone that goes w/your ceiling wood tone.