Can I use different hardwood in kitchen than adjoining rooms?
Comments (25)
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Hardwood floors - site-finished and pre-finished in adjoining rooms?
Comments (34)As JLC said, you have nicely finished doorways ... the only time you will see both floors is when you have a door open. And with the difference in lighting, you won't notice slight differences. Here's how I match or blend finishes: Bring home some samples of the prefinished you are thinking about and lay them in the hallway, parallel to the existing floors. Stand back 10 or so feet and pick the board or boards that you have the hardest time spotting. That's your match. Or, remove the boards that stand out ... what's left is the matching color. If you carefully pick the ONE board that is just inside the doorway to be as close a match to the older one in the hall it will make the blend almost invisible. Here, in an 1880s adobe ... the door stops where the pale wood is, and I picked new boards with the brownish tones of the old floor (upper part) to make the new flooring (running side to side) less conspicuous. (there was craptastical 1990s carpet and some wierd sill arrangement to deal with ... nothing in the house is square, plumb, or level). By matching size and rustic-ness in the new flooring we got a floor that blends with the old. Cleaning and refinishing the old floor (eventually) will make oit blend better....See MoreMatch existing hardwood but stain different colors in different rooms?
Comments (8)Every house has its issues and only you know how much specific problems will bother you. If the newly installed wood is of the same species and grade, stain mismatch shouldn't be a problem. Different boards will take the stain differently and that will occur in both the new floor and the existing floor. A bit of color variation is part of the beauty of real hardwood floors. If you have the whole floor sanded, you can go with a slightly darker color but stick to a classic medium brown shade and it won't ever go out of style. New engineered flooring isn't going to be as durable as your floor with a good quality finish. Flooring manufacturers tout their multiple coats of finish applied in a factory environment as something that can't be duplicated in an on-site job. True, but that isn't all positive - scratches, dings and dents happen on site and factory finish has to be replaced, not repaired. Rather than replacing the existing, consider spending a bit more money and doing a high end finish. You might want to investigate the newer UV cured coating systems that are marketed as comparable to prefinished products. When my hubby was curious about off color stained wood, I asked him how much the slightly mismatched stain color in our current house bothered him. He hadn't even noticed it and it's been there close to ten years since I removed the carpet exposing the original finish hardwood....See MoreFlooring Options for Office Adjoining Hardwood
Comments (5)My strong recommendation: continue the wood inside the office. It will give you the best looking result by a long shot even if you are not in love with the existing wood. A real hardwood is easy for a professional to match and blend. Do not, and I cannot stress this enough, do not use any fake imitation wood: laminate, vinyl, tile, etc. One "wood" material will make the other look horrible....See MoreCan I have two different types of hardwood on one story?
Comments (4)Photos of the areas where you WANT the new wood to run...would be super helpful. Currently you have (at least) 3 different floors on the main level. If you remove the kitchen (etc) tile and add in A DIFFERENT wood floor, you will STILL have three different floors on that level. You will not have 'up-graded' your home. You will have swapped out one 'different' for another 'different'. If you MUST have a different LOOKING wood I would HIGHLY recommend finding and installing the same SPECIES of wood, in the same WIDTH and the same CUT as your dark hardwoods. And then finish them as you wish. What that does is ALLOW YOU to make a decision later on down the line to have all the wood refinished at the same time in the same finish so that you FINALLY can unite the wood floors. But...and there's always a but...you have an active 'wet' entrance with high traffic to a pool area. Wood may not be the best option (depending on how vigilant your people are). Very young children + LOTS of dripping water over LONG periods of time (a 6 year old that is standing in the kitchen waiting for their sandwich while the water pools at their feet) can damage hardwoods. This is easily dealt with by using LARGE area rugs and plenty of towels and plenty of vigilance + practice. There are many people who are FINE with wood floors in and around a pool entrance and there are many MORE people who faint dead away at the THOUGHT of water dripping on their wood floors. It's kind of a personal thing. If you must have wood, then go with the species/size/cut match and then finish it in your choice of colour. Before putting the house up for sale you can have all the wood refinished in a unifying colour = continuous floor = UP GRADE to what you have right now....See More
ehanders
5 years agoehanders
5 years agoehanders
5 years agoehanders
5 years agoehanders
5 years agoehanders
5 years ago
Alex C
5 years agoehanders
5 years ago
l pinkmountain
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoI will take a photo of my office which has LVP against hardwood and post. But it may be a while, when I get a chance. Maybe some others here have better examples. I wondered about cork too. Not sure about in a kitchen. My brother laid it himself in his apt. it was a lot of work and not too easy. It has to be sealed. I've never seen it but I did work in a place that had real linoleum. That was fabulous. Soft, quiet, colorful and durable. It's pricey but for just the kitchen, would probably not break the bank. I'm not sure how easy it is to come by though. This place where I worked was a big office in a big city so their ability to find it and get it installed might be different than someone living out in the boondocks.
Here's a photo of my faux marble tiles. They are a plastic resin of some sort. It's not a good photo, I didn't take it to show how the wood and marble-look stuff went together, but it does show some of the many options that are out there. They had this marble-look stuff in many color variations. Ignore the hideous blue carpet, it is on its way out. I'm going through the same dilemma as you about replacing it, which is why I clicked on your post. I really like the tile, we have it in our kitchen and entry way. It has a similar feel to real linoleum.
ehanders thanked l pinkmountain
DLM2000-GW
5 years agoSheet vinyl - I know, I know....if you had said that to me a short time ago I would have laughed, too. But we just built a house & put sheet vinyl in our laundry/mud room area and I love it. Super easy on the feet/legs, super easy to care for, doesn't break the bank so when the time comes to replace it's not like opening up a vein. There are many quality manufactures and within those most have multiple lines of varying quality. We went with Mannington Filigree in pewter. Everyone thinks it's cement tile till they stand on it and feel the slight give. It has a slightly worn appearance in places - even the installers were fooled thinking they had somehow scuffed it during install and thought they'd have to replace it! This pattern may not be your cup of tea but there's a whole world out there of designs.
ehanders thanked DLM2000-GWehanders
5 years agoehanders
5 years agoIsaac
5 years agogirl_wonder
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daisychain Zn3b
5 years agoWe did cork next to our hardwoods. If you are worried about standing on hard surfaces this is very good for that. We have it at two entrances as well as kitchen and find it very hard wearing. You can also refinish it like hardwoods.
Ours has a custom white stain on it.
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