Squirrel, I love the sample but you are right that I have not seen a full picture of a room in person to see what it would look like. I love the yellow, reds and orange colors and the grain of the Tiger Wood Sample. I also loved the Santos Mahagony (various shades of yellow/gold, orange, deep red, lighter red and browns... not real dark like I think of when I think of Mahagony) and the Bavarian Cherry ws beautuiful as well. I loved the Amendoim but I just wish the Amendoin had some of the yellow colors in it and had more red but it does match my office the best and is a little bit lighter so my Cherry Wood desk will stand out but still match since it also has various shades of colors. I was at a new neighbor's home today (met while walking our dogs) and she showed me the hardwood floors that the owner of the home has that came with his townhouse. She is his Nanny I found out and that is wonderful that I now have a walking partner. She is so nice and let me discuss my hard woods obsession with her. :) I fell in love with his hardwood floors and I am sure the floor was one of the exotic woods that I looked at that ended up not being too dark at all but just so rich and beautiful with the color variation. I wish I knew what species that wood was and the owner would like to know also since the steps have only plywood on them that was under the rugs and do not match the beautiful floor that he would like to match.

I had med-dark floors and what made them look dirty was the sheen! I believe chinchette. They were engineered wood and they were so smooth you could see footprints in sunlight with CLEAN feet right out of the bath not even wet. Drove me nuts. I've been wanting to go with real wood (handscraped with a little tonal variation to hide dings/scratches). I may consider engineered if I can get it in a matte finish, because the engineered held up beautifully in my previous kitchen, and I'm worried about a true hardwood in that area. It will be one or the other, I love wood floors. My friend had a darker almost espresso floor, now those you had to dust all the time to keep looking clean.

If you considered the Lauzon, would you consider Mirage? I believe they have a nice engineered Walnut in various stain colors with a matte urethane finish. It's pricey but I assume Lauzon isn't cheap. I would generally prefer site-finished solid floor if you have a wood subfloor. If you have an effective whole house humidifier, dimensional stability of any wood floor should be less of an issue. Even engineered flooring can be damaged if the environment is too dry. Using a 3" wide solid plank helps with issues caused by humidity changes since it's not too wide. I like the Rubio and also WOCA oil. The Rubio does have a nice selection of colors and is fairly predictable to use but the longer term maintenance is a little more confusing and the products are quite expensive. The WOCA requires more coats but has an easier maintenance regimen (plus I can buy their products locally so that sways my opinion). The WOCA takes more work and coats to get a nice buildup. I'm getting ready to use Rubio White oil in my own house, as a test.

Ok....here's the *issues with matte poly - they are SUPER HARD to live with!!!!! They are even HARDER TO LIVE WITH if you choose a DARK FLOOR! Ohhhh dear. As handsome as the Pompeii Lipari is, it will be HELL to live with. And here's why: dark floors NATURALLY show dust (human skin cells make up 90% of all indoor dust; and most skin sluffs of LIGHT GRAY....). And your colour choice is dark. It is not a mid tone. It will read as "dark" in any space other than a box with windows on all 4 sides. So the DARK wood you have chosen will show dust (light gray film over everything) on a DAILY basis. Yes. Daily. Now for the matte finish. Matte finish is duller than SKIN OILS. Which means bare feet AND stocking feet will leave behind visible OIL MARKS. So will hand prints. And knee prints (even through blue jeans). And elbow prints (even through t-shirt material). And if animals are in the picture, dog's pads have plenty of oil on them....which will show up on the matte finish. Your beautiful floors will be a constant source of frustration. These are things a sale's person will not tell you. The dark floors are hard to live with. Period. Matte finished floors are hard to live with. Period. A dark floor finished in a matte will be HELL to live with. End of story. Personally I would look at a lighter floor (two steps lighter) with a satin finish. Satin is a close cousin to matte. It gives the same appearance as matte but without the oily prints. Splashed cooking oil will show up....but that is a GOOD thing! You want to be able to see the oil so that you can clean it up - it is a hazard on the floor. The skin oils will BLEND IN with satin. They are the same sheen level. The extreme colours (white or almost white; black or dark) are very hard to live with. The extreme gloss levels (matte or super matte; gloss or super gloss) are hard to live with. That's why MOST PEOPLE compromise and work with a mid-tone floor (two steps lighter than your choice) and satin or semi-gloss finishes. These compromises suit 90% of homeowners better than the extreme options. The extreme options SHOULD COME with their own LIVE-IN house keeper! Good luck. I would keep looking.