I had thought about finding some carpet and having it bound.. will have to look into it. where would I take the runner from HD to be bound - any carpet place? I will have to look into those.. I did at one time but didn't know what I would do with the unfinished edges?

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.

Unfortunately, with a 3 year old lab who chases my kids and a creaky floor, we want to put a runner down to help with the noise and prevent it from being all scratched up. The runner on the stairs helped so much, so we like to do something upstairs to help too. CDR Design, our hallway is only 35.5 inches wide. If I get a 14 inch and center it then it will be halfway between two of the bedroom doorways. I thought I read that you should not have it start or end in the middle of a doorway??

If you are wanting something that is less of an investment piece, look at this one. DD has this rug in a larger size in her hearth room. Although she has a couple of beautiful persian rugs in the house, she wanted something that would not be damaged by small children being small children (art projects, clandestine food and drink, etc). It has taken a load of abuse from 3 small children and one large dog and it still looks nice. It is thin and needs a good pad under it to help it look decent. The fringe is short enough that the roomba doesn’t get stuck on it.