Wood vs. Engineered Wood? No contest in this case. If the home was built in 1905, put real hardwood in. This preserves the integrity of the home's building materials. Plus, as you can see from the age of these floors, higher grades (i.e. thicker) hardwood can be sanded several times; you usually don't get even one chance to sand engineered wood. The hardwood layer at the top of this multilayered product is simply too thin. Level Floors and Subfloors There are ways to level a subfloor, ranging from replacing parts of the subfloor with thicker or thinner sheets of plywood (or planks, see below), to pour-on leveling compounds that harden to make the entire floor level. What you use to level uneven areas depends on what the subflooring is. If it is plywood or concrete, the compound works. But more likely with this home, on floors at or above grade, there will be wood planks laid at a diagonal across the floor joists. So in your home, the layers were probably joists first, then subfloor planks of wood, then hardwood with tongue & groove joints. You cannot effectively use a pour-on leveling compound on a plank subfloor, as there are cracks between the planks. However, you can lay a new hardwood floor directly on a wood plank subfloor as long as those planks are sound and relatively level. Replace individual planks that have been damaged by water or insects, are otherwise compromised, or even missing (it happens!), with either new planks of lumber, or with plywood of the same thickness as the planks. Any lumber you install, for either the subfloor or finished flooring, should be brought in to your home several days prior to installation, so the materials acclimatize to your typical interior temperature and humidity. Unlike for ceramic or porcelain tile, the subfloor does not have to be perfectly level. And unlike vinyl sheeting, planks or tiles, the hardwood won't "telegraph" minor differences in height, and minor surface irregularities, so the subfloor doesn't have to be absolutely perfect; it should be sound, strong, uniform and essentially level. Your flooring contractor can give you specifics on what upgrades your subfloor may need once the original hardwood is removed. Joists If the floor is significantly not level in parts, or if certain areas feel spongy when you walk on them, I recommend you have your flooring contractor, a home inspector, or structural engineer inspect the subflooring and especially the floor joists. You don't want to invest in a new floor, only to have it become damaged because some joists weren't attended to. Transitions Transitions (a.k.a. thresholds or molding) between existing rooms and the new floor ought to be made of the same wood and same finish (stain, polyurethane, etc.) as the new flooring you are putting down. As wood ages, the finish becomes darker, so trying to make the transitions match the finishes of existing floors is very difficult and not recommended (what will match those floors right now won't match later after your transitions age up a bit). Eventually, the transitions wouldn't match either the new or the old floors! Transitions come in four types: reducer (when the two floors being joined are of different heights), seam binder (when the floors are the same height, and the boards from each are very close to one another), T-mold (when the two floors are the same height, but there is a crack between the two rooms' flooring) and stair nose or stair edger (when the flooring needs to curve around the front of a stair's "tread"--the flat part of a stair upon which you tread!). The transitions for your particular project can be ordered when you order the hardwood, so make sure to include measurements for those doorways/entrances. The contractor can tell you if he/she anticipates there will be a height difference or gap between the floorings, which would require those particular transitions. Dry Air Concerns Consult a local lumber supplier or flooring contractor familiar with your local climate conditions to discuss finishes or other tips for keeping your wood floors healthy in the dry winters. Sounds wonderful! Have fun!

jess_sterr, We lived I our current home during a whole house renovation that included an addition and the removal and rebuild of the entire roof I painted the sub floors and loved with them for over a year. I did not paint a fancy pattern, but did use a quality basement floor paint that was easy to mop. In the main living areas I used indoor outdoor patio rugs bought on sale at Lowe’s. It is easy to stress about getting it all perfect, but the time will pass and you will look back at photos and remember the adventure of completing your home your way. If the painted floors are temporary and you want them to look nicer I would maybe just do a boarder. This will be an amazing home when done enjoy it.

The problem I see is that the tile is slightly higher, and you have the floor and tile running right up to one another. This should have been dealt with earlier by leaving a perimeter of, say, 1-1/2" between the tile and the flooring, and inlaying a transition strip on all three sides, with miters at the corners. You can probably still accomplish this, but it will require very precise cutting away of the flooring material on the three sides, and using a flush cutter, like a Dremel Multi Max, to get up against that wall and to cut carefully into the corners. Once you have room to inlay a strip, you'll need something with a slight lip along both edges so that when it is installed it will cover up the irregular tile edges and any sloppiness in your cutting out of the floor. You are not going to be able to find exactly what you need at Home Depot or a lumber store, so it will have to be made. I don't know if you have the tools or the skills for this, but for a 1-1/2" gap you would start with hardwood trim maybe 2" wide and at least 1/4" higher than the tile. Then you would run it through a table saw or router to create a lip on each side. Because the heights of the tile and the floor are different, you would need to undercut the two sides of the trim by different amounts so that it would seamlessly fit over each floor surface without a gap; you also want the lip to be at least 1/4" high or more to minimize chances of it cracking off if it gets stepped on (which is also a reason that the undersides of the lips should rest on the surface they are covering). After cutting the three strips to proper length, I would install them with silicone on the underside of the two lips, face nail the strips with a nail gun, and fill the holes. This is pretty easy to do if you have DIY skills and proper tools. However, if my description sounds daunting or confusing, or you don't have a saw or a table-mounted router, get a finish carpenter to fix this for you. You definitely need to trim this out, so it doesn't look like a project you walked away from when it was 90% done.

You are SO SO SWEET! I am totally obsessing about this stuff (especially with this home confinement!). We are getting our contract for building on Monday. I know I don’t need to have the decisions made by then, but it’s all occupying space in my head! I love the white hex above with the little bit of blue that forms a triangle. If I could find a porcelain of it, that would be ideal! That’s extraordinary! There’s a doorway, so feathering won’t work, but that’s cool! Thank you SO much for your help!