laurie: Thanks so, so much! Got me back to Image Searching and I feel a lot better : ) roseabbey: WOW, how beautiful is that! You're talented! You are right about me having a lot of windows so after seeing your floors being darker I am not going to fret about that now, and I can see how accessorizing or complimenting dark w/lighter aspects can also pull everything together, so, thank you so much for your input. RE: Board direction, I sounds like it basically boils down to two choices... 1. Run the boards from front door to sliding doors (seems like the general concensus)=hall with boards side to side. or 2. Run the boards side to side (left to right) from front door to sliding doors=hall with boards running longways, like roseabbeys, who is right, it does not seem bowlingalleyish at all to me. I suppose an option is to have a seam where the hallway starts out from the foyer, but, I can't imagine that. Found this not-so-great picture that's shadowed bad but you can sort of see the hall that turns right past that temporary cabinet on the right. My possible plan would be after laying a new floor to maybe have a rug runner in foyer and maybe a matching one for under the dining table? Opinions welcome!

To be safe go with the same in both areas, but for a specific answer.... It depends. There really is no single thing that is Red Oak or White Oak. There are at least ten different types of trees that produce White Oak and ten different trees that produce Red Oak. Many White Oaks are "redder" than Red Oaks. So in the end, you have to just look at the two woods side by side. In Red Oak the pores are open, while in White Oak the pores are plugged (this, rather than the color tendancies, is the absolute difference). White Oak is for boats because it is resistant to water damage, Red Oak isn't. With some effort they can be stained to look virtually identical and neither deepen as they age, so that color will remain consistent, however, they take stain very differently. Red Oak soaks up stain while White Oak leaves most of the stain on the surface of the wood. I prefer White Oak everywhere, I love White Oak for kitchens because of its resistance to damage, in the end though, I wouldn't make a decision based on the Oak species of my floor although I would try to be consistent... Good Luck

First off I don't see anything wrong but it is your house? The quality of the wood will dictate the finished look. You have a very skinny plank with many shades mixed in which usually means a lower end floor. Think about it, the more time the mfg has to pick and match wood tones the more uniform the floor will look and of course cost. I am not even sure that is white oak? It can be a stretch of the word as theater are planks that are not white oak and most do not look like white oak. When you stain wood it will LOOK EXACTLY as it does before the stain but with a different tone. The only way around this is a very dark gel type stain to even out sap wood. You have a lot of sap wood mixed in which again goes back to the quality of the wood. I am in no way saying you have a cheap floor but when you see pics of a perfect grain matched one tone floor it took a lot of money and labor to get to it. You have a nice floor get the 80's thing out of your head and enjoy.

Jhmarie; yes, the kitchen is very functional, and a part of this is almost like therapeutic processing for what to do with this house!Thank you for the heads up about the book. I will have a look for that. Aprilneverends; well thank you. I am really trying to not get caught up in fads, but I think the state of the place made me focus on the yellowness of the oak. And the oakiness of the oak everywhere in that part of the house! I always really enjoyed this blue, to be honest. ha!! It contrasted nicely and I got to cackle in my husband's direction every time someone told me they loved it, too. That's the thing I guess, you never can tell. I am a bit leery of how much the kitchen will change with all of the white and off white in regards to the contrast, and had to kind of giggle at the thought of painting the walls white and the wainscoting blue. Like a role reversal. :D Fidlfreek; I appreciate you bringing me back down from the clouds with some of your suggestions. Some of your sentiments I had thought of and was considering - all white miracle method, subway tile, lighting updates. Now is the time to pull that big beast down I think - we are planning to paint the ceilings throughout the home. Curious of your thought process- the lighting fixture you linked from ikea, is that to coordinate with the current colored cabinets? Or the shape in general? Staining the cabinets darker is of course an option, I just don't want this area to feel any more boxed in, I guess. This vantage point is actually the only way in and out of the kitchen - there is also peninsula seating already to the left, FYI. I actually picked the flooring you circled in the event that I wanted to go lighter or darker with the cabinets, now or later, that there would be flexibility in the flooring color to do so. It's also more of the classic wood look than some of the on trend colors I am seeing out there. The more I think about it, the more I would like to NOT spend a lot of time painting everything white, but I definitely think I need some adjustments in here. I find it interesting that none of you have mentioned the appliances or their color - apart from the microwave, which is usually the least of the appliance worries. ;D I so appreciate your feedback and input.