Depends on what you expect the rest of the house to be. If you plan on doing real wood in the rest of the house eventually don’t do fake wood in the entrance, do a nice slate or local stone. If you plan to use wood look tile throughout go ahead but buy all your tile now because you will never find more to match.

If you have a defined foyer space, I LOVE a slate tile in a funky pattern.

Yes, i wanted a ‘seamless’ look of dark hardwood flooring throughout the house. Only where a door separates is where I would have light coloured tile. Im just not sure the builder will accept our request for wood in a herringbone but I do know they are ok w tile.

Here is a pic of our model. The dark tile they are showing measures 7x10 feet and then the wood to the back is another 30feet.

The main floor…

Do the hardwoods in the kitchen too (the drawing above shows tile…)

Yes, everywhere except the laundry mud n bathrooms.

strategery. The idea of Houzz is a collaborative space to share ideas and knowledge. Clearly you don't like herringbone floor although you've offered no feedback or reasoning to the OP, nor any suggestions for alternatives. If you can't find something helpful, constructive or just plain nice to say, perhaps say nothing at all.

Unless you are in a climate were tile would be better in the foyer, I would just go with the regular hardwood. I agree with Hallett about doing wood in the kitchen to match the rest of the floor.

We are in Ontario, Canada so the winters can get down to -40 here; normally the common entrance is via the mudroom; I’d be concerned about hardwood during the holidays when theres more traffic and winter boots etc. Hmm. So if i went the ‘safer’ route and did a tile (in the herringbone), do you think i can somehow keep the illusion of ‘dark flooring’ still? Or is that a faux-pas?😬

So if not a wood look tile, a slate tile as shown above?

We have wood in our foyer. We just have a mat outside and a rug at the door. I wouldn’t do it any other way. We live in Vancouver so don’t have your volume of snow but have a heck of a lot of rain. We take shoes off on exterior mat and carry to closet or mud room. On really wet days we enter through garage and leave them there. We have wood in our kitchen too

Are you going to do wood throughout the rest of the house and you're just questioning the foyer area?

Hello from Ontario! Me too! This is exactly why I'm suggesting a stone tile at the foyer. Snowy boots, mud, dust, dirt, wet boots sitting making puddles in the foyer - all of this and more in an Ontario winter. I like natural stone far better than faux looking stone or wood look tile in an entry. I'd want it to be virtually indestructible. That's why I'm suggesting the slate. A dark grey/black slate is gorgeous and a perfect choice for an entry. - Montauk slate is beautiful. See if you can find a brushed finish - it is so nice underfoot and no sharp edges that some other slates can have. That way you get the dark floor and the sturdy easy to clean choice of stone.

BTW, the slate flooring in herringbone I saw was at Factory Tile Depot. They have several locations in Ontario but the one I saw it at was in Mississauga on Queensway East.

Other great tile stores to check out in Toronto include Saltillo - so many really gorgeous tiles there. And if you go to Saltillo there are a bunch of other tile stores in that area including Olympia and Centura. So many choices available to you.

Are you saying you want your hardwood to be dark as well? I don't see why not. I like darker floors but I wouldn't go too super dark.

For hardwood choices you might consider visiting AA Floors in Etobicoke on Evans Ave. Great place, lots of choice, good pricing and very helpful staff.

I like a wider plank hardwood - 6" or so. My personal preference is for a true brown or reddish brown floor. I'm not a fan of hardwood with a grey toned finish - or anything too light. I also like a handscraped finish. A little bit of imperfection means the inevitable scratches and dents don't show as much as they do on a perfectly smooth finish.

Are your choices dictated by a set of options from your builder or are you free to choose all your finishes? If you show pictures of choices you've made so far, you'll likely get good input for other options you might consider for the rest of your finishes.

@cpartist Yes, throughout the house. I wanted to do the section from the foyer to where the Family room starts in a herringbone pattern but am concerned the builder wont allow it in that pattern. The rest of the house will be in the usual flooring pattern.

I would select a wood-look tile in an appropriate size and install it in a herringbone pattern. This way you know the exact finish you're getting, the floor will never have to be refinished & it will take the abuse that occurs at entryways.

@mvcanada Wow! Thanks so much for all the suggestions and info. We are limited to specific vendors through our builder. Olympia and Centura sound familiar for tile selections. With Covid it makes things difficult to visualize since we can only view pdfs. I am looking for a more ‘coffee/chocolate brown’ for flooring. But nothing as dark as a graphite or charcoal. I figured the walls and trims will be light so the stairs and floor can be dark. Unfortunately I dont hv any pics because colour selections are happening now; main kitchen will hv stainless steel appliances with painted wood cabinets in cocoa /brown and an extension of uppers and lowers in a light mushroom colour n the breakfast nook. The pantry has been extended and will hv a second kitchen. Those cabinets are a stained birch in Java colour. Muted gold hardware throughout. Likely go for a very light coloured quartz counter and backsplash. Just not sure about going same counters all around of different.

@BeverlyFLADeziner Thanks! I LOVE the thought of zero maintenance; but chances are the transition between tile and HW wont be an exact match. Augh! This is such a tough decision to make. 😵‍💫😆

It is unlikely your builder has a floor guy with the skills to turn your flooring into herringbone. I think your choices are a nice natural stone (or stone look) in just the entry or hardwoods throughout.

I will put my 2 cents into this discussion. In my entrance hallway I had dark slate tiles that I never cared for. They was just too dark. When I had my home renovations done over the past few years, I had my hall entranceway renovated with Italian porcelain wood look tile by Energie Ker. It is grade 4 porcelain tile, the strongest grade strength. I chose porcelain tile as it is highly water resistant and strong. It cleans easily, and looks as good as the day of installation. I had new oak stairs installed and my carpenter stained my stairs to match my porcelain tile flooring. Best of luck with your flooring choice and with your new home❣️

@kculbers Oh my goodness! Love your pics! What a great match! Thanks very much for sharing your experience. Will look into the reverse route and see what colours are available in such a tile and perhaps go from there. 👍🏼

@HALLETT & Co. Yes, Ive only heard of pricing from the builder for tiles so far; if they dont allow the wood to be herringbone-ed then I think my only choice will be a tile like you all are suggesting. Thanks!

I wouldn't be scared of wood in the foyer. I have wood (red oak) in the foyer - it's been there for 20+ years and still looks good. I have a big rug (washable) and it catches all the dirt and the moisture. I am in MA so we get rains in the summer and snow in the winter.

In Ontario, I wood definitely use tile in the foyer. I speak as a Minnesota native who has also lived though 10+ Massachusetts winters. Our Massachusetts maple wood entry floors were scratched and gouged beyond recognition due to decades of sand, grit and salt ground into people's boot treads.

Even if the majority of the worst mess comes in via the mudroom, you will still have some occurrence of melting snow and grit in the front entry. Reduce stress for everybody and make it tile, is my advice.

Echoing Hallett & Co, I recommend stone because I did stone and it was the perfect entry flooring for our New England winters: easy to clean, soft on the eye, and pretty slip resistant. The stone met my hardwood...hickory with saddle stain.

Picture doesn't give enough credit to the combo of the soft blue/green gray of the stone meeting the hardwood, but it made a fabulous entry look.

I would do hardwood throughout instead of breaking it up and it looking choppy. I am in NJ and we have hardwood in our foyer and throughout our first floor. Have never had an issue with rain / snow. We have a large rug in our foyer as soon as you enter.

In Houston, have wood throughout. No snow though, lots of rain. No issues.

ooh, the real wood next to the wood-look tile sets my teeth on edge! (like somebody smudged all the grain in Photoshop!) that's why I think the advice to do a dark tile of some other sort (slate, porcelain, whatever) is good. you'll never get a good transition, no matter how good the color match might be.

wood might be ok, but you probably already know the answer from living there. we have a tight, busy entry, and when we redid the first floor flooring, getting tile near the entrance was a priority so taht we didn't have to dance on the small rug in the space or spread plastic mats to protect the wood. with a more sane entry, keeping it all one material would have worked ok. I can't really see switching from regular to herringbone installation if you stick with wood, though, so you have to prioritize your desires.