Well due to a final deadline and lack of a better alternative free of other issues, we decided to go ahead and order Mirage's Knotty Walnut Savanna. We had to submit it today so here we go, hoping for the best and fingers crossed we'll be happy with it! It won't be installed for a month so I'll try to come back and post pics and follow up on things. Our decision was largely influenced by Mirage's reputation for their high quality wood and preparation, although another poster with Mirage Walnut Natural did mention after a year she had some fading by a window, but minimal and nothing objectionable. Also taking into consideration most with fading issues seem to have Natural rather than stained Walnut, so I'm wondering if stain might be protective in some way? Mirage also has UV protectant in their finish and that's supposed to delay/reduce any color changes. All our new Milgard Tuscany windows also have the latest 'code required' Low E glass so that might help too or we can consider additional UV window film if needed. Honestly, we hope to be enjoying rather than worrying about all this so much, the fading issue has already made me forget my early concerns about denting or wild color variations lol! So all the above factors plus mainly Eastern and not Southern daylight exposure we're really hoping we'll be OK. We do have one small room that will get lots of SE sunlight so it will be interesting what happens there. ALSO does anyone know about the 'rug' rule? I think I've heard one shouldn't cover new hardwood at all for at least something like six months, anyone know about this? Isabel - Thank you for posting photos, your floor is beautiful! If the fading is mostly by your French doors have you considered covering over that area with a runner type rug or even even removing the faded wood and doing a beautiful tile inset in its place? I've also been told that although pre-finished flooring is harder to sand and refinish, it's not impossible and is doable for usually about $1 extra per sq ft than if re-doing a site-finished floor. They just need to use stronger 'sandpaper' type stuff. Hard finishes are so common these days I'm sure it can be done these days. If handscraped maybe not but your doesn't look handscraped. If you have the fading under control with UV shades it might be worth considering! Btw, whereabouts are you in Northern CA? We lived there for sixteen years both in Sacramento and Sonoma County so you're making me nostalgic! If your Walnut has ever been exposed the the sizzling sun of Sacramento valley then your fading issues wouldn't surprise me! We're in a lovely area of the Pacific NW now. mdln- thanks for the pics of your beautiful floor and cute little dog! Romy718- thanks for your feedback and the UV film idea :) Sorry my post is so long, probably putting you all to sleep! I'll try to do Walnut flooring updates as things progress here!

This is Prime Cobblestone. There are two distributors of it that I know of, Virginia Hardwoods and Wanke Cascade. The only difference is that Wanke has a pad attached and VH doesn't. It is fairly new product I'm told. Our house is unique in that it gets a lot of light so I was really picky about selecting something that didn't have a plasticky sheen to it. I kept the samples over a 3 day weekend and moved them around and checked on them at different times of the day. Prime was the only one that looked like real wood all the time. We had samples of just about everything under the sun. Everything that Lumber Liquidators, Lowes, Home Depot, etc have. We also had Adura and Coretex in our home. I spent 100s of hours looking for just the right stuff. In the end we went with Prime because it was the only one that passed the test. It also looked the most real. Installed it is simply amazing. My second choice would be the Coretex. I should note, the only one we didn't try was Coretex HD and that one may be as good. I asked more than one sales person who carried both and all said this looked closer to real wood. That was my goal and I'm really happy with our choice. I am happily surprised that it isn't as cold, loud and slippery as laminate. (It is of course louder than carpet). Cobblestone is difficult to photograph (as are most of them I suspect). The photo makes it look like a silver grey. It is not. It is a mix of driftwood grey colors with touches of dark grey and a taupy beige color. I really like the color because it plays nice with cool and warm colors. It looks really nice with our natural maple cabinets and I expected that it would be at best okay. I was prepared to put in marble counter tops to try and tie it together but it wasn't necessary.

Carrie - I still love it! Looks just like new, even with kids running on it with dirt on their feet or water. So easy to sweep and then just use bona cleaner. I get so many compliments. Wouldn’t change my flooring, even if it was $20 a square foot. I’ll have to find the name of the place. It was in Los Angeles, ca

Great job, Karen! That looks so nice!!! I really like the look! Though I am looking for something in a much lighter shade, I really like how you have pulled the colours together, with the white walls, white cabinets and the grey walls! Together they look very nice with the darker wood grains. And you did it yourself too!? Amazing!!! Great job!!!