White oak

Medium brown.

Light colors are beautiful and trendy but they scratch very visibly as the stain/ marks are a lot of times very white.
Dark brown is the same.

I think maybe laying the wood in a pattern, in certain areas (Say, herringbone) ,is a smarter choice. What do you think?

White Oak is still the most popular for over 10 years and we dont see it slowing down. There is so much you can do with the species.

Wide Plank White Oak Wood Floor in Nashville TN Modern Farmhouse · More Info

Medium brown wood of any species never goes out of style. Oak is always good, because it's open grain disguises wear more than a closed grain like maple. No bleached pale color, or deep ebony stains. Medium brown may not be "trendy", but neither does it have issues matching up with trendy things that will be changed out every year. Wood is a long term investment that can last you 25 years before needing a refinish. There are homes with 150 year old wood floors. Vinyl is a temporary covering, with maybe 10 years of wear before the scratches are too obvious to live with.

@connecticut Yankeeeee I thought LVP was engineered flooring? If not what is?

LVP stands for Luxury Vinyl

And the "P" typically is for PLANK.

Virtually every house in my city built after roughly the turn of the 20th c. to the time when prefinished floors took off (probably at the beginning of the 21st c. had or has red oak in a narrow format or white oak in a narrow format as a distant second. Mostly variations of medium brown.

Obvious exceptions would be very large houses with fancier floors in parquet or bordered in different woods.

A relatively narrow format of LVP in a medium brown would be the most classic vinyl version of that. However most traditional floors were also site finished meaning that the color was pretty uniform, and the majority of LVP seems to have very exaggerated graining and color variation, instead.

Engineered hardwood, in my non-pro description, is engineered wood product planks with a real wood veneer. They vary greatly in quality. Ours is low to medium quality at best (too thin to be refinished) but surprisingly hardy.

The P is for "plastic"! :-P

What type of flooring would you all recommend then? I'm not looking to go with a hardwood. I don't want to spend that much.

Laminate is probably the most budget friendly choice.

Engineered flooring is not LVP. It is a plywood core with a layer of hardwood over top. It can be refinished and it is the better choice of floor if the floor will be in a humid location. It won't cup and hardwood will. LVP has no wood in its makeup. LVP will not enhance the value of your home.

Laminate is made of wood by-products and does not stand up well to water/humidity.

If you are staying in your home go with hardwood or engineered, depending on any water issues.

A personal aside, I would not put laminate or LVP down in my home because neither represents value or the aesthetic that I would want.

I think it's all contextual.

There are apartment buildings here that were "high end" (but not quite luxury, they weren't building luxury in this period) when they were built in the 1960s and 1970s that were floored in VCT (vinyl composition tile). Some of those apartments would still look fine with a vinyl floor. And there are other styles and eras of houses where it seems like it would be perfectly appropriate.

I don't get the whole thing in the Building a Home forum where the house is 4000 square feet, has 15 foot ceilings and marble bathrooms and kitchen counters and vinyl floors and you get called a snob or misinformed if you question that particular material choice given the circumstances--but other than that I don't think it needs to be rule out by default, it's just another option. I would like them better if there were more options for something that had an even color more like site finished.

Given your comment about not spending too much, if you can get an estimate for hardwood floors you may be surprised that the price is comparable to LVP/T. It may be worth doing just so you are informed about pricing in your market.

pfar- true, it doesn’t hurt to ask for a quote on wood. I’m looking for a second home in a much less expensive area than our primary home. I’m pleasantly surprised by the prices as well as the estimates for renovation.

Will hardwood hold up to water/pets though? I've had it in an old house and they got messed up all the time. It seems like most people around me are getting LVP flooring. This is honestly the first I have heard about people telling me to not get it.

I understand budget constraints for sure, but I would not buy a plastic floor for my home. I don’t care what the salespeople say - LVP is plastic.

I don’t think you can get both Timeless and Trendy in one product. To me, gray LVP is Trendy. White oak hardwood is Timeless.

What do you mean by messed up? every house i have lived in has had hardwood - from 50-100 years old. id take any of those floors over lvp any day. they had warmth and character and did not look like plastic. yes there are some scratches and the apartment kitchen did have some water stains as it hadn’t been refinished in forever. but you can refinish them when they start showing wear, and if done periodically hold up fine in the kitchen.

Mainly damaged from water/pet stains. Flooring that is water proof is vital for my decision.

If LVP is what people are installing around where you live, then that's a good choice

We love our LPV and most people think it's wood. P stands for plank. They are better for pets than real wood as far as standing up to scratches etc. Color if you want timeless go with a brown. For sure not gray as that will date the floor.

I dont get the LVP bias and negative reputation because its plastic. Really snobby viewpoints. LVP looks very beautiful and it’s extemely durable. Carpet is plastic. Pick what you like, not from what others think. The only knock is that its not eco friendly, but wood floors arent and your whole house isnt eco friendly. VOCs are released by everything, even the glue used in hardwood floors.

white oak floors are trendy but timeless

You don’t need to have just one on the list as one size doesn’t fit all. Depending on your preferences and existing interior, here are some options:

• Gray and whitewashes
• Light or dark-stained wood floors
• Mid-tones

We have had wood in 3 houses. Last house had dogs, 1 , 2 & 2 at a time. our floors were refinished once early on. they had been waxed which i hated. our kitchen was remodled , it did suffer a couple scratches. the rest looked like new.

I always think White Oak natural in oil or matte poly finish is timeless and trendy. I heard in Europe 50% of the wood flooring jobs sold is in natural white oak. Here I share one LVP and one engineered wood floor we've done.

Essex · More Info

Cicerone Lager · More Info

@uniquewoodfloors can you send me more details on the Essex? I am looking at making a purchasing decision this week, so if you have any price discounts, can you send that over too?

WPC Essex

As a point of clarification, yes I know that the P in LVP stands for plank. I also know that the V stands for vinyl.

@ littlebug zone 5 Missouri Thank you, but you didn't mention the keyword. L for "luxury" lol.