You are right that walnut is softer. But all wood will dent, scratch etc. And given your current conditions with no kids and a non running dog any species you decide will be fine. If price is a concern walnut may not be the best. But then again theres not too many natural dark species that arent expensive. Are you going prefinish?? Another species options to consider that are naturally dark with different shade variations are most exotics. i.e Ip� (brazilian walnut) Brazilian Cherry. Santos Mahogany. Teak. And theres more.

The thickness varies depending on the area. Some places is are as high as 1/4 inch. Existing tile flooring is dug up and re leveled with dry pack. We made the mistake several years ago to replace the carpet with hardwood first, and we weren't made aware that they could of raised the wood floor to the tiles at that time. The hardwood people just put little strips of wood where the tiles where higher than the wood as transitions. They basically just nailed the thing to the sub floor. And we had gotten 5 quotes too! But didn't research on the internet. When we were getting quotes to replace the tiles, everyone is telling us we should of done tile first! Anyways..... There is 3 areas with a door, 2 (60inches x 3) pieces will be to an entrance to a sunken room, 1 piece will be at the end of the service stairs, and the largest piece which I quoted wrong earlier is actually 81 inches x 3 1/2 and goes to the living room. The wood floors in the living room already has the wood transition piece like Unique Wood Floor's pic, where one piece of the wood is across all the other pieces. The space I'm retiling is the main foyer which connects to all the rooms, continues into the kitchen and eat in area, powder room, laundry area, service stairs, and the entrance to the garage. The space is 700sq. Standing from the entrance,I will be able to see 4 transition pieces. The tillers was telling me that he can make the transition pieces like Creative tile eastern pics, but the transition for the sunken living room and the staircase will still have to be a solid finished piece because I will be able to see the sides. If he cuts the tile, I can see it's unfinished. So I would have quartz pieces in some areas and the custom tile threshold in others. I would rather have one uniformed look. I will try to take some pics, but everything is a mess, and I need to find my camera too! I will ask the tiler if he's planning to use the Schluter Dilex . Thanks for all the advice everyone! This tiler is highly recommended. Plus he said if you don't like it don't pay me! We have not paid him a penny. And I feel kinda bad about it too.

I have vinyl plank with huge dogs in my walk out basement where they have free access to a large dog run it has been in for 11 yrs and still looks awesome. We have a laminate on our main floor that looks like slate and has also stood up to the brats for 11 yrs there is no way wood could have handled all that abuse. IMO laminate or vinyl plank in good condition is better than scratched up wood floor that would have to be refinished before sale. We now have a great pyrenees as our 2 old dogs have passed away and he really is rough on floors , no wood could possibly stand up to him.The pic is the laminate floor and the old dogs

@acm right - not the same hardwood. we're trying a DIY project and not sure of the direction. If you have any better ideas, I'd be happy to hear!! Also, could you please show me an example of slate-look you mentioned! Thanks so much