It really does depend on the other furniture in the room. I have a king with a 5x8 at the foot and it works fine- only because of the dresser, armoire and bench also prominent in the room and the traffic flow area. As far as a rug under the bed it's a personal preference, one I won't do as I like to easily dust mop underneath for constant dog hair although I do somewhat like the look of a continuous rug but then again when I see rugs under beds I think of all the dust and who cleans it.

UPDATE! We installed these floors over a year ago and I am very pleased with how they have held up overall. They are extremely scratch resistant for real wood veneer, so I'm actually ok with the fact that the veneer isn't very thick...the coating that they put on it must really make a difference in terms of durability...so the need to ever refinish them during their useful life is a moot point (i.e., no need for extra thickness). We have 4 active kids, and are still in renovation mode so these floors see action and constant use, and I'm telling you, we don't babysit this floor and it still looks great. After living with it for a while, here are some tips I can offer: 1) Don't use an additional foam/cork underlayment. We used this in the first room we did and we feel like it's an unnecessary step. Not only is the attached underlayment already generous, additional cushioning makes the install more difficult (cushioning the mallet blows therefore making the click-and-lock system less efficient and more prone to be damaged by multiple hits in an effort to make it click). If you really are desperate for a monolithic vapor barrier, go as thin and flat as possible. 2. Make sure your subfloor is very, very flat. We have a 100 year old house and our subfloor is very strong and solid, but it is pine hardwood flooring and has some natural wear with minor unevenness, characteristic of an old house. These uneven spots can create areas where the Aquaguard boards have very very slight increase of spacing between them (I'm talking like 1/32 of a inch, max), but something that might bother an obsessive perfectionist (no offence intended). These spaces are not noticeable when looking at the floor as a whole, and definitely not in the context of a lived-in, finished room. This could be avoided by sanding down high spots in the subfloor beforehand, or jusy installing new subfloor before installation. We don't regret not going through that! I actually feel like the floors look more natural due to this and less like an engineered product. For the same look, feel and greater durability and sound control than other engineered wood that is 150% more expensive, we are extremely happy! I hope this has been helpful! Feel free to ask any questions I didn't answer!

A high quality engineered floor will have the same or longer wear life as a solid wood floor. This isn't usually a big deal in residential as you are talking at least 45 years of life... Engineered wood flooring can cope with changes in moisture better than a solid wood floor, but if you have a good HVAC system and monitor the humidity in your home, both will be fine. Solid wood floors are not recommended below grade, for example in the basement. Our standard 5/8" thick engineered floor will give you 3-4 sand and refinishes. This floor can be glued to the slab and will line up with carpet and most tiles. This means you don't have to drop the slab (money saver!) or use transition pieces. Some areas where it is very dry have had issues with the thicker engineered floors (3/4" with 6mm wear layer) as the plywood base dries out at a different rate to the wear layer. One of our clients (Flooring installer) in Arizona is replacing engineered with solid as it handles that climate better. Since it sounds like you are doing a remodel, you are probably best to go with an engineered floor. A 5/8" thick engineered wood floor from our company has a 4mm wear layer and will give you 3-4 sand and refinishes. This you can glue to the slab and will take up around the same amount of thickness as the travertine did. This means you will not have to replace the trim, cut off the bottoms of doors etc. Typically a solid wood floor is installed on a plywood sub-floor. On a new build the slab would be dropped on those areas to allow for the extra thickness. A quality engineered wood floor is not inferior to a solid wood floor in anyway. Once it is installed you will not be able to tell the difference. If you have further questions, feel free to reach out! We are only a email or a phone call away -- debbie@woodco.com // (210) 298-9663 Keep safe! -- Debbie George | WoodCo www.woodco.com

I understand your inspiration, what inlay are you actually wanting to use? The inlay in this picture looks like it is inset into the wood flooring . Almost like they routed (sp?) the item into the board after the boards were installed. If the inlay is set to go around the edges of the floor where walking is less likely to occur, I wonder if you can select a different style of inlay. Something that is not flat but is rounded maybe? that way the inlay can sit slightly above the wood and minimize some of the gaping. It is hard to make a judgment on this as we do not really know all the details. I am wondering if Schluter has a product that could offer a solution. Attached the Schluter catalog link below. Might be worth checking out. I do think that for what you want you are going to have to make some concessions. Do you want to pay the labor for someone to perfect the cut edges of the wood? Can you tolerate the imperfections for this look? The final solution is the one you'll be able to live with and be within budget. Either way that is a beautiful floor! I hope you keep us posted. https://sccpublic.s3-external-1.amazonaws.com/sys-master/images/hd9/h5a/8916622573598/Profile%20Brochure.pdf