We have natural maple floors in our front hall, kitchen and family room. Currently the living and dining rooms are carpeted, but our plan is to add hardwood in these rooms as well. I am not crazy about the maple floors we have now in our kitchen and other rooms, and would like to put a different type of hardwood on the living room and dining room. Will this look awful, or is there a way to make it work by using some kind of transition wood between the two types of wood? I have read that darkening our maple floors is not a good option, so I either have to add more natural maple floors, or use a different type of wood altogether. Thanks for any input!

There is no rule saying all rooms have to be the same it is a matter of preference I would put whatever I liked in the rooms. Staining maple is not something I would recommend but I am sure you will find a lot of people who say it works well for them, not sure I buy that but f you decide i would definitely make sure to check out some of their projects.

I would be lookiing at species or colors that will blend or pick up tones with the Maple,( not just drastic light & dark). You can even go with a medium tone and consider running the Maple as a border, or some type of design into the adjoining room, tying it all together.