Hey folks,

New to the board, excellent source of info! I have a question that I am asking, after the fact. Four years ago I bought my home. The house is a raised ranch that has hard wood oak flooring throughout the living room and down the hall leading to three bedrooms. The bedrooms were all carpeted so I decided to remove the carpeting and replace with oak hardwood as well. The difference is that the original hardwood in the living room and hall is natural in color and not prefinished wood. However I am not a fan of light colored wood so I decided to use prefinished amber colored oak hardwood in the three bedrooms. Aside from the color, I matched the wood to the hall/living room as best as possible as far as size, groove & finish. Although I am happy with the result, I realize it is unconventional to mix woods, I am curious if a professional would have suggested against it and why. Is there anyone out there who has gone a totally different type of wood altogether?

Thanks for the opinions.

Boston_Ed

we see it all the time. un to pre finish. from red oak to b-cherry. it all looks good if your not trying to matchthe same color. from unfinish wood will have a color diff. from the prefinish. so if you have unfinish in most of the house we try to tell you the home owner) to stay with the unfinish. yes there is a down time that comes with that.
Jeff

Personal experience: my main floor (entry hall, passage, living room = pre-finished birch (Bordeau Mirage) office = Louvered pattern Ash, finished on site (medium brown), Kitchen = Muiripiranga (prefinished natural engineered), powder room = Pine plank, finished on site natural
Upper hall and master bedroom = 1/4 cut oak herringbone with border of same wood and walnut inlay, second bedroom - Sapele prefinished, third bedroom = prefinished natural maple.

Flooring was selected for what worked in the individual spaces, and believe it or not, it works, and works well. Of course my house is a century home with doors separating every room, no open concept for me, lol.

By the way, the only floor that hasn't performed well is the exotic in the kitchen/dining room and it is the newest. On the plus side, was given to me by manufacturer for evaluation purposes, so no biggie when I rip it out and go with something domestic.

Dennis, I'm impressed with your boldness. I suppose it's all about personal tastes. Although I have no intention of selling my home any time soon, whenever I make an improvement or change in the house, the thought is in the back of my head "will this be good for resale". But I find going that route, you just end up with a watered down version of your original idea.

I had originally thought in time I would refinish the living room/hall floors and restain to the amber color in the bedrooms but have decided it might be a gamble trying to get the same color match. Besides, the natural color has grown on me.

Ya, I know what you mean about resale appeal, but I figure Im only gonna make one more move and expect that to be about 6 ft. down, lol.
So everything I have done to my home has been for my benefit, rarely do I see someone move into a resale house without wanting to make their own personal changes anyway. (keeps the renovation industry gainfully employed)