I'm leaning toward a distressed hand scraped floor (We have kids and dogs so we'll get distressed floors anyway) and my wife loves the idea *except* she also wanted a feature strip or "something". My concern is that I don't think a feature strip makes much sense with hand scraped floor. So I came up with this idea, and I'm not sure if it's brilliant or stupid and I'd appreciate feedback…

I was thinking of running the planks diagonally both for esthetics and not having to worry about the lack of symmetry in the walls or the not exactly 90 degree corners my house features -- crown moulding has always been a "treat" to install here [sigh]. So here's my idea for a feature or border that would be consistent with the idea of hand scraped wood: after laying the floor, where each row of planks terminates at a wall use a plunge router to make a couple of ½ or ¾ inch holes. Then tap in and glue plugs of a contrasting wood as if the floor were "pegged" in order to secure it around the perimeter. With the planks run on a diagonal this would create a border of pegs around each room.

Thoughts?

Chances are that doing that to your floor will void any warranty the manufacturer offers. Boring of the wood could cause delamination that might not take place until it's already installed. The new finishes are very hard but surprisingly brittle if not left alone.

If I understand you correctly, you want to plug a scraped floor that is laid on the bias (45) only around the perimeter. Personally, I think it would look odd. Scraped floors are usually plank and plank floors installed today are usually made to look like the floors of yesteryear. The plank floors of old were installed the length of the room for a simple reason. They were the subfloor and finished floor upon which area rugs were laid. The "joists", often rough timbers, were installed the short distance of the room, for strength. The same principal is still in use today. So, IMO. to install a scraped and distressed floor at a 45 and try to dress it up around the edges with polkadots would be out of place for that product. If you want the pegged look, simply drill and peg the end butts where the planks come together. If you want something fancier , then perhaps select a different look for your floor.