I've spent the last several hours reading many posts on this site and think all the information available here is wonderful. Please allow me to pick your collective brains on this...

After over two years of builder(s)-related hassles and headaches, my fairly simple renovation is finally nearly complete. It's now time to pick flooring. I'm going to need about 1800SF, including about 7% waste.

I had been looking at Cumaru, but after seeing it in a number of places Wife decided it was "too brown". She liked Brazilian Cherry and Mahogony, but they get too dark after oxidation. Then we had the Ahah! moment when we saw Bellawood Bolivian Rosewood (Tiete?) in Lumber Liquidators. Unfortunately, I hear very little that's good about them today. Maybe when they started things were good, but I've read much about poor milling and inferior finishing. Indeed, my samples have terrible orange peel. The wood, itself, though is exactly what we want.

I also have numerous samples of some brown wood that's supposed to be the same thing. We like the slight pinkish red (which will deepen over time) color of this species. Is there anything else I should be looking at? Are the other, reputable suppliers who won't break the bank? We want prefinished solid 3/4" boards. Thank you in advance.

Try Dan at http://www.brazilianhardwood.com for Tiete Rosewood.

Rosewood is some beautiful looking wood ..

I hadn't seen it until a trip to LL. Both my wife and I loved it at first sight.

I tried Dan, but his price was a little high.

You can compare hardwood species at FindAnyFloor here http://www.findanyfloor.com/Hardwood/HardwoodSpecies.xhtml.

Look for one with a high Janka Hardness rating if you want something that is more scratch resistant.

Good luck in your search for flooring!