Ms- not all tile is through body color. And even if it is a chip in floor tile,IMHO, is much more noticeable than a ding in wood.

Ks- he only cleans his toys! He'll roll in a mud puddle or play in a pond then tromp over for hugs. He looks so hurt and shocked when you do not return his affection. But hand him a dirty toy and you will receive a dirty look before the kong, bone or ball goes for a bath. Quirky dog :)

This post was edited by iheartgiantschnauzer on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 10:16

I ordered a bunch of wood samples from Carlisle and tested them in heels.

I then chose the one that dented the most! Because it was the widest width plank flooring they had, and I wanted wide boards (12"+) and wanted our floors to look old. Sometimes, like KSWL suggests, that authenticity is more important then perfection.

We proceeded to put in these wideplank floors throughout much of our home. Including wet areas like the kitchen, my bathroom, and the hall in front of one of our laundry areas, which includes a hallway to the pool. We are only on year three but water is not an issue.

Interestingly, I just had a conversation about wood floors and water with my GC on the beachhouse project. I want wooden floors on our attic level, including the 2 BAs up there. I told them to use inexpensive wood because I plan to paint it. They told me that, when you use wood in an area that will be exposed to water (like a BA), you cannot use cheap stuff. The new growth today is so soft and spongey it will be ruined. You must use old-growth wood to avoid water problems. FWIW...

Sorry, I haven't read every post, so maybe you mentioned this... but if your style is relaxed or country or especially distressed, go with wood. If not, personally, I think the tile looks gorgeous, although not terribly warm (maybe put in radiant heat) or comfy or forgiving.

iheart - LOL. What kind of dog do you have that has figured out how to open door handles and open crates?! He sounds like quite a character. Would love to see a picture of your idiots :)

I think I'm above grade. I see several inches of concrete above the ground before my brick starts. That's above grade, right?

You certainly have me feeling better about the wood option. I work from home, so most accidents would be caught right away. Although I don't want to feel like a slave to my floors. The exception would be when I leave to run errands, but I usually lock them in my office when I'm gone. I currently have tile in there and I'm thinking about keeping it even though wood in my office would be beautiful.

BTW, what brand of hardwoods do you have? Just wondering if it's an average brand or top of the line? I got the impression Regal is an above average brand, but then again he was trying to sell me something.

arcy - One of the salesmen did mention the sound difference with tile. He also said it takes more energy to heat a house with tile floors than wood.

This post was edited by msrose on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 10:22

Ms- I'm not sure we have a brand. We have reclaimed antiqued white oak. I've attached a link to the supplier. I love them. I adored the heart of pine but it was just too soft to handle our guys. I'm so happy with our flooring choice!

We also bought a railroad tie for use as a mantle on the fireplace in the screened porch. It was a pleasure dealing with elmwood.

We have giant schnauzers. Great dogs but not for everyone.

Good luck on your project!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our floor supplieR

One positive about the wood floor I'm looking at is it comes with dents already in it! I live in Texas and this is my house. Do you think the rustic wood floors fit with my style?

Hmm, I would say the bones of your space are not rustic, but your decor choices are a little bit rustic. I guess that is transitional? (pretty, too, btw)

I would not choose are really rustic rough hewn floor, esp for resale, but something with a bit of the edge off, if you KWIM, would work well IMHO.

I'm not too worried about resale since I'm planning on this being my forever home. This was another option. It's a tile that looks like travertine. Again, it's a rustic look, which I'm always drawn to. I wasn't sure how I felt about the busyness of it. The two tiles below it is the same tile in a lighter color . It's hard to tell what it would like look overall.

Cute pups. I agree with mtn. I wouldn't go too rustic, but a floor with character, an ode or wink to rustic would be fine. I think the floor you like would be ok. But have you considered a lighter floor? With the dogs lighter may be better

This post was edited by iheartgiantschnauzer on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 11:54

iheartgiantschnauzer, I was reading this and got the link for your floor supplier. They have heart pine at the most incredible price! thank you!

Ok, speaking from MUCH experience here :D. I have 11 dogs, 8 of which live in the house, 6 of those spend a great deal of time on my main floor. 5 of the 6 are German Shepherds. We train professionally and compete on a regular basis so the welfare of the dogs was utmost in our decision. When we were building the house the builder was convinced we should go with tile due to the dogs. We were and are adamantly opposed to tile with our dogs since wet tile becomes like a skating rink and leads to slipped stifles and torn cruciate ligaments. The hardwood floors are now 16 years old and still look great. We are just getting to the point of looking into refinishing. They are the easiest to clean and maintain with a houseful of dogs hands down. The tile floors in the bathrooms are a mess when the dogs have been in there, plus the grout holds stains. I do not play fetch with the dogs inside or let them really roughhouse. The floors you show have a roughed up kind of finish to begin with so will probably be even better than what we have (plain old oak with a nut brown color and satin finish). Just don't do anything too dark or too shiny and you should be golden.
This pic is the only one I have that shows any of my floors. The color was a mix of walnut and pecan of some sort. Sorry about the bad pic.

I know this has been said but I think it is worth repeating.

I spent close to 20 years delighted with the tile floors we had throughout much of our house - so much easier with our dogs than the wall to wall carpet we had before the ceramic tile. Now I have spent 10 years regretting it as I live with the resulting foot problems. I cringe every time I see folks thinking about putting stone-like surfaces on floors, especially in kitchens where they are likely to stand for long periods of time.

Another thing to think about is sound quality. I managed that by hanging heavy drapes but tile will bounce sound. I still like the look - and the lack of worry about pet damage - but will never have stone-like tile, except in small areas like entry ways, again.

Although you may not be still be considering the rustic wood floor, and I apologize if I miss it being brought up in a previous post, but the repeat pattern could be something else to consider. The floor looks wonderful, with the big crack and distinctive knots. They can be rotated and mixed up throughout the room, but I will be visually be picking out all of the long crack tiles, then all of the distinctive oval knot patterned tiles. etc. When many customers look at the sample board containing one of each available, they visualize the entire room with each tile or board being unique. Then, when installed, those fifteen identical cracks don't match what they envisioned.

And thanks for the reminder, orcasgramma. My husband and I were planning to put in tile throughout much of our house, including the kitchen. The budget hasn't allowed for it yet, and I am nervous. He has bad knees. I have bad feet and ankles & hips. We have never had a lot of tile in our homes, so he always downplays my concerns when I bring it up. I doubt if I could get him to go with carpet again. Argh. I don't know what to do. I hate linoleum, and slightly more forgiving hardwoods are problematic in dry California.

bocron - Wow! You and iheart are definitely the poster children for having dogs and hardwood floors.

If I go with hardwood, I'm thinking about still using tile in the kitchen. I don't think the floors I like would look good in my kitchen since they're too close to the same color. I don't cook much, so I don't have to worry about standing on the tile for long periods of time. What do you think about the travertine look tile I posted? Too busy?

If I decide to go with hardwoods, I would like to put them in now and do the tile later. Would it be a problem removing the trim pieces between the wood and my current tile when I have the new tile installed?

I found a less busy floor that I think is gorgeous. It's on someone's blog from 2012, so I don't know if they even still make it, but I asked if she could tell me the name. Her blog has a link to Stone Peak Tile, but I'm not sure which one it is.

How would this look next to the wood I like?

This post was edited by msrose on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 21:06

That floor would look great in your kitchen! It would look fine next to wood.

I know this is a terrible picture but I can't figure out how to lighten it! I'll take some more pictures tomorrow.

In real life the grout lines are brown but for some reason they look grey in the photo. No one is going to mistake this for real wood, lol.

My selection priorities were:
Porcelain because it is harder than ceramic and the color runs all the way through it.
No tiles longer than 3', because I heard the longer planks can be problematic.
I wanted at least a satin finish, if not high gloss like my wood floors.
I did not want the tiles to be perfectly flat on top.
I was not willing to pay more than $5 per foot...unless of course I fell in love with something, in which case price would have been no object.

I looked at what every "wood look tile" manufacturer had to offer. I didn't see anything I LOVED for any price. The only ones I liked at all were about $10 a foot.
I was on the verge of giving up when I walked into Lowes and saw one that came closer to my criteria than anything else I had seen (Home Depot carries the same tile). It was disturbingly cheap at $.80 a foot. I was told it was porcelain and even though it only came in 2' lengths, I was tired of looking and decided to take it. I thought it met all of my criteria except for multiple length planks. I'm going to cover most of it with area rugs anyway so I thought I could live with that lone disadvantage.

I later discovered that it is neither porcelain nor standard ceramic. It's some new stuff that is supposed to be much harder than ceramic. The color does not run through the tiles. It was too late to make a change when I discovered these facts.

During installation someone chipped a tiny spot on an edge. The white shows there. I'm sure a drop of stain will soak right in and solve the problem. It's so tiny I haven't bothered to do it yet.

I may live to regret using such cheap tile. I have NEVER used such low grade materials before. I bought a lot of extra tiles in case I have to replace any of my "indestructible" flooring. Only time will tell but so far, I could not be happier with it.

I noticed someone mentioned polishing the concrete. I was all set to do that at one point, but the various concrete polishers talked me out of it, lol.

I'm not crazy about the look, but I loved the idea of a high gloss finish. I found out it would have cost five times what a tile floor would cost and that the high gloss requires constant maintenance.

I will be putting in a new kitchen floor soon. I've noticed people talking about how standing on tile can become a problem. I am using tile throughout the kitchen/breakfast room, but I am having cork inserted across the work areas. There is nothing like standing on cork, but I don't want the whole floor done with it. The cork inserts will look like area rugs.

MS Rose: have you checked into the cork that Annie mentioned above?? I have read good things about it.

I think there are pros and cons to everything. You have read about all of the pros and cons and might just have to go with your gut and the look you like the most.

In my previous house we had oak hardwood floors. We didn't have any problems at all. In our current house we have birch and no problems. I worry more about the birch because it is a little softer wood. We didn't put it in but when we had the refinished the installer mentioned that I should have people take their shoes off, especially heels, because it could dent it. He has birch in his house and said he asks people to take their shoes off. That is embarrassing!!

My lawyer has a engineered floor that he can drop a bowling ball on and not dent it. That sounds fantastic! Whatever you do, search google for the wood and get the stronger wood so you don't have to worry about too many dents. Some dents are fine--even good---but not a lot of dents.

I haven't found scratches from a dog to be a problem. It is really inexpensive to have someone sand the finish and put down another coat if you find too many scratches.

I have seen the wood look in a light great at a house in Arizona. It was beautiful.

But, IMO, anything that drops and dents a hardwood could also shatter or chip a tile.

Rather than engineered wood, which is usually a very thin layer that can be refinished once at best, how about regular 3/4" pre-finished wood? It can be refinished many times if necessary.

I'm personally anti-tile. cold. hard. grout. blech. things break.

When I did a kitchen facelift in my last home, I went with a very high-end vinyl (fiberglass actually I think) that looked so like tile. I loved it. This particular one was so comfy on the feet, I didn't even need my foam support rug in front of the sink anymore like my prior vinyl. When I sold, this vinyl actually fooled realtors who thought it was tile. Vinyl is the absolute best for dogs and cleaning and comfort. Also as a gardener, I was always tracking in crud.

I now am in a house with hardwood throughout the main floor and my feet HATE it. It's not dark, but it shows spots all the time. I have a lot of natural light reflecting off it. I got a steam cleaner, which helps, but is not ideal.

Cork with dogs and a kitchen doesn't strike me as a good idea even though I know it's done a lot.

Even though I am anti-tile from a functional viewpoint, I do like that last picture of the tile you posted. Fresh and modern look.

Thanks, Cindyloo! Lowes is actually one place I haven't looked. I liked the one at HD, but I guess I didn't "love" it and I kept waiting to find something I love.

I haven't thought about cork lately. I remember someone posted a cork floor a couple of years ago and it looked just like wood. I thought it was so pretty and then I checked the price! Hopefully, they're not all that expensive.

I'm leaning towards wood in the living areas/bedrooms and tile in the kitchen now.

Cindyloo, do you have an inspiration photo of this? -->I am using tile throughout the kitchen/breakfast room, but I am having cork inserted across the work areas. ..The cork inserts will look like area rugs.When you have yours installed, I hope you will share photos. I am not ready for the kitchen remodel yet, since other rooms are being done first. But my basic plan needs to be in place so the finished rooms will all look nice together. I have talked to my husband again, and we have decided to tile the bathrooms, hall, office, and maybe the dining area, while leaving the den carpeted.

Here's a pic of GF's kitchen with cork flooring.

Here's a pic of my kitchen flooring. We went from wood to stone look vinyl in the kitchen. The nice thing about using all one material is no transitions...otherwise, because the tile is a different thickness than the wood floor, either your subfloor has to accommodate it or you need to have transitions between the rooms.

Gyr, I don't have any inspiration photos. I have been agonizing for years over what material to use for a new kitchen floor. I'm not crazy about the look of cork, GOOD cork is very expensive, and I didn't feel like worrying about people with heels walking around in my kitchen. I wanted tile, but was afraid of standing on such a hard surface for long periods.

I was touring the 1910 Nemours Mansion in DE when I saw the solution. The finished basement is at least 5,000' and the same high gloss terra cotta tile is used throughout. But in the billiards room, there is path of cork flooring that runs between and around the 6-8 billiard tables. There is a world of difference between standing on the tile and standing on that cork!

I've linked to the only photo I found that shows the floor at all. It's hard to see, but the 3-4' wide darker flooring that runs closer to the tables is the cork.

The cork comes in many shades and colors now, so the insert for my kitchen can be in any pattern I want.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nemours Floor

My parents put Duro design glued down cork tiles (not floating floor) in the kitchen of their last house, with an 80lb lab and a 25lb pug mix, the floor was destroyed within two years. The scratches were so deep they didn't reseal properly and water and dirt got down into the cork, leaving deep stains that were not repairable with sanding. The floor was like 6-7 dollars a sqft, they had bought all the proper sealants from the company and had it professionally installed.

Thank you for sharing some photos AnnieDeighnaugh and Cindyloo. I tend to be a visual designer, and not very creative about coming up with ideas that are not adaptions from something already seen, so photos help a lot. Nice to have more options to think about, even if no perfect solutions seem to be available yet!

edit add: I do like your vinyl floor's look. And it is a sensible choice for long standing and easy care. There is just a long-earned aversion to vinyl from years of rentals with ugly flooring to overcome. I need to go see some of the newer stuff perhaps.

This post was edited by Gyr_Falcon on Wed, Feb 26, 14 at 16:55

Roobear thanks for that information. That is the first "fail" I've heard about with cork, but of course I know very few people that have tried it.

My niece is in the process of having cork installed on the entire main level of her house. She has two great danes. I know she is using the best quality cork she could find and I can't wait to hear her reports about how it holds up.

I called the floor guy today. He's going to come measure tomorrow and bring the wood floor sample. I just hope I like it as much in my house as I did in the store.

Gyr if what I saw at Nemours is not the perfect solution I don't know what could be, lol.

Before I discovered the tile/cork combo I contemplated using all tile and buying custom area rugs to cover the entire work/standing area. I was going to put memory foam or something similar under the rugs.

You could also put a vinyl insert in the work area. I think if you want tile like I do, there are numerous options to make the work area better for standing.

msrose, which do you think you're going with?

It would be Cindyloo, if only I had a Nemours-sized kitchen! lol The work-portion of my kitchen is "U" shaped, with about 7' x 6' of floor, so there would not be a lot of tile for the middle. I am considering modifying the softer flooring shape to an "L" for where I would be standing the most; the new sink and prep area. The stove area would be tile still, but I usually stand to the right of the stove for prep and cooking since the only decently-powered burner is the front right.

I'm thinking about putting wood in my family room, dining room and two bedrooms. I already have tile in the rest of the house, but I would like to replace it eventually. If I get the wood now, will they mess up the transition pieces when I replace the tile later or is it easy to take it up and put it back?

That is a good question. We have tile in our laundry room. When we had hardwood laid in the adjoining hallway, the transition piece was a piece of the hardwood laid across the doorway (perpendicular to the hardwood floor.) So if you replace the tile with tile it shouldn't be a problem. If you replace it with hardwood I am not sure of the answer. I would be sure to discuss all transitions with your installer to make sure he knows what you want and your future plan for adjoining spaces.

corgimum - Did you ever get your backsplash done?

Yes-we installed it ourselves. I hope to post my kitchen soon. My cabinetmaker was here this week for some final touches so I need to take some photos.

Msrose, I have been following this thread so I am looking forward to finding out what you ended up doing in your kitchen and other rooms of the house.

I got my estimate on the hardwood and it's more than I originally planned on paying, so we pulled out some cheaper ones and nothing even compared. If I can get a good deal on tile, I'll do that now also. I may have to wait for it though. The guy said there's a chance they could break the wood transition pieces if I do the tile later, so I looked for something at three tile stores today and it's just so hard looking at one tile and trying to figure out what it will look like in a whole room. I started out thinking I wanted a light colored floor, but now I'm thinking something darker would look better with the wood, but I don't want anything too dark or too busy. I'm going to a few more places tomorrow.

One thing the guy said is I can take the wood right up to my fireplace. I know someone mentioned you can't have wood there, so I wonder if different states have different rules? I never burn my fireplace, so I'm not worried about any safety issues, but I just want to make sure there aren't any regulations saying I can't do it.

If anyone has a picture of their kitchen tile next to the hardwood, I'd love to see it.

I really like this tile, but I have two concerns. My countertop takes on a cool tone at times, so I'm not sure how it looks with the tile. As you can see, the rest of my house has lots of warm tones, although I would like to eventually change the paint color to something lighter. My second concern is the color of the tile may drive my paint color choice since it is more of solid color than a blend. That's what happened when I painted my house the last time. I had to go with a paint color that looked good with my tile rather than one I loved. My current tile has a slight pinky orangey undertone and this tile is more of a true warm color. I held Manchester Tan up to it and I think it would look good, but I'm not sure that would be my choice if I could go with anything I like.

Would I be better going with something like the light tile on the bottom, so I might be open to more possibilities on paint colors. He didn't have this tile for me to bring home, but he said he could order one for me.

This post was edited by msrose on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 9:16

I have had laminate flooring in my kitchen/dining room and laundry room for about 8 years and love it....so easy to clean. I have ceramic tile in the bathroom with white grout and I have had a horrible time keeping the grout white.....I would put someting "groutless" in the bathroom if I had it to do over again. I cannot imagine cleaning a whole kitchen with grout. We do not have pets. I don't think you can go wrong with hardwood floors....they look so pretty.

I used Spectraloc grout in my front foyer in a light mushroom color and it stays nice and clean. The guy who installed it should have used one batch for each foyer as the middle foyer where I keep the puppy pads was not done right and had dried out and that is getting stained from pee. But if the grout is sealed and is a neutral color, it should be fine. I am using tile in my kitchen also but may use a Permagrout with a sealer. I always like the grout to blend with the tile.

I like the tile on the counter as it goes well with the backsplash and the design inside the counters. What is the name of your granite counters as I like them?

Why are you changing the kitchen tile? The colors you are selecting look quite similar to what is there except for size. As far as a hardwood transition piece getting broken goes, it should be an easy replacement as long as you have some extra boards.

We have Bruce hardwood floors, solid wood. The strips originally had bevels but when we had them refinished, they sanded away the bevels (yay!). The wood is white oak, stained with Bona cherry stain, then 2 coats of Bona Traffic.
We have 2 Golden Retrievers who are not rambunctious but neither are they house plants. This is a close up of the kind of "scratches" on the floor from their nails. Actually, the wood refinishers explained they are not scratches but pressure indentations. (I do their nails on a pretty regular basis.)

I am posting to show what has happened over time to our floors. Unless the light is coming in at an angle to show the marks, they are not noticeable. But there a bazillion of them after 5 years.

lynn - My granite is Taj Mahal. Does Spectraloc grout resist stains more than a normal grout?

corgimum - That's a very good question! I'm only going to replace the tile if I can find something I really like. I like the idea of having a bigger tile and I'm hoping to have smaller grout lines this time, but I think that depends on the tile I pick. I certainly don't hate my current tile, but it has a slight pink undertone I don't like. The sample I had was similar minus the pink tone. In person, its a much prettier tile than the one I have. I know the decision is ultimately mine, but both the tile guy and my mother didn't like the color, so that worries me. I found another one I like, but I couldn't tell enough about the color from the tiny samples, so he's going to get a full size tile for me to look at.

nanj - Thanks for posting your picture, so I can be prepared for what might happen. The guy took his car keys and rubbed them across the wood floor I'm looking at to show me they shouldn't scratch, because of the protective coating. Is that a good test? Is it a gimmick to make me think they're more bullet proof than they really are?

Spectralock grout never has to be sealed. Now I am thinking of using this again as my front foyer is still clean. The middle foyer where the puppy pads are was not done right and almost any grout would have problems from pee. I think this grout would hold up great in a kitchen. They have a link for free samples. I like both the Mushroom grout and the Antique White grout. I have Mushroom grout now and it is so neutral and does not look dirty. It is just that not all installers know how to use this grout.

My Porcelain tiles are wonderful in my foyer areas as they always look clean and are sturdy and do not stain. My tiles are also not slippery when they are wet.

My new tiles for my kitchen are 17.5" X 17.5" rectified and I love the bigger size.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spectralock grout never has to be sealed

Msrose, I love your Taj Mahal granite counters!

lynn - Can you post a picture of the larger tile in your foyer?

MsRose, I did not listen to this forum and used the 12.4" X 12.4" Adoyal Bone tiles in my two small foyers which I LOVE but wish now I went bigger like I am going to do in my kitchen as the less grout the better. But my front foyer that gets so much traffic from clients and friends and delivery people in and out of my home seems to stay clean and is next to the wood. My tiles in the kitchen have not been installed as I want new cabinets so I want to decide on my new cabinets first as I hate the blind cabinet and the lack of drawers. If you want a picture of the 12.4 X 12.4 tile next to the wood. I will see if I have any saved and try to remember how to post a picture as I used to use links. I am in the middle of tax season and have so much to do today but maybe it will not be difficult to do.

I found pictures on my hard drive that I emailed to myself as they were in a folder saying Pics From Former Computer as I got a new computer in September 2013. Now I have to figure out how to post them here without setting up a link like I used to do.

I've started a different thread to post some info about tile grout.

MsRose - Car keys do seem to be a good test for scratches but large dogs' nails put impressions in the wood, they don't scratch the finish. From what other dog owners have said in this thread, there must be woods that are not as easily damaged by dogs' nails as mine are. Wood hardness is not only a characteristic of the species of the tree but also the age of the tree itself. Old trees' wood is denser than new trees.....old growth timber is valuable for a reason.

Sorry I can't help with your decision! I love the look of wood floors but after my experience I have promised myself I will never do wood again. (We will always have big dogs in our family.)

But then an earlier poster, Bocron, with the German Shepherds certainly makes it tempting to think I could maybe find that one type that wouldn't be damaged by my big dogs.....

OK, I posted several pictures for you msrose on the other thread to show me you tile floors. I hope it helps.