We're still eyeball-deep in our own DIY remodel. Our plan is similar to lovestorenovate - hardwoods everywhere (same finish) except the bathrooms and possibly the foyer.

The same wood everywhere except for baths and laundry rooms is a great idea.
Some prefer carpeted bedrooms, but I'm not one of 'em!

I'd check out this site, open houses 1-2 tiers 'up-market' from yours, and all over the web for the style of your house.

We have hardwood everywhere on the first floor except the kitchen where we put cork and the foyer where we put tile. I love the look of wood everywhere. I think if you're going for an expansive open look, you need to consider the direction of the boards if you'll be starting in one room and doing the rest of the house sometime later. Plus dye lots for stain maybe slightly different if purchased at separate times.

Different wood species can look great in adjoining rooms as long as the transition between the rooms looks planned. I believe igloochic has some great examples of different species of wood in adjoining rooms. The pics are gorgeous.

I would use the same wood flooring throughout the house, with the same color stain. We even have wood flooring in our foyer powder room. We put tile in the master bath and laundry room, but the office, kitchen, living, dining and master bedroom, which are all on the first floor, have hardwood floors and the flow is lovely.

I don't have an old house, but my favorite magazine is This Old House. Not only does it have a lot of decorative pictures, it has a lot of common DIY projects and advice which really came in handy during our remodel/add-on.

Thanks for the input everyone! :-)

I will get some pictures and load them. This was originally a custom built home (unusual for this area) Â the original designer loved Octagons! YouÂll see what I mean and I hope you will help me decide whether we should embrace this quirk, or do our best to minimize it.

Back to the hard wood floors I appreciate all the input. This is a single story house, so I think the flow will be nice. I was considering Bamboo in the kids rooms. I worry that Babmoo is too casual for the whole house, but it might be fun in the kids rooms  not sure CostCo sells bamboo flooring as well as Harmonics Laminate. How do you guys feel about laminate?

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Harmonics Flooring

We have quartersawn oak throughout our home, except the mudroom and the upstairs bathroom. But downstairs, we did a walnut perimeter border, to mix things up. (We also have a walnut handrail for our staircase.)

upstairs:

downstairs (i'd take better pics but we're still moving in and it's still being renovated so this is the only part that doesn't have tools and/or boxes covering them LOL.):

I love hardwood floors, but for budget, installation, and maintenance reasons, we're putting laminate throughout most of the downstairs. We found a beautiful handscraped style where each plank is actually separate, not just a picture like some. We've been getting tons of compliments on the floors, and it's not even complete yet.

Laminate is very easy to DIY (I've done three rooms already almost by myself), sounds fine with a good underlayment, and holds up perfectly to pet toenails (our 50 lb dog had put a lot of "patina" on the 90 year old heart pine floors in our last house)! In our nice but older neighborhood, hardwood floors would not have been a good return on the money. But if you can afford it, it's wonderful ;-)

We have hardwood everywhere but the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry. Love it!

tina

I have the same solid brazilian walnut throughout the entire house except the art studio where they refinished the original hardwood to the same color, and the 2 bathrooms which have slates (2 different kinds). We LOVE the flow from space to space. LOVE it. no regrets.

I realize this thread is really old but I'm wondering people's thoughts on having hardwood (same wood) throughout an entire 4200 sq ft house, including bathrooms, laundry, entry, etc. Everywhere :) - Just wondering thoughts about maintenance, potential problems, etc. I'm mostly worried about warping from moisture whether it be in bathrooms or kitchen, entry-points, etc.

My thoughts: I have a hardwood floor in the kitchen only. I prefer really plush carpeting in the bedrooms, but that is just me. I am forever dropping stuff in the kitchen and it's held up well. Who knew a plastic wireless keyboard that slipped out of my hand could cause a ding? I'm sure the trend is for all hardwood, but my husband and I do things that we like because we're the ones who live there :)

Thank you!