I am happy to see this post. My son is buying a house that has a beautiful random width floor (maple?) in a medium tone all through the downstairs except in the living room. He will be replacing the old carpet in the LR, but was concerned about matching the wood. It only meets the wood floor in the entry way next to the steps. I suggested just trying to match the color, if not the species of wood, as he would much rather have wood throughout. I will be able to tell more about it Wednesday, when I tag along for inspection. Since it only meets in a small area, I'm hoping NOT doing random width would be acceptable.

personally I would try to match it. I would do something contrasting. Pre-finished floors have the added benefit that you can take a sample and put it against the floor. We have a prefinished floor downstairs and need to stain the stairs, which are a different species. The dsigner at the store said to just contrast and I think she is right. If i remember I'll post a picture of it when we are done

If you can't match the floor, but still want hardwood, I would recommend intentionally choosing something very different. We have walnut in most of our house, but I wanted some areas to be more light and airy instead of all of that dark wood. So, one room downstairs, a combination library/dining room, plus the master bedroom and bathroom upstairs, are in whitewashed pine. It turned out beautifully.

Accidental double post.

This post was edited by MoongazingHare on Tue, Jun 10, 14 at 23:03

I agree with MoongazingHare, that if you want to put a different hardware in a room, then have it be purposely not matching and not almost matching.