I just bought the same flooring. I love it, but I am a forester and I love wood. So for me it was a no brainer. Hickory is hard also. A buddy and I are going to slab up and old growth cedar log in a couple weeks and begin building my dining room table. So that floor goes with the table perfectly. With what you described I think it will go nicely.

I think they are absolutely beautiful. The extreme variations are part of the beauty of natural wood. If I had that choice I would definitely go for it. If you decide to do it, it would be great if you could post pictures after they are installed.

We had hickory in our previous home and really liked it. Even though it is "busy" we didn't worry about the decor because like you, we had a pretty simple look. I know you said your DH doesn't like nat. oak but have you looked at a #2 common white oak? It has alot of color and knots too and very reasonable in price.
HTH

What width is the Hickory planks the are beautiful? I actually like the color variation and feel Hickory is gorgeous in homes without busy decor.

Looks beautiful! I love it. What company makes that wood? Simple decor without loud prints sounds like a good idea to me. Your floor will be the star!
-Laurie

It is actually Shaw brand 3/4 inch solid natural hickory 3 1/4 inch planks from homedepot.com. They don't have it in store which is why I took the risk and ordered a couple of boxes to see if I liked it 1st bc the price was so much better than other places I had found natural hickory. It was only $3.98 sq ft and I had 10% off coupon.

I'll give you a different opinion than the ones I've seen so far. It's just my opinion that it wouldn't be for me.

It looks very... rustic. It would be right at home in a hunting cabin by the lake. One with no running water. The extreme color changes between the heartwood and the sapwood along with the inconsistency of the grain patterns make it jump out at you, not unlike a moose head that should be mounted over the fireplace in a room with this flooring.

I've found my taste growing more conservative as I grow older. I tend to like understated elegance implemented in high quality materials. Twenty years ago I probably would have loved this floor as a statement of nonconformity. Now, I worry that I would tire of its uniqueness quickly.

If that's the look you're going for, go for it. It's pretty much guaranteed to evoke a reaction in a suburban home. Some (most?) people will love the risk you took. Others, not so much. In the end, your own taste and opinion is the only one that matters.

My brother and sis-in-law are both professors at a Forestry college here in TX. They put in a solid wood that is natural hickory. At first, I thought they were crazy. How could you decorate with that.
They are redoing an older house. This wood is in every room except the utility and sunken TV room (lot on a slope). Simple but elegant fabics and pottery barn style furniture. Even a handrail going down two steps to TV room my bro made out of cedar logs.
The house is not rustic feel at all but elegant and accented by this all this beautifully grained and natural colored wood.
If you love it, go for it. It's your living space. You want to be able to walk in every day and say "I love this floor" not "this is nice but I wish I had done...."
Good luck

I tend to agree with Knot2fast. While this is beautiful wood, and I do mean beautiful, it looks rustic to me also. I saw some Mohawk Natural Hickory recently at Lowe's that did not have quite the color variation; now granted, I was looking at the pieces they had put together for display, but it was a pretty even floor in a light color.

Good luck to you. I have been trying to decide on a hardwood for months and am not any closer to making a decision.

I have #2 grade red oak natural finish semigloss. I like it a lot. Not quite as contrasty as your hickory but enough variation that scratches from the dog's toenails etc don't show. I like wood in all it's glory sans stains and that includes the variations.

Medium to dark stains even out the contrasting colors of hickory if that bothers you.
Otherwise consider that it is a hard, locally grown, (think less fuel for transportation and local jobs) reasonably priced choice.

I love this choice! I have had this same type of wood and have loved every minute of it and I think it works great with contemporary as well as more traditional designs. I am rebuilding my home right now and am going to put it in again. It is super hard and hides dirt well. Definitely gives your rooms a "wow" factor!

I'm not sure if anyone will check this message but I really love this hickory. Are you still satisfied with your purchase from HD with this wood? I was leaning toward hickory or country maple but I like the look of hickory better and HD still has this at such an unreal price that I want to jump on it for 2 upstairs bedrooms. Still no regrets about your purchase? Could you send photos of the wood to my user name @ gmail.com? Thank you.

Well, we went w/it. We are still going through the install process and I can post more pics of the actual finished product later. I'm happy w/my choice. The floor is beautiful. I'm still anxious to see how it will look w/the furniture and the cabinets once they are intalled but so far I'm loving it. It matches my dog Dale nicely ;) I'll post more pics later when the kitchen is done too to help other people that might be trying to decide on natural hickory. It was hard to find pics out there. For now...here are some progress pics...

w/out flash...

You have a Dudley! :)

Very cool looking with the wild color variations. And of course a lab is the perfect accessory.

Kelly-
So excited for you! The flooring looks amazing and is a nice contrast to the darker cherry cabinet. Dale is adorable and his coloring is very similar to the floor : )

I also like your cabinet. What company makes it and do you know the name of the door style? Have you started a post on the kitchen forum, yet? Lots of people would be interested to see that part of your project come together, as well.
-Laurie

The cabinets are Shenandoah (Lowes). Winchester cherry w/a choc glaze. They aren't very expensive and the installer started today and they look great to me! I'll be sure to post some before and after pics in the kitchen forum when I'm done. We are remodeling on a budget so I think it will help a lot of posters who don't have tons of $$ to spend! We've been very pleased so far w/our choices even if they aren't top of the line.

I for one am still following this post and would like to see finished photos. I am considering a natural hickory engineered by US Flooring and not sure I can handle the variation. The sample is very harmonious. I too have a dog and a young kid. Small condo I want to make look bigger. Your laid floor actually looks less contrasting than your first photos of the pieces from a box. Like to see with furniture. What brand are you using and is it a gloss or non glossy?
Carol

The brand is shaw....we got it from home depot dot com. They don't have it in the store. It is called carya hickory natural. It is a solid 3/4 inch hardwood and the finish doesn't seem really glossy to me. We only paid 3.78 a sq ft for it. So, very inexpensive. I'll be glad to post more after pics once the baseboards are in and we get furniture moved up. We still are about 2-3 weeks out from having everything done bc we wern't just doing the floors.

I'm considering this exact same floor, I'd love to see finished pics. Also, any idea where to get hickory stair treads?

any finished pics?

I am getting the same floor, but a diff mfgr. I am putting it in a lake house, but I'd love it anywhere.

looks great! so glad you went for it! thanks for the follow up post!

So, would hickory go well with Dark brown stairs, railing, beams, couple walls etc? Most walls are white.

A few years ago we put hickory engineered wood flooring in our kitchen. It looks very much like your photos. Everyone that sees it loves it. We have a modern (1980) one story home. Now the line has been discontinued and the company fallen on hard times so the products are not supposed to be as reliable. We have the same carpet throughout the entire house so were considering replacing it in the family room and living room with hardwood.

I have added pic of the dark moulding and light walls and carpet that we would want to replace.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic

"The extreme variations are part of the beauty of natural wood."

No, that extreme variation looks like a lot of sapwood and heartwood.

Sapwood is on the outer layers of trees and is typically very pale.
The extractives have not formed in it that give heartwood its darker color.

A lot of wood vendors want to sell every board foot they purchase instead of trimming away sapwood and using just the heartwood.

I think it is gorgeous. We are also considering a hand-scraped-distressed hickory but a it darker than yours. Actually it might be a little too dark for me.

your puppy matches the wood perfectly and looks perfect lying on the floor
lovely

Msekfe, I love your floors! Please post pictures with the furniture installed if you see this post.

Okay I found this LONG LOST post! I forgot to finally post the final product. We re-did the entire level of this house. I'll post a before picture of the kitchen and then some after pictures of the floors. Sorry I never got back to this post until years later!

My grandfather hand made all the wood furniture you see in the pictures. I love that I will always have a piece of him in my home.

Dining room

more...

living room

kitchen "after"

more...

I love the way natural hickory floors look in a home! Msekfe, thank you for sharing the beatiful pictures!

Thank you for posting these pics!
I like that you mentioned your grandfather made all the wood pieces of furniture. That is amazing!!

Your hickory flooring looks beautiful. The kitchen before & after is very dramatic. Such a difference and so well done. If you haven't already, I suggest posting the before and after of your kitchen on the GW Kitchen Forum. What is the name of the granite? It looks similar to the granite we used when we re-did our kitchen (Luna Pearl, aka: Bianco Sardo).

I love your fireplace & notice a cradle/swing : )
Congrats on your little one & on the beautiful home you have created. It's hard to believe you're thinking of renting it...all I can say is lucky renters!

I stumbled across this thread after doing a search for hickory Floor Maple Cupboards. We will be doing our house with Hickory Hardwood, with Maple kitchen Cabinets. I'm a bit nervous about all the wood, but your floor looks very simliar to our box of samples and I think it looks terrific . I very much like your look and happy to see IMO it doesn't look country.

Nice choice on the floor, it looks fantastic. Most people shy away from this type of flooring because of the color variation but that's what makes it so cool.

I think it looks beautiful but there is more to consider. Since there is so much variation you need to consider where the wood will be and what other "patterns" will be in the room or rooms. I think this flooring can look very busy especially since there are so many short boards creating so many seams.

When this type of flooring is used with colors but not too many patterns and if the short boards are picked out and used in closets I think it is really wonderful.

We are currently building and have been very discouraged with board lengths available. We have decided to go to a mill so we can get more of the longer boards. I love wood, I love natural things. I just think you need to be careful that you don't create a lot of chaos in whole. To only see the floor, it is too hard to know if everything else you have in mind works.