Kronotex makes a very nice laminate flooring for a decent price and I would go dark these pics are from our very small house with dark laminate floors and just so you know when we sold there was a bidding war and sold in 11 days.

Sorry here are the pics

I suggest you try out both: get some light and dark shelf paper in wood tones. Use blue painter tape to drape it lightly over the current hallway floors and leave it there for a few days. Don't use the sticky back.

You might consider adding lighting and/or solar tubes.

Do you have photos?

Right now it's an issue of budget, and anything is better than what we have - which is old, beyond-disgusting carpeting that's way past cleaning help, and fraying at all the high-traffic tack strips.

We are thinking about laminate for the following reasons:

1) Absence of ROI potential: In our neighborhood, our realtor has advised us to be careful about how much we sink into the home, since high-end finishes will not result in a $ for $ return on what we put into it. The neighborhood just isn't nice enough. And so if we can avoid spending $5/sqft on the flooring (which would be a minimum of $7K for the flooring alone, and would not include underlayment or any other installation expenses), we really should go for the most frugal choice that will still produce a "pretty" result. And there just doesn't seem to be any appealing engineered hardwood choices in the sub-$2/sqft range.

2) Durability: We have two large dogs, and we are concerned about the durability of engineered hardwood. With the natural wood layer on top, we'd need a really hard wood layer to stand up to the abuse of the dogs nails on the wood, and to rolling office chairs over the surface, etc. It is my understanding that laminate is typically harder and more durable than engineered hardwood. But perhaps I am not understanding that aspect correctly?

3) Ease of DIY installation: Initially, I was interested in a wood-look tile - such as Marazzi's American Estates tile. But from what I understand, DIY tile installation is much harder than laying laminate or engineered hardwood. Due to the layout of the home, we will be laying the flooring on the diagonal. I was told this is a PITA with rectified tile (which is what we would go with). Additionally, most tile that I like (hand scraped finish, sufficient pattern variation to appear natural, etc.) appears to be above the price range that we really should stay in.

We are shooting for a hand scraped look in the sub-$2/sqft range...whether in laminate, engineered or tile. It's just that so far, it's been hard to beat the price of laminate.

apple_pie_order, thanks so much! That is an excellent suggestion! I ordered samples of the flooring, but I think they come in very small pieces and not enough to get an idea for what a floor done in it might look like. The paper idea would be a great way to get a good feel for the going light or going dark, at least!

When are you planning to sell?

You are doing the whole house?

Somehow my cell phone camera managed to make this hallway look much less dark than it appears to the naked eye, but this is the darkest part of the house. All other rooms have at about one window each, with lots more glass than that in the kitchen. The kitchen probably gets the most natural light, but never direct sunlight as its windows are shaded by a covered back patio.

Paint color on the walls would be replaced as well. We haven't started any renovations yet. I just started pulling up carpet yesterday (started with my office) and ordered samples today.

I'd be doing the entire house, including bedrooms, in the wood floor, minus the 2 bathrooms, which I'd probably do in a light colored large format tile. If I went with a dark floor, I'd probably go with light, glossy tile in in the bathrooms for added drama/contrast. Maybe even a light marble, since both bathrooms are small, it wouldn't be much to do their floors in something nice.

We won't be selling any time soon - certainly not for the next 5 years. So whatever we do do, it should last and be relatively "timeless" style-wise so that we are not having to redo anything (except maybe paint) to sell.

I've been frustrated with the state of this home since I moved in in 2009, so since we are now definitively stuck here for the next 5 years at least, my husband has agreed that we can put some money into it to make me happier with it while we have to be here. That said, it's not where we plan to stay, so it only has to be "good enough" - I'm not making this over into my dream home or anything. And like I mentioned, the quality of interior finishes is already so poor that almost anything is an upgrade. For example, the bathroom vanities are made of like, blue/grey/white/black speckle-painted particle board. No kidding...

apple_pie_order, do you have a suggest for where to find the sort of paper you mentioned? A few searches on google with various keywords (and exclusions) didn't turn up anything but contact paper...

Thanks for explaining. THere's a big thread on dogs vs. flooring, I'll see if I can find it. I'm not really sure what $2 per square foot laminate is going to look like after five years of big dogs. I would look at samples of distressed finishes in a light, medium toast, and dark colors, highly patterned to avoid showing dings and scrapes. The hickory wood patterns suggested by Sophie Wheeler above is a good example.

I agree with you that improving in scale with the house value is appropriate. The particleboard vanities are probably a good indicator, as you pointed out. Vanities can be inexpensive to replace if you get a vanity/countertop/sink package with $100 faucet and DIY, but adding a luxury item like marble tile floor that is way better than the rest just makes the rest look junky and the job looks like the owner ran out of money partway through.

Type "wood wrapping paper" into amazon.com search box. Or "wood Contact paper".

Contact paper will work. Just don't peel the backing off!

This thread seems to talk about it and has lots of comments - I'll give it a read: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/hardwood-floors-a-dog-dsvw-vd~406556

Definitely sounding like a tile is the way to go if I want a hand scraped wood look... :\ Which sorta makes me do a happy dance since that's what I wanted in the first place... But it will take us longer to be able to swing it...

Yes, that's the thread I was thinking of. You might also consider that when you sell, you usually have to replace carpet if it is 5-7 years old (traditional depreciation time is 5 years for carpet). The same might be true of budget-grade laminate flooring, especially with dogs or with grit from the desert winds. A rule of thumb is that maintenance can be budgeted at 1% to 1.5% of house price per year, and that various (inevitably) deferred maintenance and new paint will run about 3 or 4% of anticipated selling price when you sell. YMMV. Keeping this in mind helps prevent sticker shock when you go to fix up your house for sale.

Ceramic tile is a forever choice. It is much, much harder to do a good looking job over a big room than a tiny room, say, a bathroom. Laminate is much easier to install, especially if you get the kind designed for DIY instead of for pros. Ceramic tile has to be liked by the new buyers, not just you. Distressed wood finishes have not yet peaked in popularity in my area of California.

I just saw the hall photo, sometimes Houzz doesn't post things immediately. Good big dogs! I think the hall could use a solar tube, though I imagine since the HVAC ductwork is up there it might not be workable.

Once you start pulling up old carpet, all kinds of possibilities suddenly seem open. Is there a wood subfloor or concrete?

I used to have espresso floors and loved the look but dust and hair always showed up and it was so annoying. Just thought if mention it since I saw you have a dog with light fur.

Concrete sub-floor. They're in decent condition, but there's a small issue I need to address with one portion of the house (directly behind where I was standing to take the hall photo), where the car port was modified to become a 4th bedroom (previous owners). The concrete that was poured to match level of the original house concrete pad was done sort of sloppily and then hidden with carpet. It's not as bad as it could be (picture attached), but whatever we decide to do for flooring, it will have to be addressed. So far the room behind that door (same room that use to be the former car port) is the only room I've gotten the carpet up in. But years ago, my husband pulled it up in his office too, and said that the concrete was in reasonable shape there too. So in theory, our slab is in good condition. I've considered pouring a new slip coat over it all and just doing a stained finish, but my husband and I just really want wood, not concrete.

There's 1 5/8" clearance under that door, after the carpet was removed.

And to the solar tube point, yes, unfortunately, the HVAC is in the way. The intake is smack in the middle of the hall way (and the HVAC unit itself sits on the roof directly above the intake). And it's not just ducting, there's a soffit there. We had to replace the HVAC a few months ago, and discussed removing the soffit and recessing the duct work, but it was just too expensive to justify - the soffit affects/ties into the ceiling and vents in all but 2 of the home's rooms. So we're stuck with it.

Might eventually be able to get away with it in the bathroom adjacent though (middle door on the right). That door is typically open, and natural light flooding in there would spill into the hallway rather nicely. And there is currently no window in that bathroom, so no access to natural light in there whatsoever. Only room in the house where that is the case besides the hallway.

I was mucking about with plans in Home Designer Architectural last night, and have some floor-camera shots I can share later, after I'm done work on this contract for the day...

Thanks for the feedback on the dust and fur!

#1 biggest flooring annoyance right now is actually the black dog, Ollie. He's got thick, downy fur that just sheds and flies EVERYWHERE! It sticks to the current carpet and won't come up - even with my Miele vacuum (one of the reasons the carpet is so icky). I can hunt down and exterminate every single downy, floaty fur cloud in the house and with 2 hours he's shed more.

The white one, on the other hand, does shed, but not tons. Her back fur is thin, and she has no hair at all on her tummy.

Still, it did occur to me that a medium tone with lots of color variation would hide both better. Just not sure I can live with the look of it... I'm so in love with the super dark or the super light (more the dark). I'll share generated simulations of both looks a bit later...

We're kind of in the same boat (but with cats). I love the look of dark wood as well. Realistically, if/when we change out the floors, we will probably go with a medium, variegated shade. For me, practicality wins out. Right now we use a Shark Rotator 3 in 1 vacuum and it gets out a lot of cat hair. I can't wait to get rid of carpeting...maybe next year.

Thanks for subfloor and soffit info. The bathroom solar tube would definitely light up the hallway. You've thought of everything.

My advice at the moment is to paint everything first, then put flooring down. Choose paint color after you get the flooring. There will be several days while the flooring acclimatizes to ambient humidity in the desert.

It would be perfectly okay to carpet the carport room if the cost of making the slab smooth is not worth it. A good thick pad, a short pile carpet that is easy for your Miele to handle dog hair on, and you are done. By the way, if your Miele is straining at dog hair, you might look into getting a new replacement beater brush for it. They can still look fine and do no good at all. New beater brushes work really well. Also change the belt if it hasn't been changed in a few months. They can look fine but slip instead of grip. IME, desert climates and heat can ruin belts in a few months.

One thing that happens with new smooth floors is that pet hair rolls into dust bunnies a lot faster because the floor is slick enough to not hang onto it. So be prepared. Or get a Roomba.

Why not compromise? The dark floors you love, partially covered with large light colored & tough-wearing sisal area rugs that he might appreciate? Possibly safer, too. Laminate floors can be very slippery. If this is not a good idea, consider a color in between. A rich & warm honey oak, maybe?

Ok, sorry for the delay. Took me a while to get the floor plan a bit more filled in and "finished" looking. I can upload actual floor-level perspectives, but didn't want to overwhelm folks with images. So if anyone is interested, just ask. Happy to show off more ;-)

For now, I am only uploading the overview schemes for the light floor and the dark floor.

Also, ignore the awful couch color. Lol. I was limited to the leather textures available in the program and none of them hit the color I was going for, which is a cross between the color that it is and the more "rosey" tones of the lighter wood work.

Took some floor level "snapshots" of the house model today with the dark floors. For some reason the modeler wouldn't render the shot with the lights on... but this is pretty close to how I hope to make the house look at some point.

It's definitely a trendy look. You'll be there for several years, get what you want.

Dark shows every little piece of lint. Not sure about the very light would think that is a better choice. I was thinking maybe going with something in the middle. But I always go with my heart.

Laminate is a great choice for doing within budget and getting that look you want. I had it for years and absolutely loved it. It is very soft underfoot and never had a problem with legs getting tired walking or standing. Easy to keep up too.

I have a dark home with light pine floors on the first level and dark brown pine on 2nd floor. the first floor has dark brown beam ceiling for part of the ceiling , the window trim and floor wall trim matches the dark brown ceiling. The contrast is very nice. The 2nd floor is dark pine floor window trim, ďoors dark brown tongue and groove pine and entirely white ceilings. the 1st floor as it does feel lighter, the dark floor shows dirt, dust, and scratches stand out. perhaps a compromise would be a medium color, it definitely hides dirt and dust better then both light and dark. if you like I can send pictures.