My daughter. who lives in a small, 2 bedroom house in Austin is taking the wall down between her tiny kitchen and her living room. The floor in the living room is the original long leaf pine from 1939 ...beautiful, honey reddish tones. The floor in the kitchen is old, battered linoleum. Originally the idea was to put pine in the kitchen and try to match. Now the contractor is saying he thinks it would look better to do a contrasting wood -- perhaps bamboo -- because it will be difficult to match the old and the new. There is a difference in the height of the floors...the kitchen floor is 1/4 " higher. We're concerned that a light wood will look funny with the darkish pine. Also, if the idea is to make the space feel large, won't contrasting wood do the opposite? Any suggestion? Also, should the slats be in the same direction or different? I'm writing this because her internet is down while they are doing the work. She has a photo but it's in her camera so she can't send it now. She has to decide by tomorrow (tues, 10/14) thanks