That paneling looks really cool.

There are a lot of different combinations if you search photos but some of them involve painting or staining the paneling.

I do not know if it is maple plywood. When we moved to a Dallas suburb in 1979, all the custom homes that were being built had that type of custom wood in the "great rooms".

If you can I think you should paint the walls white, and get a light wood floor. If painting isn't an option, I know you probably think it isn't smart to go with the same color as the wood walls, but it would tie the room together nicely. You can also add different pieces of furniture/rugs to break up the color of the walls and floors as well.

It looks more like a maple veneer than a maple plywood, to me. Definetly a light wood floor.

I've had panelling & will never use it again.

I missed the white 1. That i could live with.

Depends on the other floors throughout the rest of your home! What is laid on those floors?

It kind of looks like maple. Like Bobbi said, it's probably a veneer - but remember that the "face" pieces of plywood are typically veneer (for hardwood plywood) adhered to other "filler" layers, so both veneer and plywood are correct... the species is hard to tell. It is beautiful though.

I think a quality carpet, with a subtle pattern would be very nice.

I was thinking carpet something like this...in the right color/pattern that you like that works with the wood tone.

I also like the Library look Emily suggested. If you love the wood (and it IS pretty) embrace it with that look. You can lighten the room with furnishing and proper, layered lighting. Lots of light.

A medium to dark wood floor similar to the darker grains in the paneling would look really nice. I think matching the floor to the wall would be too monotone. A contrast would look beautiful and you'll be surprised how you will find the color pop from the grain on the wall when you put a contrasting color on the floor. You could also use a dark glaze over the wall paneling and wipe off everything except what settles in the grooves and corners. This will add some depth to the walls. I have glazed cabinets in my kitchen and I love the look. You don't really notice it until you look closely. It's subtle look that warms the wood.

I would suggest you go with a darker wood to set it apart from the paneling (which is beautiful). Let each element make a statement.

The paneling seems to be Birdseye Maple, which has a very distinctive swirling pattern that disrupts the linear grain. I would consider the effect of the pattern as well as the color when selecting your floor.

I have the same walls in my house. I painted them a shade of white. It looks beautiful and clean. I matched the floor to the floor in the rest of the house which is a dark wood. Love it!

Hello-if you're keeping the maple paneling as is, then I suggest marble or granite for the floor. If you decide to paint the paneling, neutral carpet or dark wood (handscraped hickory) floors. Good Luck!


http://www.marblegranitemalaysia.com/products/flooring/marble-granite-floor-tiles.html
http://balboaflooring.com/?pg=natural-stone

I had that picture frame paneling in my home when I bought it...after a few years of living with it and stressing over whether to paint, remove or live with it (hated the thought of removing because it was real wood paneling)...I finally removed it and have never regretted it one minute. Room is so much lighter, brighter and now looks so much bigger.

We are a local flooring company in the DFW area and we see this wood paneling often in our projects. If the client is going with hardwood, then generally it looks best if you paint the wall wood paneling or remove it and then texture paint the walls.
If you want to keep the wall panels, we have had clients that got lucky and fell in love with wood floor product that complimented their walls. However, usually the clients end up going with carpet and their are so many different options that would work for you with a carpet.

I agree with Kathryn Peltier Design - she has the best advice so far. You do need to consider everything in the room as she said...what is the furniture/colors etc. Rooms usually don't come together with just one or two elements and with the right elements put together, pretty much anything can look amazing. Have you considered hiring a designer to help out? Some interior designers may offer a small amount of consulting for a minimal cost and can give you much more specialized advice than we can offer based on one picture. Also, consider the end users of the space. Do you have kids, pets? Make sure that your items function for YOUR lifestyle.
All that said...go with dark floors, I would recommend also looking into cork floors. There are several colors and patterns available in cork that may work and coordinate nicely with the walls.

It looks like a Veneer ,A rug for the floor in this room will be a good idea in a contrasting colour . Btw what room is this ?

I love the panelling...please don't paint it! Katherine Peltier designs gave you great advice. I also agreed with Darzy.

I love your paneling!

As an alternative to a wood floor, I would suggest Travertine tile with area rugs.
Persian rugs would be my choice.

I agree with Darzy. The use of a flat weave carpet would be nice. I would not paint that wood either.

The walls are beautiful ! Go with a darker tone wood flooring and a light/medium colored rug in the center of the room :)

The easy way to tell what the wall is made of would be to remove that light switch cover and look at the edge of the panel. You'll be able to tell if it's plywood, mdf, or solid wood.

Why would you wish to paint this bird's eye maple. It's beautiful and classy. I would use a wood floor as close in color as possible with a great! area rug.

I would paint your walls white/off-white and inside the moulding do a deep inky blue. Then do a nice medium-dark would floor. Like these photos ( one wall color, different color inside the molding/ perfect deep color/flooring)

The wood paneling is beautiful and would be very costly for material and labor to duplicate.

Wood can last a lifetime with care.

[Paint is cheap and messy.]

I have wood paneling in the family room and found that carpeting just made the space feel dusty and small. Instead of carpet I put in a tile floor in a complimentary color and it was a huge success.

I am confused why anyone cares whether or not the wood is solid or a veneer. Almost all furniture - unless it's antique - is veneer, as is just about everything else. That doesn't mean it's not quality. All that is that the homeowner likes it and wants to keep it! BTW, I think the library look is very nice and very cozy - go for it, flysingerjj!

I have a dark wood trim against a medium tone wood floor and the two shades of wood work well together. Just pick a wood floor color that contrasts but goes with your walls and enjoy the room.

the wood is birch, and it is plywood. the angular curly rays and the darker colored cathedral above the door are telltale signs. if it were birdseye it would be dotted with thousands of sapling shoots.

as for the floor, i think natalies photos are spot on. i would use the crema marfil marble if i was worried about the room being too dark. but the chocolate scraped flooring would be stunning.

and kathryn is right there is nothing inferior about plywood for this application, however there are times that solid wood is better.

Thank you, guys! This room is our living room.this wall in this picture is exactly the wall we see when we enter the house. The room is 20 by 17ft . It is interesting that at first we saw this house, we hated this wood panel and desperately wanted to remove it. But two times after We came to it, we liked it and wanted to keep it. I love the area rug Darzy recommended, I would probably go with one area rug like that one! However when we entered the house, the area with this rug can not be seen. I believe the first sight of the house impressed most. So the wood color is very important. I agree with what Kathryn Pelletier design said, the light color like the color of the carpet in my room now made me feel floating. I loved to have a try of dark floor. But i am a little concerned that whether it will make the room darker, although I have a skylight here. Almost all the rooms like mine I researched use floor colors that is close to walls. Maybe that is safer?

That paneled wall is beautiful ! If your room is that large consider using a nicely proportioned band of dark wood around the edge of the room 12" or so - then fill the inside with a lighter color -same brand and dimension as not all flooring is created = Ask/make sure they are compatible before buying. (or similar effect with other material such as Natalie's pic shows - with the 'framed edge'. This will keep you from 'floating' and area rugs in the appropriate places can still define individual areas. If this is the entry view select furnishings with long enough legs that allow the floor to show (vs. solid base type cabinet, etc.)

Flysinger, I wouldn't worry about a dark floor making the room darker, The floor will recede. I think bprince300 has a good idea, too, in making it a two-tone floor with a band of dark. Depending upon your budget, you could have the floor laid in a pattern, too. In addition, you can lighten the room with your furnishings and the rug you like, posted previously. Perhaps even making the room rather monochromatic, and then having large splashes of color (couch or chairs, artwork, etc.) would be beautiful. Could you post more photos? Maybe that would help us understand your concerns. Sometimes a darker room needs to be embraced - in a room this large, light colors would just kind of wash out anyway, I think.

Thanks. I attached more pictures of this room now . The furniture here are pre-owner's . We have an expresso color TV console and a red wine leather sofa. They will probably move to this room. Game room is another choice for them, but we still want to make an individual game room for my little kids(1 and 4yrs old). My budget is limited, the pattern floor about $10/sqft and up is not a good fit to us as I don't want to spend a lot money on something that can be damaged by little kids. The shades on these windows and doors must go, I don't like them,bulky and dusty. Solid fabric as Kathryn Peltier Design said should be a good choice. Do you know where the best place to shop for these fabirc shades?

Classic!

What wonderful possibilities!!

noting the door in the 1st picture is of a reddish stain I'd consider going with a flooring in this tone.

What a wonderful room. Enjoy it! Considering that you have not yet moved in, have little children and a limited budget I would suggest you do absolutely nothing other than a good cleaning. All your options will be relatively costly if you want to do this room justice, especially custom made cloth shades and a hard wood floor. I would live with the room, as is, for a couple of years until you have saved more money and the children are out of the toddler stage. In general I believe you should live in a new ( to you) house before making major changes. The room Is really beautiful just the way it is.

One more question....what is under the carpet? Is it wood by any chance?

WOW! That is a stately room! Seeing it now in more perspective, I like the wood. It's very "libraryish":-) I think the red wine leather sofa will be perfect in here! How high are the ceilings? About 10 feet? If you are trying to spend money judiciously right now, I would opt to keep the blinds (yes, I know you don't like them) and spend money, instead on some long, full draperies. I would add draperies even if you DO change to fabric shades (note: if you do change the shades and do drapes, I would hang the drapes just below the ceiling and hang the shades - think Roman shades - just below that) I think by pulling some color up onto the wall, as well as some softness, you will see a change. Also, although I said to use solids, I think you could use a very large pattern on the drapes. Do you need privacy in this room, or is it just for looks? If so, you could do stationary shades and have them hang just below the top of the glass. There are tutorials online on how to make these

If you put the wood floors in, are you going to do a rug? You are going to need a BIG one. I would see how much it would cost in your area to have carpet bound on the edge. It's usually somewhere around $2/ft, which seems like a lot, but if you can find a fun piece of carpet (look at remnants), you could have a nice, large rug, 12 feet by ???feet, for a lot less than you could ever buy a rug, assuming you could even find one in that size. Now, having said that, check out Ebay for 'palace size oriental rugs'. These are often much cheaper than the smaller sizes because fewer people can use them. There are a couple on there right now for under $1,000. I have to say that these big patterned rugs can hide a multitude of sins, even with little kids!

Just another comment: when you go to hang something over this mantle, make sure you hang it MUCH closer to the mantle. What the previous owners have up there is way too high.

It's a beautiful room. Don't worry about doing too much at once. Let it evolve.

I had another cost cutter idea: you could install a wood border and then have carpet installed in the center. That way, you are not paying to put wood flooring throughout and then covering a lot of it with a rug. It might be a good option at least until your kids are older (I don't know; mine are still spilling stuff at 19 LOL!)