Trends come and go. You need to be happy with your home. Since you are already updating the house, and you don't like your floors as they are, spend the money and live happily ever after. I agree with the above posts that dark brown wood floors are a pain to keep up. Do your homework, see what finishes work best for you. I have seen some matte finishes for wood floors. Looks interesting, but have not seen an entire floor that way. Personally I'd stay clear of reds and oranges in you floors. I had oak floors which I hated. I had them stripped, had they put a gray glaze on the wood, then finished them with walnut finish. The gray was seen in the grain, and took out the orange almost completely. I was very happy. Good luck.

One of the most impressive homes I've been in had very dark hardwood floors--white walls -- and dark stained wood furniture with light upholstered sofa and chairs. White marble counters before they were "the thing" . How often does a home really stick in your mind? I think it would make an amazing difference. You might need to Swifter the floors but you would enjoy doing it.

Never been a fan of anything cherry--too formal.

Northpoint2, I don't think there is much of a market for used oriental rugs that were purchased in the gold colors to complement original Tuscan décor. I'd be better off putting them into storage and hoping that they become antiques in 50 years :)

Actually, The one in the living room is made of wool and silk and is quite beautiful and the black accent color in it plays off the baby grand quite nicely.

I just need to figure out how to find another 8x10 for the foyer that works adjacent to the formal oriental rug in the living room.

Can you show close up pics of both rug?

I think your floors are beautiful as is.

Your floors are beautiful. Following trends is dangerous, the 1980's said bleached floors were the way, the 1990's said walnut, the early 2000's everyone was doing ebony...

Please follow your heart and do what makes you happy. You have oriental rugs for a reason, they go well with your floor. If you darken the floor and keep the orientals there will be no contrast and everything will become "dark and muddy looking". Be happy and enjoy our cherry floors you little Brazilian ;-)

Here are close ups of my two rugs

the gold one is the foyer rug which I would love to replace, just need some ideas.

the other colorful one is quite nice and I would like to keep, even though its kinda formal.

After seeing your photo, I would say your room is updated and beautiful as it is. The oriental rugs look like good quality, which never goes out of style.

I agree that floor colors come and go. Your floor really is very pretty and the rugs look nice too. My first thought was you are just trying to change to get something current for 2017 which will be out of style in 2020. If you want to spend money and change, then buy some new furniture although yours is fine to me.

I had to do a double-take as your home looks a lot like my parents home, custom built 23 years ago. To me their house still looks amazing, does not look out of date, and may never look out of date.

Personally, bones-wise, I'd change out the stair rails before spending money on anything else. The stair rails make it scream trendy Tuscan, rather than timeless.

And actually if you were to change the flooring to something more trendy, those stair rails are just not going to look right at all, so might as well change those first and then see.

I would spent my dollars on furnishings and walls and paint and accessories. That would update instantly. I would rearrange the furniture and get it out of the "squared off" shape. Some angles and I would remove that high sided little seat that might work in a bedroom, but not the main thing you see. I also might consider a slightly different angle for the piano. While some of your furnishings are OK, updating some tables, lamps and other features would really give you a lift and the floors would be secondary. You can even add a rug between the entry and the living area in a more interesting look that would coordinate with the other two rugs. If you could give me measurements of the main living space, and the size of your sofas, I can do a layout for you that might change everything. You won't even notice your flooring. It does date things btw, but with proper other elements it can work better.

Flo, I never have thought about changing the layout, but the idea is quite exciting. I am adding pic of our floor plan for that main living space to give you an idea of what I am working with. The space in the bottom is the main walkway that separates the north side of the house to the south side. It spans the entire width of the house. Great room faces a lake and so we try to maximize views from the foyer (when someone walks into the house).

Thank you!

Jennifer M, I have also thought about changing out the stair rails. The problem is that there are so many: both sides of the two story staircase, plus they also are on the balcony which spans along 3 rooms.

Our house exterior is somewhat of a European chateau, along w a two story turret, so we have to have somewhat of a semblance of a European feel on the inside.

But maybe we can Replace the swirley rails.

Your railings are fine. They fit the style of your home.

I will play around with the layout and see what I can come up with. Tomorrow!

I have rearranged and changed your layout with existing pieces, with one exception. I found a hexagon table and a round rug for your entryway! I don't have a good appreciation of where the front door is? I can't quite tell if it is directly out or at the side? I see the stairway in the photo but not on the drawing? Anyway, I don't think that matters too much. The windows are large toward the back and it looks like that is either the "lake" view or some green space (covered with snow in photo?). So, I would showcase the piano and put this new round rug (or you could use the rectangular one you have) and put it opposite the entry console table near the stairway but put a round or hex table, preferably glass top, in that spot with the rug and a great flower arrangement on that piece. This will help move the eye from the floor but keep flooring as a beautiful backdrop. Probably need white flowers in that container. Maybe nice white orchid piece. Then, as you move into the space, I angled your two upholstered sofas to create a "V" toward the fireplace. But it is also "open" to the music area. Then of course, the beautiful piano with a 30-32" round upholstered ottoman slipped just under the piano. This area could have a rug as well. I put a tall plant off to the side windows. I put the decorative bench with the wing sides off to the left. I'm not crazy about that piece where it is now, because it is too large near the piano and takes over the whole "view" when entering the space.

I think this would be a nice change for you and relatively easy to change. If the windows cause too much sun on the piano, they probably need solar shades installed for all the room to eliminate sun damage to rugs etc. They can be installed very nicely and unobtrusively and can have remote control so you can move them up and down as you need based on the sun movement during the day. They also stop by UVs and glare as well as give the ability to still see out of them. Try this and see how it feels.

Of course, I assume you know how to move the piano on that floor so there is no damage to the flooring? Good slider pads for pianos and hard flooring make it easy to move pianos. Just need a few strong folks to lift in order to place those pads under the legs of the piano. I can see that piano lid lifted and beckoning guests to come into the space and enjoy the sounds of music!

Or professional movers that have "lift" equipment or manpower to do the move. If you are uncertain, get some boxes and stack them up in that space in the roughly 5'x5' size of the piano and it will help you visualize before you move the piano.

The floors don't date the house, especially since you have a classic styling altogether. It is very stiff and formal but if that makes you happy and serene don't fall prey to trendiness

You are better off going on a vacation to a boutique hotel and coming back and loving your home again.

If your looking for something "different". Maybe do a more casual Mediterranean feel.

Less formal furnishings. Or lighter color on the wall with an accent wallpaper. Start with one inexpensive thing. It may surprise you.

Flo, thank you for your ideas. I will definitely play around w the layout.

I will put the actual dimensions of the pieces to scale in Photoshop and see what I can come up with based off your ideas.

The piano is a Yamaha C5 so it's around 6'7" deep. We have a Lutron system that controls automated shades over those large windows. But that south sun is very hot. We originally designed the piano to fit in that nook, where you have it. But the dealer told us that the piano wouldn't wear well in that space and advised us against it, given its cost.

Responding to other comments,

This IS our formal entertaining space, so it is a bit stiff filled w heirloom type pieces. We have other family rooms that are casual that we actually live in. :)

Thank you all for your comments. I've decided to keep the floors as-is until I'm able to convince my hubby to let me change out the wood in 10 years or so :)

I don't know how to close a discussion thread since I'm a newbie to these discussion threads.

Wishing you the best and fun entertaining in your space. It is very beautiful. Just some tweaking.

Your home is amazing! Love that Flo helped you with some layout options. We too have Brazilian cherry hardwoods up and down and our home is 16 years old. Remodeling inside this year so was looking around for stain ideas for our beautiful cherry floors. They are reddish and that drives me batty with the medium brown trend out there and our updates to gray and white and more modern. Your railings are beautiful. We have wood spindles and I would LOVE to update to wrought iron. Enjoy your amazing home and if you get tired of seeing the same things over and over- just do as my former colleague did - he had a collection of paintings that he changed out periodically. It kept his summer home fresh and exciting! Best wishes!

Your floors look great----it's your dark, formal rugs that look very dated to me.

Caroljoh042, it was quite a dilemma this year but ultimately I decided to save my pennies and keep the cherry floors.

I ended up de-Tuscan-using my house as best I could with neutral wall paint, new light furniture covers, new light fixtures, and ultimately a beautiful new offwhite

carpet runner. i kept the very pricey oriental rugs because they are heirloom pieces and now provide a backdrop to all my other elements.

Here are some pics. and I was very thankful to FLo for giving me some inspirations.

Here are some pics to show you what I did to update I a bit.

Good luck!

The lighter wall color makes a huge positive difference. Glad you are happy and enjoy those rugs! They look even better now!

Wow! Your home is absolutely stunning! And what a view. Love all your changes. Have you thought about using large room size sisal carpets that allow you to use your smaller carpets on top ?

I like the floors beautiful update the furniture and rugs with lighter neutral or earthy colors brighten the walls . don't mess with the floors

Looks great!! Love the floors. Your taste is classic and timeless.

Your home is beautiful and timeless. Outstanding!

I Iove your floors. But I just paid big money for a black and gold Pakistani rug for my bedroom, so take my endorsement for what it’s worth, lol.

HAS ANYONE SUCCESSFULLY GOT THEIR FLOORS FROM CHERRY TO GREY? I'm in the same boat. 2006 home and now repainted with grey tones. Sanded and painted cabinets Dover White to match crown molding. All white Marble bathroom with grey vanity with white Carrera marble top to open up the bathroom. I loved the cherry back in its day when it was the best most expensive option but now there are so many colors to choose from Greys are so in right now. It modernizes the home and makes you feel like your in a new space altogether. however, changing the kitchen backsplash and painting the kitchen island completely changes the space as well. Very worried there will be no way that cherry will go with the white cabinets and grey walls. Hard to trust someone to strip them and restain them to the medium gray tones I see the custom-built homes have. Any success stories out there?

Grey is so all over the place that people are going to swing back to warmer colors any second now. I think the floors in the original post are gorgeous and would like them much better than a washed out not-woodtone grey like you see all over hgtv these days.

We have since sold this house and bought a dated late 1990s house because we fell in love with the unique 12 acre property in the “city” :)

But while we were looking for houses, we saw a few that had the updated gray walls, white trim and kept the cherry floors, but in a matte-low sheen finish and the floors actually didn’t bother me. So given that the gray trend has been around for a while now and probably moving back to warm, it probably wouldn’t be the best investment to restrain the cherry floors gray. I’m addition, we were told that the cherry would only take certain darker colors, and I’m not sure gray is one of them.

We are currently in the middle of a large remodel in this new house, down to the studs on most of the main floor and master bath.

We chose to go with warmer grays, as in charcoal based colors, so it blends better with neutral and warmer colors.

We are having the golden oak floors stripped and stained a medium neutral brown.

I went to the carpet store to select carpet and was surprised when my salesperson told me that she had been selling lots of this warmer wood for floors, very similar to the natural cherry trim and doors that i am having enameled white. So if the trend goes back to warm wood trim, i must say i will be a little upset having spent all this money to enamel over this expensive wood.

This time around we are opting for timeless colors on main fixtures, and adding trendy colors with paint and accessories that are more easily replaced.

And btw, our expensive oriental rug with gold coloring in the original post is going into storage because it clashes w our new grayish color scheme. I still have hope for the black multi colored silk rug in the new piano/wine room.

You have a lot of really nice expensive things but I am wondering why you are worried about keeping things “trendy” rather than choosing things you like and developing your own style? I mean, why paint over expensive wood unless you prefer painted wood to stained?

mo_ni31 I just came across this post because I have cherry floors as well. I love how you updated your old home. By any chance do you have the paint colors that were used?

I just signed a contract to have Brazilian cherry floors installed throughout my first floor. Didn’t know they were out of style; just thought they were beautiful! Hope it doesn’t lower my home value, but it’s what I liked best, so I’m going to stick with it.

Brazilian Cherry is beautiful and does not go in and out of style. We have Brazilian Cherry in our dining room and I am seriously thinking of putting it through the rest of the rooms on my first floor.

I had cherry and keeping them clean made me insane I have walnut now and still insane lol I think yours look in great shape and if u can only go dark I wouldn’t personally invest that kind of money I’d leave as is

It may be the glossy finish as much or more than the red that bothers you. We see only a portion of your flooring. It wouldn't hurt to get an estimate for sanding and refinishing in a matte finish over a single coat of some brown stain to tone down the red.

what are your new paint colors they compliment beautifully?

What color paint are on these walls

the wall colors in main part of the living area is SW Accessible Beige. Its a warmer neutral color that goes well with the BM White Dove Trim.

The accent wall in the dining room was painted SW Smokey Blue which is a very neutral blue and then I did did some various glaze layers and finally a glazed stencil in white to get the look of a wallpaper without the commitment.

Mo_ i31 I am getting to put Brazilian cherry floors in my home and wanted ask you if your floors were a lot lighter when first installed? They tell me they will darken to that nice rich deep reds and burgundys and because your floorscare EXACTLY what I am looking to achieve (in the house in the lake) I wanted to know if they darkened for you.

Your floors are gorgeous, I would just update some of the furniture pieces.

Your floors are beautiful.

scdentons, I have had Brazilian cherry floors for 18 years now. Yes they will darken. For the first year or so I avoided using area rugs. I love my floors and would never think of changing them for anything else. Steam clean them at least once a week for the last 18 years.

Please don't touch the floors; they are beautiful. They give your home so much warmth. I am sure you get many compliments.

I have the same floors and I love them, and no trend is changing that. I get compliments from everyone that walks into my house. Change the furniture, rugs, and light fixtures. If you really want to spend money, change the stair banister too. You will be surprised what a difference that makes in updating your house. Do not spend very much money on any of them because you will not want them in 10 years, based on your commitment to trends. Those floors will go with anything. Give the 14,000 to save the South American rain forests.