I did the love it list it game for a few years and was sure that after I spent the money on finally adding what I wanted to my house that my dream house would come on the market in my budget and I would move. It did not initially but last month a house I have always coveted from afar entered the market for the first time in eighty years, below market value, it needed work and I almost bought it sight unseen but my DH made use look at it and when inside I liked mine more and all the money and changes and time were suddenly worth it...

whenever renovation creep happens I am reminded of the book Harrold and the Purple Crayon. You are in the mist of renovation creep... Buy extra flooring to accommodate for a future kitchen reno for it is hard to sometimes match later. Also you might like the wood on wood. I have dark wood cabs, marble counters with wood floors and it is not to bad and stain holds up much better than paint with young kids. If you plan to change layout do not change your counters wait til then.

Enjoy your new floors!

It sounds as if you're pouring good money after bad and will not be satisfied in the end. Can you not just bite the bullet and do a new kitchen?

Roarah - We were going to go with solid prefinished but believe we're going to go site finished and just move out for a while. We figure either way will be disruptive and I don't want bevels. You wouldn't buy extra floor if it's site finished would you?

I always think of your kitchen when I think of wood cabinets. I think it looks so nice! BUT you have light counters. I think mine is just going to become more cave like. I hope I'm wrong so I can save myself more work! :)

Anglophilia - Unfortunately no. A full kitchen remodel is $10s of thousands and that's on the cheap if I understand right. The flooring is the next large project. I'm sure I can convince DH of some of the changes I mention above and I do believe they'll be better but a full on gut kitchen remodel isn't going to happen.

Oh thanks, I thought when I stained my kitchen it was to hold me over for a few years but we are only now starting to look into a total redo 12 years later.

Site finish should be ok especially if using an oak. Wait till after the floors and see if you still want a change, than paint the cabinets if it does not work and if you are certain you are not going to change layout add new counters. But remember no house is ever really finished:).

We needed new carpets in the house but if we were going to do that then we should also paint, and then we should also do...Our planned new carpets led to a whole house renovation. Yes, we moved out for 6 months and gutted the house down to studs and plywood and then put it back together. Oh and by the way - there isn't a single carpet, except for 3 area rugs, in the house. And the firm that we hired came with a decorator as there is no way I could have put this together on my own.

Good luck with this decorating journey.

lets put the kitchen on the porch and start over.

Well I'm over my mini melt down now. One step at a time. Hardwood is next and I view that as a good thing.

Back in '99 we moved into a home in a great location and with great "bones"....

Turns out the total kitchen expansion that was decided was needed if anyone could survive here...never happened. I fell for the 'face lift'. We certainly could do it now..but why? Just to say we did? Just to say I got him to keep his promise? Five people survived the current lay out--the two of us will do just fine. Every house comes with BIG DREAMS but not all are fulfilled. I have had to come to grips with the truth--that is ok. I sit here thinking there is sooooo much that never got done but then I hear DD#1 saying "you and dad have done soo much to this house". sgh

Can you post pictures of your kitchen and the proposed color of your flooring?

There are so many choices of stain for flooring. Just choosing one that is just two shades lighter than your cabinets would be fine.

I don't do anything Interim, which helps. I had bubble wrap on my windows in the last place until I could put up the exact window treatments I wanted. (I did buy a bunch of white cotton panels for the rental and this place because we did need something.) I've lived with ugly but functional kitchens and bathrooms until they were redone in their entirety. The good drapes in the bedroom that has them were a couple thousand dollars. They will fall off the window from old age before they get replaced, period. They are anti-trend which is fine, and helps. There one aspect of them that I would do differently and realized it right away but I can get used to it. I know not everyone wants to or can commit to doing that but it's how I do things.

Eld - We're planning to install select red oak and I've been looking somewhere in the Early American, Special Walnut, & Provincial color range. The guy uses Minwax stain with Lenmar poly. We'll use oil base and will see samples with topcoats. I'm not sure how much ambering to expect. I couldn't believe how how yellow my oak cabinets became before I stained them. I did consider unstained red oak with oil based poly I don't care for some photos I've seen without stain. After much thought I do want a little warmth vs. just straight up BROWN and not too dark that I'm seeing every piece of cat hair and dust. I also want some contrast.

I can't find a newer pic of the kitchen so this was right after I finished staining. Faucet and counter stuff is different and less.

Possible flooring colors. Feel free to chime in with thoughts if I wouldn't paint the cabinets.

Dlm's flooring from old house.

This photo is supposed to be Early American and is shown with similar color cabinets. I feel like it's too orange here. I don't really know what I think of this combo together. I have an eat in kitchen area that's open to my kitchen with a stained hutch and table. Hutch will stay as is and table will eventually change to something probably larger.

Another Early American. (all minwax stain btw. Poly will be Lenmar)

This is Special Walnut. I like this pic but hear it comes across pretty red IRL.

Bumble - Thanks I needed to hear all that too. I'm honestly embarrassed I posted this. Sometimes I'll type when I'm frustrated, feel better, then I delete. I hit submit last night. Oh well. This place is my little outlet because nobody I know IRL 'gets' any of this.

Ha, yes I shouldn't even look at items that are out of the price range. It just wastes time really.

Being flexible is a good thing too. I can get very tunnel vision with a decorating idea. That might be a good thing if I always had a precise game plan with clear likes. I think we see too much stuff in general and have too many choices. Sometimes I feel like my look is actually evolving and other times I wonder if I'm just starting to get confused from exposure to so much.

you sure you don't want to stop over on the porch? maybe put in a sectional, give me somewhere to put all these plillows?

Come on..your now- "after" is like many many "befores". I understand you look at it in your own, much personal way, of "what could I do differently", but still

If you dislike the pendants-change them. That's relatively easy/ Few things uplift the mood as lighing does.

In terms of floor stain.. I see Special walnut. Look at it in your space in your light if you can?

also..the reddish tones fade away some with years. just a tiny bit.

(as for my MO..I suppose I'm a bit like palimpsest. If I like something it stays until it disentegrates or something. If I don't I either tackle it right away if I can or style around it if I cannot and wait until I can make it right. Can wait for years. Decades lol)

Havingfun - Pillows? I'm sorry I'm not following!

I actually like my pendants but don't think they'll work if I end up painting. One thing at a time. Or perhaps that what gets me into this mess!

I'll see all the stains on the floor in the house for sure. I know I won't be able to really decide until then. Thanks for the feedback about the red in the stain.

She take a look at English Chestnut stain for your floors. IF I remember correctly, Bronwynsmom, who used to post here a lot, highly recommended that color. There is no Orange in it, but a slight reddish brown. When I did a google image search a lot of pretty floors showed up in the EC. Do not do a clear finish on red oak....they will turn orange.. I have a house full of it.

You are going to love wood floors!! I know that has been your dream.

Tuesday - What topcoat would you use then?

I do remember Bronwynsmom. I wish she'd return. Thanks for the info.

That's pretty. I'll be sure to sample it.

English Chestnut

Did you look at Dark Walnut?

It's not that dark.

Some photos looked really dark but maybe they had more than one coat.

I really like how it looks here.

Wondering if this one is white oak maybe. ?

I can see where Early American could get very orange in the future with oil poly.

I agree that Early American can age rather reddish gold. I would do a mix of several concoctions and have your flooring guy do sample boards for you. Laying them down in your room with your light is the only way to really see what you're going to like. The special walnut is nice if you want lighter - I think your dark cabinets will look fine because they'll be a different tone. In the above pic where the cabinets and flooring are around the same color, I think that can be too much of a good thing.

I think my flooring perceptions have become skewed.

While I like walnut furniture, and the Early American Stain looks great on furniture. I don't really like any medium tones that skew yellow, gold, orange, or red at all on floors. So I like light or dark, I guess.

And, Jacobean must have been the stain of choice for mid-century houses and for antique houses renovated in the mid century period in my area because every place I have lived in in this city has had dark brown-black floors when I moved in.

In my second apartment when I refinished them I Ebonized them so they were almost completely warm black with a grain that could only be seen in bright sunlight. They can never be refinished again he told me. They took so much stain that it could never be completely sanded out.

And in this house, not only were the original floors Jacobean, the ones that weren't carpeted had been coated with reddish brown gel stain or something which is awful.

So when I refinished one room and chose Dark Walnut, it seems light in comparison even though it's technically pretty dark I guess.

i was just trying to get to a less stressful spot, no worries.

Ckink - I agree the above photo is a little too similar in color for me.

If I'm going to use an oil based poly I should stay more brown so I don't end up with super orange later.

Something I've noticed while looking at flooring is the prefinished photos I've seen on oak has a different look. In many photos it looks...almost fake or something. The grain blends in with the stain and doesn't stand out. Is that typical for prefinished flooring or just depends on the products used?

Floor guy said he would make some samples up for me and also put the stain and poly on the floor when the time comes. Maybe those before samples are to help narrow it down for when samples go on the actual floor. Being moved out and him needing to keep a schedule I know I'm not going to be able to take a few weeks to decide on that final color.

Pal - When you say you like light on floors you're talking about the Dark Walnut stain and not no stain, right? I bet the ebony floors were beautiful.

Havingfun - Ha, ok just checking. I wasn't sure if I missed an inside joke about pillows or there was a thread about pillows!