Of the two, I vote for the one on the right.

I like the one on the right. I love traditional homes and that one seems more timeless to me.

I vote for timeless one from the right. It also goes better with your cabinets.

I agree with the one on the right.

Definitely the one on the right. It will be much easier to decorate around, and will not look dated once the gray craze is finally over.

Thanks everyone. I am quite torn myself but it seems that everyone is leaning towards more classic choice. I am going back to model home on Thursday and will take more pictures and hopefully make up my mind.

Yes on the right is the right one! it is warm and classic and will always look great with whatever you put with it. The lighter one looks very trendy and cheap to me.

@geo55 it’s actually $2500 more for the entire house :) makes the right one more right!

I prefer the right, darker choice. The lighter color appears to border on almost peachy & gray at the same time...just a little weird. The darker choice would be better long term even though it is slightly dark.

I would use the one on the left if that was really my only choice. But I don't care for "woody" tones, and never dark woods. Frankly I don't love either of them, and would try to find a different option.

I too like a light, airy look, and for that reason I am always attracted to lighter, cooler toned floors.

Brown. It looks natural and doesn't draw undue attention to itself. It will also be much, much easier to touch up or repair in case of damage.

The grayish one looks fake; it might as well be vinyl.

BUT...As I look at the company's website, I see that they list the Special FX collection (on the left), but not the Massif (right). That may be a discontinued line (or I may not have looked enough at each line), so ask a lot of questions!

My vote -- definitely the one on the right (brown, more natural). Too bad he isn't letting you do a wider plank?

Have you asked about cost to upgrade to a wider version of that? Then you could go a tad lighter and wider plank (like 6-8" wide)?

If it were me, my floors are going to be there 20-50 years, so you may want to pay for a better selection. Or, have him remove the cost of the floors from your build, and put your own floors in with a wood floor specialist......

Look at these for ideas and inspiration -- gorgeous!

https://www.wideplankflooring.com/products/collections/

It took me 6 months to pick my floor. Lots of homework. The undertones are so very important. I like the darker, more natural one on the right. I would stay away from gray.

Laura Mac thats good advice to consider. Its such a big decision for the home! At least asking about an upgrade or swap would be worth it.

@lauramac That was the first thing I offered. I thought that as long as I went with their approved supplier it would be ok so I drove 45 min out of town to visit supplier’s showroom. I fell in love with a beautiful white oak floors 5” wide planks. They gave me the price difference and though it was significant I was ready to go for it. I even convinced my husband... and then the builder says that they don’t work with white oak or maple or any engineered wood... it is so freaking limiting it is mind blowing.... and they won’t me take the credit out to bring my own installers because “this is not how they work”. I could write an article about what questions to ask and how to avoid costly mistakes when buying semi-custom houses. ...(sigh) should have bought an old house and gutted it... that’s my bottom line.

We bought a new semi-custom home a few years ago. While I love the floors I chose, I wish I had done things differently. In retrospect I wish I had just had them install the basic carpeting at no additional cost, then before moving in I could have had that torn out and I could have chosen any flooring I wanted. I'm sure I would have saved money that way too.

@chess I feel like I am choosing between rock and a hard place... I think may be I go darker and put large natural fiber carpets with light tone it would create the light airy feeling. I put picture of my original choices in white oak but they are all in engineered wood and my builder does not work with white oak nor with engineered wood....

Agree with those voting for the darker on the right.

@tatts massif means solid wood. My builder works with solid red oak wood only. Won’t touch engineered, so right away I am so limited. If only I knew it earlier.

By the way those of you who are interested of how I am trying to survive this semi custom build while still following my own sense of design I have an Instagram account Townhouse4four. The joke was that I thought it would be as easy as asking for a table in a restaurant. Live and learn...

I understand that your builder only works with solid red oak, but are those the only stain colors offered?

@jellytoast there are 24 different colours in solid wood red oak. The ones above is what I narrowed it down it too. Basically in red oak it’s either dark stain natural (I find that one really classic and too orange for a modern townhouse) or this cobalt (grey color - on the left).

zouye - that sucks. Never heard of a builder that limited in his offerings. :-(

@zouye, you should definitely write an advice/design dilemma and post! There is another post with the the same crazy issues going on in her community custom build. Sorry you have to deal with all this! Write out the questions to ask......that would be so helpful!

All in all, your floor choice is not bad, just not as current as it could be.....bummer! Is he giving you a warranty on your floors?

I'd try one more time to see if he can do anything else. Carpet is a great idea for a temp/cheaper fix until you can do your own floors, but even that is expensive these days.... Better to do it right from the start.

I would definitely go with the brown. I think you’ll still achieve the light and airy look using the right paint colours and furnishing plus area rugs - you’d have area rugs in most rooms anyway. the brown will be easier to work with any style and more on the timeless classic look - which since you aren’t able to get exactly what you want I’d stick with.

Hi everybody, I spent 3.5 hours with designer today and about an hour of that time was spent on floors dilemma. She is also suggesting that I go with brown floors since they will always be classic but I am just so tempted by those grey floors. Apparently there is a house that is about to be completed on our street where a young couple chose Cobalt floors. I tried stopping by today but the crew was gone. I will try to get an "invitation" tomorrow, through the window it was too dark too see. Afterwards I will be able to decide. Here is another link at those floors and I think it is the closest representation of the color. It does have pink undertones as mentioned by Lisa G but it almost bring more warmth to the room. I dragged these two samples all over the model house today to see how it would do in a lot of light and also very little light, I even brought them in the bathroom with no windows to see how it will do in artificial light only. Jasper one looks very dark with limited light, while Cobalt allows more light to bounce around and makes the room less somber. I think I know in my heart that I like Cobalt (grey one better) but the prudent side of me tells me to go with Jasper (brown)... Hubby does not care, he just wants me to stop obsessing over it.

@zouye I like the grey on the left better. I've seen something very similar to the one on the right installed in a new build and I did not care for the look of it. I do really like that last one you just posted too!

If you love the grey one, go for the grey one. Why would you design a house for someone else to live in one day in the future if you're going to be the one living in it when it is brand new and fresh and you get to choose what you like the best? That's just my opinion.

I kinda feel like - why not choose the floor you're going to love, even if only for a few years before the love wears off, than choose the floor you're NEVER going to love?

Another option which probably doesn't seem appealing at this moment, but I've done it myself and am happy I did, is to take a builder grade floor and have someone install the flooring you truly love right after close. It saves a ton of money, but does taint the dream of moving in and everything being ideal right off the bat. Again, just a thought.

Get what YOU like. Not what everyone else likes. It's YOUR house.

Yes, agree! Even though I would recommend the brown color, if you love the gray one and it pulls at your heart strings, get that one!

Get what you like!! If everyone says brown and it doesn’t feel right that’s a perfect sign you like the grey. Design the house for yourself. I’ve just completed a remodel and the best choices are the ones you love - yes, a designer has great experience and can help you but if you don’t feel in your heart it’s the choice for you then go with the grey. I’ve changed things the designer suggested and am so happy I did. You’ve heard all the arguments for brown (myself included offered some) so you know what you are getting into. It’s your house - you want to love it! And the grey is super popular it’s not like
Many others haven’t gone with this type of floor.

Thank you everyone so much!!! I am a so very touched by your kind advice. Thank you! I will keep you updated as floor decision saga continues :)

You guys it’s going to be the one on the left- Cobalt (grey one). I just passed by the house in construction that has the same floor and it looked so beautiful . The construction crew let me and we had a little chat. He told me that it was his favourite colour because it made the house more light and airy. Once we have our house (in April) i will post some pictures here. Thank you once again for your support! Whatever your advice was grey or brown, it really helped me in my decision. Thank you!!!

Yay you have another tough decision behind you! :-). It certainly is a huge help to be able to see the floor - so lucky that you were able to do that! I know it will look beautiful. Definitely follow up with pics! I am always pushing against the trafitional brown/orange/yellow floors.. I go in so many new homes and models where the floors are lighter and cooler-toned...and everyone loves them. I know you will too.

Good for you! Pick what you love and your house will be your home.

Lucky you --got to see them laid out first to make your decision!

The gray is beautiful!! Do it, it's so soft and and neutral.

I really just got lucky. I drive by the construction site at least twice a day (small detour for when I pick up kids) and as I was driving I saw a beautiful grey closet door through the window. In our standard plans closet doors are stained the same colour as the floor, so that sent of all kinds of alarms in my head! I parked the car and walked/ran to the house, trying to figure out how I can look inside without being indiscreet. There was a construction guy coming out and I asked him if it was ok for me just to take a glimpse of the floor. He gave him his spare hard hat and let me in!!! So my advice for semi construction builds: if there are other houses in construction ask for permission to see inside. It does not hurt to try. I think the guy also saw how desperate I was. I told him I have not slept in a week (and I looked it) trying to decide on the floors, he had a heart and let me in :)

So glad you went with your gut and chose what you like. We built our house 41 years ago and chose some things against “ conventional wisdom” of the day. We have never regretted it and still love our home. We have updated several times over the years and have always chosen what we wanted regardless of the trends of the day. We even switched to hardwood floors 10 years before it became popular once again. I hope you have as many happy years in your home as we have had!