Thanks for the comments and advice, everyone. In my attempt to keep my previous post from getting too wordy, I omitted the reason for the change of furniture....my boyfriend sold his house and moved in with me! Since my furniture ranged from 15 years old (wall unit) to 5 or 6 years old (American Leather sectional, which I hated to part with) and has lived through 3 college kids, 2 cats, and a dog, my boyfriend's 4-year-old furnishings made more sense to keep. His Stark area rug is stunning, and his down-filled Kravet sofa is beautiful (and expensive) too. So we decided to donate my furniture to a charity and use his newer and more costly furniture instead. Here is a picture of his furniture with my newly-laid darker oak floor. I thought the darker color would look better with his furniture, plus I wanted to prevent people from accidentally falling off the step-down into the family room (as had often happened before with the lighter-colored carpet) by using a different color. I ended up using a 3 1/2 inch slat and a walnut color. I still need to put up a couple pieces of art next to the TV (I'm going to re-use the pictures next to the old wall unit but move them closer in). Also I'm getting a Barcelona couch, chair, and ottoman in a saddle color to fill in the empty space near the entertainment center. So far I am very pleased with the results.....comments, anyone? Next challenge will be my kitchen sink.....please look at my other post!

I personally think the random size flooring will give your house more of a cottage like feel. It will not seem as busy once it is down, it just has more of a random appearance. It also gives your home more of an older home feel, as homes built in the 1870's through the Victorian era were mostly random widths. Lately hand scraped floors, especially ones with random widths have been gaining popularity. I think its a beautiful choice!!

Our friends put vinyl plank flooring in their new cabin (I use the term loosely as it is a beautiful home) see pic. I couldn't tell it wasn't hardwood. They bought a design that had the look of scratches etc so if it did scratch you wouldn't notice but there are a lot of designs to choose from. It looks way better in person than the picture. I wish I had a close up. It is a taupe grey color and is absolutely beautiful. Luv it

Thank you! I went and saw everything she did and everything the person she said she was inspired by did. My husband is NOT a DIY person, but he is going to try to put up pre-made paneling from Home Depot. It's not as wide as I had wanted, but I know if it is going to happen I have to make it as easy as possible. Premade V grove paneling was only able to be found in 3" widths and widths that were way to big. I decided to go with the 3" in my small powder room. We are just turning it on its side to run the planks vertically and I am using the entire width so we don't have too much cutting to do. I'll post when we are done unless I get a chance to do so along the way. Paint - I went with Watery by Sherwin Wiliams. I love it. Husband is like "Color -Oh no! What happened to the beige?", but he will get used to it:) It's pretty