It’s a nice shade/not that dark. I think it’s the better choice with its warmth and will connect the spaces.

I tend to tire of some elements in our home and maybe that’s how you feel about your travertine tile. I think it’s lovely! I feel there’s a disconnect with the rug and furnishings to exude the kind of feel that floor offers. I would spend the money on paint and furnishings, just my opinion anyway. Best of luck to you!

I would continue the wood floors. They never “go out of style”, especially is they have gorgeous rugs on top.

^^^ I agree. However, if you decide to keep your existing travertine, I do think it would be an upgraded look to remove your tile baseboards and do painted wood trim instead.

You might find a porcelain plank tile designed to look like a wood that matches the wood you have already installed.

I think a European herringbone flooring style would be great for the style of your home.

That exact color of travertine is on the way back in as a popular choice. I can’t even tell you the number of people asking about chiseled edge “deVol style paver” travertine! Versailles pattern is hot too. Warm tones and wood, combined with cooler blues and greens, are really really hot.

So if you are going to spend 40-60K to demo and redo those floors, that don't really functionally need to be changed, then the only other real choice that would work in that home is all warm wood, matching what you have done.

Please do not butt a wood look tile to any hardwood floor? : (

Unless a climate should dictate other ? Use the wood flooring from the bedrooms you did, whether it was engineered, or LVP.

I assume not a sand on site since you are tile all rooms other than those.Again......

What does the kitchen look like?

I would carry your hardwood throughout. It’s lovely. Personalize then by adding rugs etc.

Its engineered hard wood.
Here is the kitchen. I dont have a full photo

It being engineered doesn’t change my opinion.

I love herringbone wood floors - but doing a herringbone pattern all over the open floor plan = too much (my personal opinion). You can use them in your entry or living room. However, I agree with Jan - no faux wood tile. I don't like when people use faux anything next to the real product (example, faux marble counters with real marble backsplash). You can cut your current wood floors into a herringbone pattern - it is a nice way to make your foyer/entry have a special look.

I think you should continue the wood you used in your bedrooms. I assume that you have some extra leftover pieces (you always should have extra in case needed). Grab a few of the boards and bring them into the rooms with tile + take some photos and post in a comment.

To lighten things up, I would change kitchen counters before the floor, and lighten/brighten the rug and accessories.

I have engineered wood floors throughout my house. I used it in my kitchen when we redid that. It’s an open concept house, but I think wood floors feel better (on your back, for sure) and warm up the place.

LOTS of travertine getting put in in "modern" and "transitional" homes these days. It never went away in traditional ones. You might rethink the holistic design part of things. The tile isn't what is "dating" anything.

You have an engineered wood product in the kitchen...you added same to bedrooms.

I don't understand the hand wringing .

Do the wood, let gorgeous area rugs lighten and brighten.

There's a lot to be said for unity in flooring, ONE : ) is the magic number

Ugh, that photo of the waterfall "marble-look" quartz island with travertine floors is awful and a perfect example of trying to "UPDATE" a house with trends and not considering major elements that they couldn't afford to change or couldn't be bothered to change.

^^

Took the words from my mouth: )

Is the travertine also in the kitchen? I assume it is......

JMO..... Maybe a pause and consideration of the WHOLE is in order?

Do you love the kitchen?

I ask because unless you reply, "yes!! I Love everything about it!", I think to peck at the house a room or a a couple of rooms at a time is a plan for regrets...... to last quite a while . This kitchen has clearly done that: ) right?

Travertine is in the kitchen. And no we don’t love the kitchen. Eventually we would like to update it. Unfortunately we cannot update out entire house so are trying to make updates that we can over time

^^

Yes.... but maybe you do want to think on this bit?

I am not seeing the whole kitchen, so I can't judge whether the layout is great or not. Only you know if it works for you! I totally understand resources as well. But you don't want to "paint" yourself into an unforgiving flooring issue.

Hardwood IS kinder to your back , especially while cooking or baking. So all I am saying is step back and think about what totally contiguous floor you might like, based on an IF when you had a different kitchen. The one we can not fully see : )

Be careful making updates without having a full vision for the end result.

Go with the same hardwood floors and get extra boxes in case you change out the kitchen in the future and decide to make some layout changes.

We see lots of people here who make these individual updates, and like Jan mentioned, they then box themselves into a corner and are stuck with the random updates made years earlier, which will now drive the design direction of any future updates.

That makes sense. In hindsight maybe we should have used a lighter wood in the bedrooms that we could carry throughout the house and this decision would be easy. I just am worried the wood is too dark for the main area.

Take a photo where the travertine meets the wood, so we can compare both floor colors how they actually look in real life.

"Hardwood IS kinder to your back , especially while cooking or baking."

Is there any science to support this please? There are plenty of hardwood associations and contractors making this claim, but I'm wondering what conclusions someone unbiased in a lab has reached.

: )

I'll tell you my science , Joe.

Spend 8 hours installing a house you designed, all hardwood, versus the same 8, on the one that required a slab and tile.........

Your back will announce the result.

I’ve personally noticed the difference after spending two weeks in a rental with tile. My knees and ankles ached!

Maybe not everyone, but if you are inclined, it matters.

To truly elevate the value and sophistication of this space, here is my professional recommendation:

While travertine offers a beautiful natural look, it can sometimes make the room feel too "busy" due to its pronounced veining and texture.

To achieve a higher-end, more timeless finish, my suggestion would be one of the following:

For Wood: A high-quality Oak Herringbone Parquet. This instantly adds texture, warmth, and traditional luxury while maintaining a clean aesthetic.

For Tiles: Opt for large-format Limestone Textured Tiles instead of travertine. Limestone or limestone-effect porcelain offers a more uniform, calming color and texture, providing the sleek, luxurious feel of natural stone without the potential visual clutter of a very busy travertine pattern.

By choosing a cleaner, more refined material (either herringbone wood or large limestone tiles), you will maximize the room's perceived value and elegance.

Oak Herringbone Parquet

Champagne limestone tiles

I love a herringbone wood floor, but I don't see it as reading as less busy. I agree that it would be too much considering the scope of the project. I don't think the wood flooring in the bedroom is too dark. Certainly see how samples would look in the rooms you are considering, but that is the direction I would go.

Chispa, here is a photo where the travertine meets the wood floor

The wood is beautiful. Put it everywhere. I love it!

Wood is the star,it would look beautiful paired with a large format, light beige/off-white stone-look tile (fewer grout lines make it sleek and modern). This contrast will keep the wood the star.

To finish, a brushed gold T-trim will add that perfect touch of elegant detail, elevating the whole transition.

^^

Stop hand wringing. It's wood......but NOT unless you buy enough, store enough, to cover WHATEVER may happen in your kitchen.....up the design road!!!

Love the bedroom wood, but it doesn't look good against your travertine, so go ahead, do the whole and be prepared you may need M.O.R.E in the future.

This is a quality product.

VastoMCLV395

• The finest selected French Oak aged and smoked to perfection.
• Sophisticated and on-trend colors to match your home décor.
• Wire brushed surfaces with slightly distressed edges and ends.
• Engineered 4mm sawn veneer and sealed with 8 coats of super low gloss aluminum-oxide enhanced Valspar urethane finish for superior resistance and durability.
• Truly elegant 9.5" wide and 86.6" long boards (75%) with 5/8” thickness.
• Sqft/Carton: 34.10 ( 3 ) VastoMCLV395
• The finest selected French Oak aged and smoked to perfection.
• Sophisticated and on-trend colors to match your home décor.
• Wire brushed surfaces with slightly distressed edges and ends.
• Engineered 4mm sawn veneer and sealed with 8 coats of super low gloss aluminum-oxide enhanced Valspar urethane finish for superior resistance and durability.
• Truly elegant 9.5" wide and 86.6" long boards (75%) with 5/8” thickness.
• Sqft/Carton: 34.10

The French Oak product you have in the bedrooms is the darkest version among the ten offered. Here's a lighter version- Bellet.

Yours are 4mm top layer planks. They can be sanded and refinished a couple times.

I'd choose a lighter version now for the rest of your house. You can refinish the bedrooms now or later to match. Get a quote from the flooring company you're using for the new work. They may offer a good deal for everything.

That same floor from the bedrooms will look great throughout your house. Do it now, before the color gets changed/discontinued and get plenty extra in case you rearrange some cabinets or the island in your future kitchen remodel.

My engineered wood floors throughout the house are slightly darker and not once have I regretted the choice.

^^^^ amen!

"Do it now, before the color gets changed/discontinued and get plenty extra in case you rearrange some cabinets or the island in your future kitchen remodel."

Virtually ALL will be dropped at some point!

They allllll get discontinued: )

Bravo!!!

If you would choose that color today with no prior flooring in the bedrooms then it's a logical choice. If you'd go with a lighter tone today, I'd explore finding a way to accomplish that for the future.

I would explore exactly nothing : )

You have a perfectly great flooring choice in the bedrooms - classic and warm, and it didn't go into the bedrooms a decade ago, correct?

It should be ripped out and via some crystal ball doused with doubt and second guessing , buy enough of this to do two bedrooms over , as we declare the darling of all floors might be below ?

I am OLD enough to remember when light maple flooring was the RAGE. I remember when cherry flooring covered half of planet earth and virtually every new build in mid priced to upper end suburbia. We're stillllllll wringing hands on how to get the RED out of oak flooring that is naturally red! For a while, insanity meant "let's do a dramatic EBONY and the hell with the yellow Lab who lives with us! How much gray flooring is now being ripped and tossed in a dumpster , despite it was a mile of showroom flooring display in every city, every venue USA?

French oak and every smoked floor ..........pick a color! Anyone who claims to have the crystal ball for "perfection tone/ trend" five or ten years up the road is .......lol..probably insane, and someone living in a classic six on Upper Fifth or Park Ave with a herringbone parquet floor and marble entryway and four million in furnishings is doubled over in laughter, along with her cousin, down below, in Paris who fired the American woman suggesting.......ship lap! my dear, ship lap!

Wood floors are gorgeous and classic. You’ll never regret putting them everywhere.

I understand dan1888's advice about choosing to install a lighter version of the same engineered hardwood in the rest of your home + plan on refinishing your bedrooms to match later.

However, (i) you may decide that once you have the same color as the bedrooms installed throughout your home, you are happy with the color, and (ii) it may be difficult to refinish the bedrooms to match the new stain color that you select for the rest of your home = wind up with a result that's close - but not quite right.

ALSO - it's my understanding that aluminum oxide is an extremely difficult top coat to remove when refinishing wood floors. Your wood has EIGHT coats on it. It will be expensive to refinish your bedroom floors as it would t.

Plus, if you decide that it's too dark, you can purchase lighter area rugs to break up the darkness of the floor (although, I don't think that will be needed) + add lighting.

FYI - chispa's home is STUNNING! Every part of it that she has shared on Houzz looks amazing. I've never thought that her wood floors looked too dark. So, if she's telling you that her floors are darker + and she's never once regretted making that selection, I'd trust when she tells you that she believes your current wood floors will look great throughout the rest of your home.

If it was my home, I'd purchase enough of the matching wood (fyi - it is VERY pretty) to complete your home (including enough extra in case you change the layout of your kitchen in the future).

Explore the actual costs of making the change. if this was my home, I'd recognize the low traffic and visibility of the bedrooms. They're not your living room. Taking that into account, I'd explore diy refinishing for the bedrooms. That means several hundred dollars to get a full home in a light non-yellow tone I could enjoy for many years. It would be the basis for everything else in the interior.

This reflects my very strong preference and may not be as necessary for the OP. Strong preferences need deep pockets or irrepressible ingenuity.

Drives me nuts......!!

Why? Because I am still remembering sanding and refinishing a home, white oak and quite light finish to much deeper because it lacked a certain elegance we were after with her furnishings. Year? 2014

I recall another with ten tests for a beautiful mid brown just four years ago.

The op would not have chosen the flooring she chose for the bedrooms if she didn't like it, and where is is written, this flooring rule that FRENCH OAK / light is the only floor to have?

"That means several hundred dollars to get a full home in a light non-yellow tone I could enjoy for many years"

I.........me, me , me..........MY. Enough said : )

I have refinished floors in two homes. My amazing floor pro always sanded down a section in a room with good sunlight, then put down 4 stain options. He and I chose medium brown both times. It is neutral for furnishings and easier to maintain than either the lightest (shows shoe skid marks) or darkest (shows every speck of dust) and easy to live with. I never regretted those floors and preferred them to the redder stain I inherited in my current house.

A person makes a color choice for various reasons. Life moves on and new information and experiences can reflect in different preferences that would lead to another choice. That's a value to education and experience in the evolution of one's aesthetic sensibilities.

Yes.........and also why you see so many LOOK ALIKE homes, look alike pale oak floors and cabinets, black framed windows, never ending cloud white sectionals and soulless rooms..

Darlings of the decade. Design indeed moves on, and doesn't suggest a need to fill a dumpster every five years.

Beautiful environments are acquired OVER time, and should not require a total overhaul as each trend emerges.

Have your light floor: )!!!

I agree with this. We renovated one home for others, knowing we wouldn’t stay long, and I never loved it. We built this home for us and I still love it now ten years after we started Tue process. I’m glad we made flooring choices that were what we wanted. For us light will always be better as we’ve had darker floors before so it’s just preference.

Tile of any kind is hard on your legs and glass breaks 100% of the time if dropped. Wood is the way to go - it can be stained light or dark. I am partial to maple as oak is too common. If the house is on a slab and concrete, then you already have hard floors - go with wood no matter. Or look at cork - it is popular. Glass dropped on wood has a 50% or more chance of surviving.

I lived on tile once and would never do it again. When I look at houses for sale as I may move to a different city, when I see tile, I know there will be a lot of rehab needed to remove the tile - it is not easy to get up.

And do not go with laminate - plastic that looks like wood - UGH! Go with real wood, or real plastic like VCT with lots of clear coat - VCT is going mainstream - not just for schools and stores nowadays.