4 Level Townhouse Flooring Ideas (hardwood, color, ceramic, plank)

[Zack]

I have a narrow four level townhouse I bought recently that I need to change the flooring out on. Basically the floors go foyer/mudroom, kitchen and living room, 2 bedrooms, and finally master bedroom. It's about a 15 yr old place and has the original crappy builders carpet all around and some poorly installed hardwoods in the kitchen and cheap ceramic tile in the foyer. I am looking at this place as a home I will probably sell in a few years so I am looking at resale carefully. I would like to do hardwoods in the living room, bedrooms, and halls and then do tile in the kitchen, foyer, and baths.

My problem is figuring out how to design the hardwoods, I'm much more familiar with designing tile from having lived in Italy awhile. I'm having a hard time deciding if I should go with one style and color throughout or split it up, wide or narrow planks, light or dark colors, wood type. I have a lot of stairs, avg at best natural light, and small rooms.

[movingtolou]

I LOVE a Dark Jacobean/ Ebony wood finish. It's a really saturated/ rich color...and a white/ light colored walls. I think the contrast is pretty. I would stick with oak; because it is inexpensive & takes a stain well. It's also a pretty classic choice (i.e., century old chateau's in France often have beautiful wide oak planks in them). I don't think you could go wrong re-sale 'wise.' I would probably use 2" planks. Wide planks are beautiful; but in a narrow home it might only highlight the 'narrow-ness' of the rooms. I wouldn't do anything too funky with the layout of the wood (i.e., laying it on a 45 degree angle). I would just keep it simple & classic. A nice switch into the foyer might be to lattice the wood planks; and drop a light-colored square tile (polished porcelin or travertine) into them. It's a nice look.