Walnut, maple, and blue stained pine. :D

pyrocasto

I will be tearing out the floors and cabinets in the house I'm purchasing, and I'm just getting indecisive about wood species to use. I have a few but those three are the top picks so far. Having a mill makes flooring easy to come by.

Any pros cons between them? I know pine would be softer so I'm definitely leaning toward walnut or ambrosia maple. Would the walnut be too dark for a smaller 1000 sq ft house? Personal preference of course but that's what I'm looking for, some opinions.

Also, I'd be using one for cabinets too so are there two that clash to much from the flooring to cabinet transition?

I really need a wire for interior designing danget...

woodman58

By milling blue stained pine you would have to get all of the logs at about the same point of decay. If you have cut alot of pine you probably know when this would be. I am attaching a site you may already know about. Read down to Gene Wengert's replys. There can be alot of problems with the pine. As for the Ambrosia maple, it is very attractive. It will take alot of logs to get 1000 useable feet. I presonally like walnut. It can have a rustic look or, it can look very elegant if all select wood is used. This also would take alot of logs. As for the cabinets, to me any natural (unstained) wood goes well with any other natural wood. The ambrosia maple will go best with a rustic walnut. The blue stained pine would go well with rustic or elegant look. This is only my opinion.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas..._and_Cons.html

pyrocasto

I actually have most of the wood already milled and kiln dried. Just sitting in inventory because the cabinet guys dont want it. Not too worried about the blue pine issues after it's finished. The walnut would be rustic too since I sell the clean stuff. Just favorites of mine so I'm trying to decide between the 3.

Here's the blue pine and maple:

http://outdoorcustomimpressions.com/...-1000x1119.jpg

http://www.curlymaplewood.com/images/M1105-259B.JPG

Just trying to decide which would look best where.

Thanks yall.

woodman58

I personally would do walnut floors with the pine cabinets. I would put at least one coat of poly on the inside of the cabinets also to keep the fungi spores in check.

Floor Doc

I'm with Woodman . the blue pine just looks like weathered siding .

tcleve4911

You're looking at the mineral grain in the wood.
That is not weathered.

Floor Doc

I know it's not weathered T . Just looks that way to me .

woodman58

Accually the blue stain is a fungi caused by the wood setting in the log form to long before it is milled into lumber. This normally happens in the summer months. It can also happen when the lumber is cut and stacked wet without being stickered.

tpolk

i did the floors in my house with the wormy maple you show, would do it again in a heart beat, also made my kitchen counters out of it.

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pyrocasto

Well the picture of blue pine I attached is unfinished. I have a board finished with lacquer and it is gorgeous. I'll get a pic of it up. Blues, greens, and normal colors mixed.

I'm leaning toward the blue pine for the cabinets as mentioned, and I think either the walnut or maple will look good with it as floors.

ttr13r

From a woman's point of view and someone who does design...whatever color you decide to do the cabinets in, (the stain) do a contrast on the floor. Just because your house is only 1000 sq ft, doesn't mean you shouldn't do a rich warm color (like you said, "dark") Doing a rich color will give your home a beautiful inviting look. When you do any kind of contrasting for ANYTHING, keep the "tones" of your colors similar, ie: an orange tone, brown, red, etc. Take into consideration the grains of your final selections too. Make sure they will flow nicely together. Your end result will be a beautiful cohesive look that you will just love!