Narrow living room flooring - colour, finish, grade

[BingBo]

Hello,

I'm really lost in the vast amount of choices for engineered wooden floor.

So we have two young children -7 and 1.
We are going to put the new flooring in the living room - which is narrow 3.4m but long 8m- and in a small bedroom -2.3m x 3.5m

Colour -
So we are favouring golden reddish but bright colour. Not sure if it would suit a narrow space.

Finish -
Still can't decide if oiled or lacquered is better. Gloss or matt? With small children, which way is practical?

I saw some claim UV oiled is low maintenance but still gives the advantage of good lifetime to the wood. Is that the case?

Grade -
I'm a little worried some planks are rated as rustic. Does it make them difficult to clean as the surface hide dirt and children's vomiting?

Can someone share their experiences on their flooring choices? Thanks!

Up...

Not much help but we chose ours because we needed something thin (10mm) to match other flooring levels and we wanted chevron... that narrowed it right down.

Then we also wanted something we’d seen in the flesh because I realised internet images don’t match up with the real thing. So went to local suppliers rather than online.

Oiled looks nicer than lacquered IMO, not as tough and needs re oiling but re oiling will sort minor marks if the surface gets marked.

Thanks, minipie, I realised the same thing. Got some samples today and very much surprised with the difference in colour comparing with what I saw on screen. Will go to showrooms this weekend to see in flesh...

I also think probably whilst more work to maintain, oiled does allow better protection of the wood itself in the long run. Good point about reducing the visible marks if re oil.

Thanks for sharing.

One other thought - herringbone will help visually widen your narrow room. Whereas long planks will emphasise the shape if laid lengthways or look choppy if laid widthways.