Transitions between your floors look best near doorways or walkways between rooms. Avoid putting transitions through the middle of a room if you can. Avoid screwing the seam binder directly into your floorboards. Floorboards naturally swell and shrink with humidity, but screwing them down could damage them when they expand.
Look for T-molding that matches the color of one of the wood floors. If you can’t find a piece that’s a perfect match, you can stain the wood to match the color. Only adhere the T-molding to one of the floors so the wood can swell and shrink freely. The T-molding will hide any gaps that form. To make your T-molding more secure, you can nail it directly to the subfloor. Just pre-drill holes for your nails so you don’t crack the wood.
You can nail the threshold directly to your subfloor, but drill holes through it first so the nails don’t crack or damage the threshold. Thresholds can be made from wood, metal, or vinyl. For a seamless transition, use a threshold that matches the color of the wood it’s overlapping.
Square nose and angle nose molding work best if the height difference between your floors is 1 inch (2. 5 cm) or less. Make sure you drive the nails through the solid portion of the trim instead of where it overlaps your floors. Otherwise, the wood floors won’t have room to expand or contract.
Stair nose molding works best for transitions larger than 1 inch (2. 5 cm), such as at the top of a staircase or on a small step down to a lower level of your home.
Lighter floors will make a room feel brighter, so they’re best for smaller rooms or hallways. Dark woods are best in open rooms since they make the space feel bigger. Use wood floors that complement the colors of your decor and your walls. Light wood floors look great in rooms with warm wall colors and dark wood furniture while dark floors pop when they’re paired with cooler-colored walls. Only stick to 2 or 3 styles of wood floors since using more could make your home feel a little eclectic.
You can try laying the boards diagonally or in a different direction as the other floor so it stands out even more.
Since wood expands and contracts, you may need to repair your grout every few years where it butts up against your wood. Alternatively, you can install pieces of trim molding over the gaps between the tile and wood floors to hide the gaps.
