Mixing prefinished hardwood floors with existing site finished floors?

[Anonymous]

We'd like to replace the carpets in our bedrooms with hardwood floors. There's already site finished wood flooring in the hall way (and on the living room level). I know it's best to do unfinished floors to get a good match, but we have young kids and are worried about the finishing dust and fumes. Prefinished hardwood floors create no mess, but may look very different from the existing floors.

Has anyone ever done this with success? Or should we consider a different approach (choose a completely different color, or consider tiles or other materials)? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

We plan on laying finished hardwoods in the rooms that currently have carpet and then refinishing the current hardwood floors to match (floors are 20 years old)/.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I would go for the in-home finishing to try to get the closest match. We've lived through that and yes, the fumes are bad for a couple of days, but just build in a stay at a cheap hotel into the budget or arrange to have it done when you can go away for the weekend or stay with friends or something. It's a couple of days of inconvenience, but your house will look better for years and years.