What's in a floor? Well, a lot, actually. If you've decided to put new hardwood flooring into your home, there's much to consider. What type of look do you want to create? How much wear and tear do you expect on the floors? How much do you want to spend? What about color matching and quality of woods?

Here are some guidelines and tips for exploring the world of hardwood.

1. Window shop. Before creating a budget, and before making a bulk purchase, do some window shopping for flooring. Head to lumber yards and stores that specialize in hardwood floor supply and installation for examples. See what your neighbors, friends and family members have in their homes. Get samples and decide on a look. Consider the shade, finish and hardness of the wood.

2. Color. What shade do you want for your floors? Hardwood floors can be red-brown, mustard, cherry, chocolate, even white-purple if you really want it. What goes best with your décor? If you have a dark home, consider lightening it up with some white oak or yellow pine. If you want to create a vintage look, consider the darker hues. Try to match the floors to your furniture and walls. If you're not "talented" with color matching, ask a professional or just get the opinion of several friends.

3. Width. Hardwood flooring comes in strip, plank and long-strip varieties. The strips are the narrowest, while the long-strip is a collection of smaller planks fabricated together.

4. Hardness. If you have a household of five children who love to play ball and roughhouse indoors, soft pine isn't the ideal choice for your living room. Certain woods dent more than others. The distressed look is desirable for some people, but for others, it's not practical. Ask about the hardness of the wood before making a decision. At FloorFacts is a chart you can use as a guideline.

5. Edges. There are three fundamental ways that individual hardwood floor planks and strips are married together: flush, beveled and eased edge. In the flush installation, there's no visible gap between planks or strips. In the beveled-edge model, there's a V-like shape that is formed between each strip or plank. The eased-edge option is a shallow version of the beveled edge, and tends to hide some of the unevenness that your flooring may naturally have. The flush installation gives a more modern look, while the beveled and eased looks are considered by some to be more rustic.

6. Finish. There are prefinished and unfinished hardwood floors. Go to a warehouse or showroom and see what option suits you and your home. If you decide on unfinished flooring, you'll need to apply a sealant and/or stain. The most popular options are a satin stain and a polyurethane oil stain. The first is a darker yet understated look, while the polyurethane gives the floors a "pop" or shine.

7. Budget. Now that you've done some window shopping and comparisons, consider the price tag on some of these floors. If you can't afford installing 3,000 square feet of Brazilian cherry wood, ask a professional what type of wood most closely mimics it. There are always more affordable options and compromises to be made. Hardwood flooring is priced per square foot and square foot installed, so make sure to get an exact quote from your supplier or flooring store before you commit.

8. Other options. One way people avoid the cost of new hardwood floors is to choose an alternative. Laminate flooring is considered a nice substitute because it looks like hardwood flooring but won't dent, stain or fade. It's more water-resistant and can handle scratches better. Make sure you're satisfied with the feel and look of the laminate, however, since laminate is an imitation, not an exact substitute for hardwood.

[image: Kraig Scarbinsky | Digital Vision | Thinkstock]