This will be my final update. My Diamond W Coretek "Breckenridge" has been installed into my new home. I have not yet painted the walls or moved in, but I feel I can make a judgement on the floor. I am VERY happy with how it looks. It has a matte look to it (not glossy), which I like. With many fake floors, if the sunlight's glare shines on the floor, the glare often highlights fake-looking indentations that manufacturers put into the planks to make them look rustic. I hate that, and I am happy to report that when you look at these planks in the sun's glare, what I see is simply a grain pattern (no weird divots or anything like that) that I feel actually looks pretty real! While there are a lot of "knots," I really like how it looks and I do not feel that there are too many knots. This install job is not glued to the foundation (downstairs) or glued/screwed to the subfloor (upstairs). It is floating. Yet, when I walk on it, it feels very solid (as if it were glued down). There is a "quarter round" (or something like that, I forget the name), along the bottom of the normal baseboard. This extra baseboard piece is attached to the wall yet is not attached to the flooring. The flooring is then NOT installed all the way to the wall, but about 1/2" short of the wall. This extra baseboard piece covers this gap between the flooring's edge and the wall, and the gap allows the flooring to expand and contract without buckling or bubbling up. (Note that this extra piece has not yet been installed in the two photos shown below). As of now, without having lived on it yet, I couldn't be happier. My flooring guy turns out to be great, and he said he is a fan of this particular Diamond W product. He really had nothing negative to say about it. His only advice is that the floor can temporarily "buckle" or "bubble" in areas, most likely facing east or west, where you have a patio door with no overhang where the floor is exposed to daily periods of very hot direct sunlight. So, in those fairly rare cases, he recommends a window covering to diffuse the light/heat. On a side note, shame on Diamond W for having such a horrible website. I mean, seriously, shame on you. You give your customers one terrible photo of this product/color, and you expect us to be able to make a quality assessment? And, in your photo, you actually have a very poor install job shown with planks that are not properly staggered? There are some industries that simply need to experience a revolution of efficiency, and the flooring industry is one of them. Shaking my head... A final note: To anyone seriously considering this product, I highly recommend you simply buy an entire box of the stuff in the color you prefer for around $75 and lay it out yourself. I don't think any quality judgements can be made with just a sample from a flooring store. I was able to get a box delivered to me in less than one week.

@kstewartau87 Yes, the sample boards, no matter the time of day, never looked to me like all the pictures look. I get screen colors vary, time of day, amount of natural light, kind of light bulb...yeah all of that. I was so disappointed when I brought the large samples home and they did not look good at all. I actually chose another color of provenza. Changed my mind at last minute due to a pit in my stomach feeling. Once installed, I was sooooooo happy I went for it despite those samples!! It's beautiful. For me: it does not show footprints bad, does not creek, feels quality under bare foot (but not like real hardwood), does not shot per hair bad. Prior to provenza I had a really dark rich laminate. It showed EVERYTHING and just the dog hair alone i was sweeping multiple times a day. Footprints anywhere light shines in and the water dribbles from my English Mastiff after drinking water were just embarrassing!! So happy I went with my gut!! Seriously. please find my pictures posted 2 years ago in this thread. There are several of my floor in different areas and one of the image that finally made me go back to my gut and install finally mine. Best wishes!

If in doubt go darker. Like 3-5 times darker. When the product is PURPOSEFULLY stained a different colour than the floor, it is used as an ACCENT. That accent can then be 'picked up' in other ways. Such as a dark railing or dark spindles. All it takes is TWO items to create a 'look'. This works with pillows and area rugs or area rugs and drapes. It can work for stair treads and railings/spindles. Simply make the decision that makes TWO items the same colour. Maple is a pain to stain LIGHT...but it is very handsome when worked in a DARK stain. It will look 'almost' painted but not quite. Ask the wood trim company to create a dark charcoal or 'almost' black stain. And then MAKE SURE you get ONE OTHER ITEM in that same colour. The two put TOGETHER make a statement. It's a brilliant way to fix an oopsa.

DONT go with Ciaro Oak here is our experience...We put Cairo Oak by Coretec in out new build home from flooring liquidators in late 2021. We have 4 kids ages 9-1 and thought a LVP would be the most practical way to go. While I still agree LVP is great with kids this flooring is AWFUL! The color Cairo oak specifically eats anything it touches. Its sadly in our whole main floor so we are on it most of the day. This flooring makes holes in socks and in the knees of pants in literally two seconds. It has become quite costly replacing pants and sock for four kids. It is specifically this flooring. We have had other LVP flooring in past homes with kids and did not experience this. I tried reaching out to Coretec and got a careless response. It is very upsetting to spend such a large amount of money on flooring for a well known brand only to get a crappy quality in return. If you are looking at Cairo Oak from Coretec..keep looking. I wouldn't even recommend the brand after the way they handled their customer service.