Head to ECOHAUS 819 SE Taylor to check out their flooring. There are some other "green" interior stores in Portland, too. Cork, bamboo, wood...all good options.

My brother lives in Portland and has fir floors, he lives in an old house but has replaced some damaged boards by going to building salvage.
Fir floors are beautiful as long as there are not large dogs or high heeled shoes, a warm gold color and totally northwest.
Sorry for your accident, but hooray for your new opportunity!

Bamboo is a great alternative. So is cork! and you can get them both in dark shades.

Here's a site that addresses cork and bamboo and even eucalyptus!

http://www.duro-design.com/

One more comment...I have light colored wood floors throughout most of my house...but dark stained floors in my kitchen. Dirt shows up regardless of floor color. On balance, I think less dirt shows up on the light colored floors. FWIW.

Cork! I'm not sure if you have Lumber Liquidators out there but they have great prices on it. Otherwise, bamboo and wood-boo could be a good option.

Bamboo is sustainable, durable, affordable, and comes in a lot of patterns and hues.

I sense you seek features that can contradict one another a bit:
Sheen: While glossy/semi gloss does bounce the light, you lose the looks-clean-when-dusty possible usig a flatter sheen.
Pattern: More woodgrain can hide a little more grime, but you'll lose the spa-like calm vibe that comes with a quiet pattern.

As you consider your options, you might be able to mitigate the high maintenence of clean bright by using a satin (lower-luster) finish with a less prominent grain, or semi-gloss finish over a grain with a little more pattern.

Hope this helps. I am not a fan of laminates for the way they show dirt, are slippery and loud, and cannot be repaired if damaged.

My dream floor cosists of wood planks laid in a herringbone pattern finished with a forgiving (and renewable, and sustainable) polymerized tung oil finish. *sigh* One day!

Good luck with the renovations.

I'm in Portland and also have fir floors in my living room - same color as what you have in photos and incredibly beautiful. They were original to the house when we purchased it last year (in North Portland between Kenton and St. Johns), but had very obviously been covered for the greater part of the century due to the multiple layers of carpet, linoleum and even a decorative tar-like cover that was in the center of the room leaving only the perimeter wood exposed. They were in rough shape initially, but refinished beyond my expectation.

Unfortunately, the rest of the house needed to be refloored and due to budget constraints, my husband and I chose a redwood laminate. It really is nice and I am pleased with it, but would eventually like to replace it with authentic wood flooring. If you have the cash, go for the wood.

I'd choose porcelain tile - There's a wide range of colors available and they will last far longer than wood, bamboo or cork...
...and if your ceilings ever leak again (I know how it feels - I'm going through that again right now in my apartment) it won't need replacing.

I recently had the same thing happen (flood from above into my condo, making floor other replacements necessary). The floor that was there was an early incarnation of bamboo that wasn't nearly as tough as it could have been.

I had it replaced with Teragren Synergy, which is a commercial-strength version of bamboo that's woven together differently and is much stronger. It also looks less like bamboo ("regular" bamboo floors have a bamboo-y stalk pattern in them, whether they're the narrow or wider cut) and more like hardwood.

I haven't had it for very long, so I can't speak to its LONG-term durability, but it seems *much* tougher than the bamboo that was there, and much prettier too. It's not cheap, but if you want to go bamboo, I'd definitely go for Teragren Synergy.

That was supposed to say "floor AND other replacements necessary."

Also, a couple of other PSes:

I too am in the Northwest.

The Synergy has enough color variation to it that it seems decent at hiding dirt. It is fairly shiny, but not *too* shiny.

"I'd choose porcelain tile" - bepsf

Agreed, bepsf, although a lot of multistory condo HOAs forbid ceramic/slate floors due to enhanced sound transmission to the floor below.

I've had great luck with recycled fir, oak and hickory flooring at the ReBuilding Center in Portland:

Rebuilding Center
http://rebuildingcenter.org
3625 North Mississippi Avenue
Portland, OR 97227-1156
(503) 331-1877

Those old heart wood floors are more generally more dense than the stuff you get today, and have some nice wear marks (as opposed to gouges). Good luck!

I have to agree with JenPDX, as in my experience darker colours can show more dirt. Before we left the UK (dull, wet, rainy climate most of the year) for Vancouver, BC (dull, wet, rainy climate most of the year), we had an oak-coloured laminate in our hallway. It hid really hid the dirt very well and had a lovely warm but light tone. The grain pattern of oak really helped hide the dirt. That floor was made by Karndean, and this is the US equivalent shade/pattern: http://www.karndeanusa.com/site/products.cfm?product_ID=1661. I'm sure there's plenty of similar colour/tone products out there.

Good luck!

I am a big fan of slate floors, I had them through out my condo in LA. I had the dark charcoal grey. They feel great on bare feet, easy to clean and they make any furniture look good. The only rugs I had were in the bedroom, you don't want to cover them I love the way furniture looks on them.

I miss them so much. I now have hardwood floors and I am constantly having to buff the scratches out and would give anything to have slate again.

just a thought: stay away from porcelain... its cold, slippery when wet and hell to maintain... shows dirt as much as the next guy and is just plain ugly (my floors are a blackish tile with 1" grout between and it is ugly!)

Bamboo.

I have a bamboo floor in my condo. It comes in pre-finished pieces. very durable, In fact the guys who installed it were shocked - they had to pre-drill all the nail holes. They couldn't hammer the nails though the bamboo! Too strong! It was very reasonably priced. It did fade some - which I'm actually happy about - except where I have area rugs there is a darker color underneath. Still, bamboo is a fast growing ecological choice. Good luck!

Yeah, I have to say, ceramic tile can be great, and indestructible, but it's a little cold for the Northwest.

Now, I grew up in the NW, I love the NW, and I don't mind dreary, rainy, overcast, etc., and I'd paint my place grey in a heartbeat, so I don't subscribe to the "keep everything bright/warm colored" theory that many people push around here. And still I say, ceramic tile: perfect in warm-ish climates, too cold for the Northwest.

you will think this is sick (and maybe it is) but I loves me some LINOLEUM... we have this great place in hollywood called linoleum city and you wouldn't believe (and maybe you won't)... find a showroom that specializes... it's a mindblower

but

will it be a floor that sells your condo when you go? (buzzkill)

Bamboo. Green, clean, airy, and fantastic!

"ceramic tile can be great, and indestructible, but it's a little cold for the Northwest."

Radiant floor heating would easily solve that issue...
...and could actually lower your heating bills.

Cork! We have hardwoods, carpet, rubber, and cork all in different areas of our house, and by far I love the cork the most. It's toasty warm on my feet in the morning in the bathroom.
The only problem I know of is that if the sun shines directly on the cork, it fades really badly. Like it doesn't even look like the rest of the floor at all.

"Radiant floor heating would easily solve that issue..."

I doubt she can afford to have it put in, seeing as this renovation is unexpected. Also, I imagine a lot of difficulties retrofitting radiant floor heating into a condo - lack of adequate plumbing and restrictions on modifying the "common space" (below the floor/above someone else's ceiling) being two of them.

Yes, if I was building my own house here, I'd do radiant floor heating, and maybe even put in some ceramic tile. :)

Cork for so many reasons! Sound-dampening, dirt-hiding, comfort-creating, tree-saving, long-lasting… I have it in my mud room and wish I'd used it more throughout the house.

I've heard some good things about Worthwood flooring and plan to give it a try myself soon:

http://www.oregonlumber.com/_products/products.php?p=worthwood

It's sustainable and apparently wears very well. I desperately want to replace the carpet on my stairways with it.

I'm in Portland as well and a coworker of mine just installed woven-strand bamboo in his house. Apparently, it has almost twice the hardness rating of regular bamboo - said coworker has small kids and dogs, so durability was a primary concern.

IIRC, he got a killer deal on it on through simpleFloors.

Thanks for all of the input! I'm already feeling better about making my decisions.

For me, tile is out. I bring my bike through my place daily, sometimes while wearing cycling cleats and...it just wouldn't safe. It's a bit too cold and slippery for my taste and lifestyle.

I picked up a few samples of cork and "Bamboo Fusion" from EcoHaus a couple of days ago and, while I do love the look of the cork, it's really soft -- I imagine it'd be lovely on bare feet but I can leave a dent with my fingernail! It just seems too soft for high-traffic. I'm returning the samples today and plan to talk to them about it.

Thanks again for the ideas. At this point, I'm leaning towards Bamboo, including the woven-strand bamboo (thanks FiatLex!). I'll find out my budget in the next week or so...keeping my finger's crossed!

(I learned today that my entire ceiling will be scraped clean of the popcorn texture!! Yahooo!)

Terra -

Yay on your popcorn ceilings going bye-bye!

The Teragren Synergy I was talking about is a brand of the woven-strand bamboo. I highly recommend it over "regular" bamboo.

For my extra 2 cents, I had cork installed in the previous condo I lived in. It is beautiful, feels nice, warm, etc., but... yeah, it seems SO soft. I only had it for a short time before I sold the place, but man, it scratched, dented, all kinds of things. I continue to be mystified by people who tout its durability. I don't *not* believe them - but I just can't imagine it based on my experience.

Good luck with the renovations. It'll be hard, especially if you have to move out, and it takes longer than expected (it will). It's annoying that you're forced to do it, but hopefully you have the opportunity to tweak things about your place that you wouldn't have had the time or money to do on your own. (Like the popcorn ceilings!) My place turned out better than it was before, and I only had to put a little bit of money into upgrading what insurance would cover.

ooohhhh, CORK. I first saw it about 15 years ago in my friends' parents' ranch home; it was original.... was installed in the 50's! It looked awesome, and I've coveted it ever since but didn't live in a home where it would be appropriate Now we've moved to a Florida condo, and I saw it again last week in a commercial film finishing studio/loft. STILL love it, and will replace all the flooring in our 1100 sf condo with...CORK! yummy. Nice to walk on, resilient, easy to keep clean (totally non porous), long-lasting, infinite color/pattern choices, and affordable. What's not to love?

Sure, you can dent cork easily. But watch it spring back. The stuff lasts for decades. And it hides everything!

I have bamboo flooring in my whole house. It looks lovely, but be forewarned that the wood is EXTREMELY soft. It scratches instantly with very little pressure. My dog scratches it just from walking around.

I put a cork colored real linoleum in my condo kitchen and bathroom and did not put the shiny coating on top of it (can't think what that's called). While I liked the "flat" look, it seemed to get some grime that became permanent even though we washed it.

On the other hand, dust bunnies, dark hair, etc. showed up way less than on my current home's honey colored bamboo (in the kitchen), white ceramic tile (bathroom--freezing cold floor!), and dark wood floors elsewhere. Now that I think about it, bamboo has a linear graphic aspect while cork and lino have non-linear patterns, which probably help hide loose dirt 'n' stuff.

Just a thought, but my partner & I just went through the same process. We needed something budget friendly and indestructible (new puppy in a few weeks).

We didn't want the install costs of laminate or hardwoods, I am not a big fan of the look of cork (don't hate!), tile is too cold and bamboo scratches entirely too easily (but is pretty).

We ended up doing resilient vinyl planks from Lumber Liquidators, in a whitewash. I've only installed the hallway & master closet so far (bedrooms starting in an hour-argh), but I like the look so far. $350 for materials for 450 sq ft. What I've already laid looks good and feels very solid over the slab. Good luck with your decision!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xand83/4660229189/sizes/l/

Great wood floors examples you can find at

http://www.davincifloors.com/portfolio.htm