The hard maple flooring to be use everywhere other than the master bedroom. I loved the look of hard maple and ordered this right away as it was actually on sale for the month. They had a ton of the stuff in stock nationwide but apparently it goes pretty quickly. It is a laminate with the top layer being 2mm of hard maple. I couldn't find real hard maple. My guess is that if I did I couldn't have afforded it. Also there are issues with warping due to humidity changes. I could have gotten a similarly coloured natural birch in real wood but had already ordered the hard maple laminate. My thought is that the light colour of the floor will naturally brighten up the house.