I'd recommend sanding, staining & refinishing the existing wood.

Definitely refinish. I can't imagine any context in which replacing a hardwood floor with something less expensive and less desirable would be a good idea.

The 'honey' colour is from the finish...which was probably solvent/oil based product. You will be pleasantly surprised to find the oak underneath is a delicate creamy yellow (almost off white) by now. The finishes we have today do NOT have to turn orange.

As a matter of fact, if you want your natural oak finish to stay "very light" all you need to do is ask the floor professional to finish it in a "clear coat" water based finish that promises NOT TO AMBER.

White oak is one of the staples of the flooring industry. It takes any colour, any time, any where and it does it with style. It is kinda like "blonde" hair is to "hair colour". To freshen your look, the whole process will take a couple of days (includes sanding, staining and refinishing) plus a little bit more time for the finish to cure/harden completely.

From my experience it can be the same price or even $0.50/sf cheaper to refinish a solid hardwood than it is to float a new engineered hardwood over top the old floor. Remember: demolition costs have to be added to the overall cost of your installation costs. That can be as cheap as $1/sf (carpet) or as much as $2-$3/sf for glue in place hardwood. Then you add the cost of the new floor, plus underlay, plus cost of installation. And you have a floor with lower value than the one you ripped out. The time to have this done...can be twice as long as the sand/refinish...'cause demolition of solid hardwood is time consuming.

Have a professional come in and offer cost to sand and refinish (this normally includes the cost of a stain). You can choose a lighter colour (bleached wood is very popular right now) or you can go a snick darker with a "cool brown" which is very popular.

White oak takes on any colour you want and it does it very well. I would think it over many many times before you rip out a high worth floor to replace it with a lower value product.

Great information Concord Floor. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

Is it the same for old railings too?

Before doing anything to your home, due to selling the home, be sure to have a professional designer, or even a professional real estate agent come in and take a look at the items in the home that could use the help before you spend your money. These items can get out of control and before you know it you have put your money into areas, that really did not need the much attention and other areas of concern never got any attention. So, be careful! Also, I would like to answer this question, but I believe it is important to know where your home is in order to be accurate with an answer!

Kchull I assume you mean the stair rails? We plan to either paint the spindles white and stain the rails, or replace with wrought iron. And Vickie I am in Columbus Ohio.

Hardwood floors are very much the norm in Ohio (and many other midwestern) houses. If you are reselling soon, and your floors don't actually need refinishing, then I'd question whether it is worth the cost to refinish them just because you prefer a darker stain. But if you are staying in the house for awhile, refinishing the floors a little darker will be the best solution both for you and for future resale.

As a fellow Buckeye, my advice is to stain the floors a little darker, stair railings to match, paint spindles white.