White Oak floors finished on site will allow you choose whatever stain color you like and then change it in a few years as style or taste changes. Just a thought.

Dark is hard to keep....absolutely. "Grayish" is on it's way "out". The next trend that is coming is very pale woods and whites. There are plenty of modern floors that don't have to be dark and don't have to be gray nor brown.

So many modern/contemporary floors have natural wood colours. In Europe, gray is passe. That means they will be out of fashion in the USA/Canada in about 5 years (Canada/USA are 5-7 years behind Europe re: interior design).