Use vinyl wood look plank flooring. There are tons of them out in the market place. you will find so many that you will be sure to find something that is similar to this real wood. They vinyl plank flooring looks so good! don't use carpet for the stairs unless you do a runner. There are some vinyl plank floors that come with nosing for the stairs. Really inexpensive and easy to lay too.

A carpet for stairs and laminate for floor in basement would be fine. The floors don’t HAVE to be the same upstairs and down but it would be good to keep similar tones for flow throughout the house.

As an aside, are you planning on painting your trim? It clashes with your new floors as it is...

We will be swapping out all the trim and most likely going with white.

I hate the floor upstairs it looks like very badly worn wood floor is that honestly the look you wanted.I would do a really different style of floor in the basement like a stone look vinyl maybe and use it on the stairs too IMO carpet on the stairs is just one more type of flooring than you need.

Please do not use vinyl plank or vinyl tile flooring. It's a health hazard and it's a bane to sustainability. I think I'd go with wool carpeting or something made with recycled fibers.

Patricia a stone look vinyl sounds like something that would look cheap & aesthetically displeasing. Thank you for your unwarranted comments about something that was never part of the discussion. You seem pleasant.

This is a reference pic of the direction we are thinking of going for the basement

I would do what maraya suggested including the stairs but also add a coordinated runner on the stairs. That will distract the eye from any difference in the wood look flooring for the transition and add some warmth to the style. I get the style, vibe you’re going for, and an important part of this style is adding warmth through area rugs, runners etc. on the floor, hence the stair runner.

Laminate is generally not used in basements. If you want wood you need to use engineered hardwood. Cork could be a good option for you since you already have an epoxy barrier.

If you are looking for flow, you need to get the carpet on the stairs to match the *public area...which I'm assuming is the wood-look tile. I would pick the middle tone in the tile as the carpet colour.

Once you have the carpet colour picked out, you can then go shopping for a laminate/vinyl product for the basement (and laminate works GREAT in basements...a vapour barrier is used to keep slab moisture away from both the laminate and the vinyl). You can then pick a tone that works with both the carpet AND the lighting in the basement.

If you want flow, you do NOT want 'blonde' wood-look product. I"m sorry but the blonde wood-look has no sense of continuity with the upstairs.

A pretty European Oak in a smoked presentation would REALLY work well with your upstairs flooring. Remember: for flow, you need continuity of colour. That's what you are working towards.

A suggestion for you:

Look into Stanton Anywhere collection. I love how it looks and, yet, is tougher than nails.

I have personal experience with the product because we chose it for around the pool. It has seen 5 years of Northeast weather and it still looks new.

I have wool carpeting down my stairs and into the large lower living area ( that sounds so much more sophisticated when I say that instead of cellar). The area is dry, with HVAC. I am a huge fan of wool (with the right kind of padding), Next house I will probably go with Stanton.

https://www.stantoncarpet.com/gallerylist/ANYWHERE%20COLLECTION

Krystle- Patricia is always the first person to come into a thread and tell the OP how horrible their choices are and that they need to rip everything out. She is very unpleasant.

I think you should look into cork floors or the luxury vinyl for the basement. They are beautiful and easy to maintain...

sorry things did not go well!

I want to add that we used high end engineered hardwood in our basement, 2000 square feet of it on cement with the proper vapor barrier. It has been a dream to clean, it’s so durable and is such a close match to the upstairs hardwood people don’t notice the slightly different tone. But, one does have to use area carpets in a basement with hardwood for warmth in my opinion. Ours still look bare because I haven’t spent the money on nice carpets, it’s been five plus years..

Sorry if you don’t like my comments but I am curious to know if that really rustic look is what you want because if so them what you choose for the basement should have that same vibe. I do not think stone look vinyl is one bit cheaper looking than wood look and unless you are matching the floor upstairs I would stick to something different so maybe just do carpet on the stairs and the floor . I still say 3 types of flooring is one too many. I am not acyually rude but I am honest and sometimes I don’t say things in quite the right manner. I will say that somwtimes when a poster asks a question as a designer I also have to point out other things that affect the question asked spaces are not designed in a vacuum just like wanting to know if that very rustic look is what was planned.