Have you decided on your cabinets? Will the hardwood flooring be installed in the kitchen? If you are doing stained cabinets, that will impact your floor choice. A painted cabinet will give you more wood floor choices.

I like a medium-toned brown, wide, long boards, not too knotty or grainy.

This is calming tea hickory from Bruce.

@deegw Sorry, I should have touched on that in my original post. We havent fully decided on our cabinets, but we're thinking again white dove or swiss coffee cabinets with a dark wood island. The hardwood flooring will be added in the kitchen as well though. But again, nothing is set in stone! Hardwood just feels like the first (and biggest) step for us, and we can't figure out a direction!

I have always found the early american and special walnut stains to be very nice

In this picture , the 50/50 mix is really nice too.

Have decided anything about the staircase? It looks like the treads and banister are the same stain color as the floors. Do you plan on leaving them as is, restaining or painting?

What kind of flooring do you have now? What flooring will be replaced?

I think your instincts are good--pale white oak would be an awkward fit if you are trying to stay traditional in overall fit. A medium brown like Special Walnut, Provincial, or Early American will be classic, fit with many styles, and play nicely with lighter wall colors.

Are you refinishing and extending the wood you have, or replacing all of it?

@deegw @AnnKH @mcarroll16

Right now we have cherry hardwood floor. We are replacing all of our hardwood (and adding it to the kitchen as well). As for the stairs, we’re not sure what to do as we are on a budget and staircases can get quite expensive. Someone suggested we keep the majority as is and do some minor adjustments instead (replace spindles, paint, new runner, etc). Nothing is finalized! We’re obviously still trying to work through everything, hence why I’m looking for all the help anyone can offer! 😊

I should also note that while we have cherry everywhere throughout our house right now, there is multiple different types of cherry flooring - the stairs/hallway is a different cherry flooring than in the family room vs the living room/dining room.