I would call them medium.

In any case, whether you can see it or not, the dust and dirt are still there and you are just grinding it into the finish if you don't clean it.

This is the colour we currently have but floor is over 25 years old and scuffed, scratched and turned orange/yellow

Its a classic color looks great goes with many different styles

The new darker colour or the old one?

Dark colors do show more lint and dust, but your floor is NOT dark.

It’s because to us it looks dark. We were used to having light floors for 15 years and were set on keeping them light but all the light stains still showed some yellow/orange

I like any floor stain as long as it is not yellow. So, yes, yours looks fine. Correct about making sure you vacuum or dry mop your floors every few days. Maybe once a month a Bona wash will help keep them looking fine.

i think the stain color looks wonderfully rich. I would not second guess.

I have no problem with mid tone floors but that stain was too dark for that wood- the soft wood took too much of the stain versus the hard grain so it’s too much contrast and many areas look blotchy as well. In my opinion.

Those are not really dark and IMO better to show the dog hair and dust then to have guests walking out with dirty , fuzzy socks.

@HALLETT & Co. - I was wondering if there were a bunch of shadows (or maybe something was wrong with the monitor on my new MacBook Air) because the floors look a bit "blotchy" to me. It reminds me of when someone stains pine (or another species of soft wood) and fails to use a conditioner prior to adding the stain. The photos make it look like the wood took the stain differently on various boards+ on parts of the same board. It seems like something needed to be done in order for the beech to stain more evenly.

Maybe the photos emphasize the variation more than it looks in person?

Beech is a closed-grain wood and will therefore look splotchy when stained. One does not use a conditioner on wood flooring before staining. A conditioner is merely a pre-sealer that controls absorption. You don't want to use it on floors because it can interfere with the adhesion, but one can use it on things that aren't walked on, like paneling, furniture, cabinetry etc.

Closed grain woods like beech, maple and birch are not good candidates for stain. They inevitably end up being a blotchy mess.

when we saw them stain a small part light it still looked a bit yellow and orange.

In those rooms with the intensely yellow walls?

There is also a good chance that 25+ year old floors were finished with an oil based product that has ambered over the years.

These unstained beech floors with a water based finish are beautiful:

https://www.floor-restoration.co.uk/beech-floors-repair-sanding.htm