The oak looks great and a hell of a lot better than dark stained floors would.

I meant to attach other photos to illustrate the issue. Other side of the house is a different color and the basement is a 3rd!

Do everything on the one floor the medium oak. The basement can be different for now.

Hi jjbostona!
Go as DARK as you can, whole thing! You won’t regret it for a second! Dark floors seem intimidating, but it looks incredibly clean and classic.
I will be honest here. Unless wood flooring is pine, the original and best use of wood flooring, I’m not a fan. Golden to rich deep brown — whatever the shade, most wooden flooring simply eats entire interiors. Painted, distressed, darkened — those options allow you much more freedom and simply look cleaner. Up to you! But you’ll never regret a darkest mahogany, ebony or cherry!
❤️

Ps darkest flooring hides any pet and poodle doodles ❤️

Dark can require the continuing services of a robot vacuum because they show more of everything. Your basement is lvp on not really dark. You'd need Bona Red Out first to go for that tone. But your cabs won't compliment it at all.

Three strip maple, whit oak and vynil. A slight white wash like Bona Natural sea or classic seall and a matte finish will look good with your paint schemes. Nothing you can do about the vynil. Guessing that the vynil is down in the basement anyways?

Thanks - the other option is paint the kitchen cabinets white and do dark floors throughout

My latest thought is medium brown floors throughout (taking the reddish hue out of the existing stain) and painting the cabinets white.

Opinions?

Here are more photos of the kitchen.

Or maybe the darker floor would look ok with the cabinets? I’ve never liked the color of the cabinets - feels very 1990’s to me. But they’re great quality, I like the layout, and we can’t afford to remodel the kitchen.

I would def not paint those cabinets - what about a mid range stain, like provincial? we’ve used it in several houses over the years and I feel like it’s a classic option

agree not to worry about the basement - it can live on its own

I love dark floors and IMO the cabinets look fine so it is up to you which color floor you love. The basement does not need to go with the main floor . I assume you mean window trim is oak so IMO all trim should be the same so paint it the same as the rest of your trim.. So same wood everywhere on the upper floors and all stained to match

My sister is trying to convince me to paint the island. Thoughts?

I’m keeping the cabinets, putting the red oak on the kitchen I just need to find the right stain

Try Provincial or Special Walnut.

Contrary to AbbyHearts, i have dark hardwood and regret it every single day. Mind you, i have pets, and it shows every single hair and dust bunny. Scratches too, but that bothers me less. Mine is also varied tones, aka weathered, which you think would help with the hair or bunnies. It doesn’t seem to. Within half hour of vacuuming and cleaning, I’m seeing any little thing.

I'm with Svetlana - we had Brazilian Cherry floors in our last house, and every dog hair and speck of dust showed. It was beautiful when it was freshly cleaned, but our lifestyle (with full-time jobs and twins) didn't lend itself to daily floor cleaning. If that is something you enjoy doing daily, go for dark!

When we put hardwood flooring in our new home, even without a dog, we went with unstained oak, and we adore it.

Oh wow what does unstained oak look like - can you post photos?

Please do not paint those cabinets white, they look very nice as is and painted cabs are expensive and don’t wear as well as wood

Ok I’ve had the floors replaced and sanded….they are waiting to be refinished. Please help me pick a color. Should I go medium like I planned (and if so, what color!) or maybe neutral?? Not sure what to do!

I would recommend either Provincial or Special Walnut. Both very neutral medium brown colors that work with any style.

Oh, and don't choose the color from the paper color chart. Have the floor refinisher show you the stain on the floor so you can see it IRL.

Have your finisher do samples on the actual floor before the final sanding.

I have samples on the floor and they look so similar!

I am between Provicial and Special Walnut

Here's Provincial on white oak in 3 different bedrooms in a client's house:

#1

Provincial stain on white oak · More Info

#2

Provincial stain on white oak · More Info

#3--Master bedroom

Provincial stain on white oak · More Info

Provincial stain on white oak · More Info

Thank you! That’s what we chose. I haven’t seen it yet but really like these.

It looks even better in person! Would love to see your floors when you get there--post photos!

All done and it looks amazing! Thanks everyone for the help. Now I just need to decide whether to spend $1800 to paint the window sills whose.

WHITE

Updated photos - I have two picture windows and two tiny windows that are the original stain color. Should I paint them white?

Your floors looks fabulous!

I originally read that you were considering painting only the window sills white, but on second reading I see you mean all of the windows. Yes paint them all white.

I vote for white.