Lots of people like to bag on Minwax but I don't understand why. Until recently when DuraSeal (OWNED by Minwax by the way) came out with quick drying versions of Minwax colors, we still used Minwax stains occasionally. DuraSeal has a line of professional floor stains and surface finishes. I was always taught that the difference between the two was that you had to use polyurethane over Minwax because the thinner consistency made it unsuitable for use with wax. Two things. 1) You mentioned "hardwax oiled". That typically refers to a new generation of oil finishes. The term hardwax would specify that the oil finish has wax in it. There are other oil finishes that are strictly oil with no wax that can be used with or without a surface finish. Before doing a finish like this you need to do thorough research. Oil finish sellers make promises about the durability and ease of care but it's more maintenance intensive than a urethane finish. The main attraction is that it's easier to touch up than urethane finished floors. Some finishers may not be familiar with the product and will be hesitant to use it. 2) Regardless of what finishing method you choose, it's going to take some work to get your floor looking like the picture on the right. To me it's not gray, it's a light brownish black. Or is it blackish brown? To offset the redness of your wood it will probably need to be bleached then stained. In the Minwax/Duraseal colors you'd probably use either Ebony or Jacobean or maybe a mix of the two, possibly thinned down with natural (clear). You can also add white to it to get a more gray tone. If you don't bleach it, it will have red undertones. If you go with a standard stain and urethane it would probably be best to use a non-yellowing urethane like Bona Novia or Mega Clear to avoid it turning yellow over time. I've seen or heard of quite a few local oil finished floors with issues. We did only one and it didn't perform as advertised. It was a beautiful black stain with a coat of white over top that accentuated the grain. Within a few months the white wore out of the grain then the black wore significantly exposing the oak color of the floor.

Ciranova ? Pink Blocker can be used with any competitors brand stain. I have not experienced any issue. You do need to buff with a maroon pad prior to applying a stain with other manufacturer's WB PU. I have not applied any other WB except for Ciranova's own WB PU over Pink blocker. No time for experimenting. Pink Blocker is a reactive stain. It is water soluble. Ciranova has a binder in their invisible line finishes : Ecofix plus, Woodlook Plus and Oculto. It helps prevent reactivating the stain and moving the color around. Reactive stain can be applied after pink blocker. Still needs buffing with maroon pad. You can use the regular reactive stain on red oak. It will not be as intense as if, it was applied onto white oak. Aquavintage is a two part reactive stain. hardwax oil , oil poly or wb poly can be applied. If, using WB poly, use one of Ciranova's invisible poly. Ecofix for light natural colors. Woodlook for whites and grays and Oculto for dark tone reactive stains. It is water soluble, competitors WB PU will move finish around. If, you want a WB system that looks like a oil finish. Ciranova's invisible line is what you want. It will look as natural or raw as can be with the protection of a WB system. For added protection, you can do two coats of their invisible finish and two coats of Fortico. Fortico is comparable to Bona Traffic HD and Loba's Supra AT. You can top coat Ciranova's invisible finishes with competitors WB finishes. That will help keep cost down. Only downside, if, you run into issues. The tech support will not help you. Use your own discretion. Unico is the same as RMC. It's a single coat oil system with the added benefits of being able to apply a WB PU over it. It's soft, top coat with one coat of Titan or two coats of Fortico for the added protection. Titan is better than RMC. Note: every manufacturer alters their binders slightly in their finishes to make it unique. It creates issues with other manufacturers products. You would need to test samples to make sure there are no finishing issues. I have used Ciranova's reactive stain with RMC and Pallmann's oil with no issues. I have tried applying a competitors WB PU over Ciranova's reactive stain with no success. It moves the color around. But when used with Ciranova's invisible PU, no issues. You can apply dewaxed shellac over the reactive stain and apply a competitor's WB PU or just apply oil base poly. Keep in mind oil base poly will turn yellow. For aged look, it does not look good. If, you want the aged look use Ciranova. you won't be disappointed, unless your guy does not know how to use it. For a stained look, you can use any other brand. The colors are all the same, besides Duraseal, which has more colors available than anyone.

Did you know that Bona makes their own stains? It is the chemical mix of two unrelated companies that puts your project at risk. Minwax is DIY level stain (used by many professionals so not entirely bad). Bona, even their entry level product Mega, is a professional grade product. Bona takes a SERIOUS amount of knowledge to get it to work. Some of the Bona products have a working edge of 2 minutes (120 seconds...yes...I said 2 minutes and I meant it). Compare that to Minwax oil based polyurethane working edge of 45 minutes (illegal in 11 states because of HORRIBLE VOC content). You should contact Bona and ask them what they recommend for the finish you are interested in using. Do you have a photo of your existing floor? Do you know the species of wood sitting on your steps?

For a satin, that is pretty low-gloss for a fresh coat. I'm more familiar with Loba's satin and they are much shinier then yours. I would let them be for a week and then view them once more before you move back in. If you are still SUPER UPSET by the gloss level, then pay the cost to have another coat added and you sleep elsewhere for another week. And remember: do NOT lay area rugs for at least 4 weeks. And preferably for 6 months. Wood will do a little bit of colour change after a sand/refinish. You want to ensure everything changes in the same way. Personally, I would be happy with this gloss level with any satin at any time. Considering this is fresh, I think you have a very good satin about to show up. Just give it a week and then see how you feel.