Hi..thanks for your response. We did talk to them and they said it's no big deal just have the guy who is installing the shoe molding paint over it (it's a new house, we paid separate for floors but builder has been responsible for mostly everything else). I dont think he'll charge us to have his guy repaint it since he's the one who recommended this floor guy. I guess my question is do you even think paint will cover it over or will we need to replace the moldings altogether...

You need to do a little more archeological digging still. You need to know the whole construction of the floor before you can decide how best to install something new. I'd take up that plywood piece in the kitchen and see what's under it. It's higher than the surrounding floor, so needs to go. You should also be able to see from there what subfloor is under the original kitchen hardwood. It's too bad the space under your entryway is finished, but I'd still do some exploring from below to see what's under there, and to figure out the fix to stop it from squeaking. Is it drywall below or a drop ceiling? I know it probably seems like a pain to tear out drywall, but if you cut out a clean patch, like 2' x the width of the joists, it'll be relatively simple to repair. Just make sure to cut it down the center of the joists so that there's room to screw the patch piece to it later. Cut the hole under the area that squeaks the most, if you can. Have someone walk on and watch the floor from below to see what's moving. It might be as simple as pounding in a couple shims from below, or face-nailing a loose board from above. You want to find out what's underneath the hardwood. It might be laid directly on the floor joists, or there might be 10" wide boards that the hardwood is nailed to. Another thought is to take out a board in the hallway, since that's not original and you want to replace it. See what the subfloor is there. I am a bit puzzled at why, when you've stripped the kitchen down to the original hardwood, it's still higher than the hallway floor. Is your current surface perhaps not the original kitchen hardwood? Peeling back the plywood area will help determine that. BTW, I haven't heard of that stop squeaking product you linked to, so can't offer any personal opinion. And don't pour self-leveling compound over top of hardwood. It needs to go over plywood.

Not yet, though it's only been 8 months that we've had the tile. Maybe it's mind over matter: we love our tile! :) We also aren't cruising around barefoot all the time, and I don't do a lot of standing in one spot for extended periods. I've often heard the issues that you mentioned, but I sometimes wonder if part of the problems aren't due to individuals' poor posture, sinks/faucets/cooktops not being properly positioned (i.e., too far forward), etc. My elderly mom complained of her hard floors starting to bother her legs, so I picked up a couple of those foam floor mats -- she finds them very cushy, and they've helped greatly.

It might be common for other applications, but with flooring you should only stain once when the stain will be covered with polyurethane. Flooring is subjected to the wear and impacts that other finished items are not. The bond of the finish can be compromised by an extra coat of stain. We mainly use oil poly when tinting finish and have had success adding up to 8oz. of stain per gallon of poly. More than that can make it difficult to apply without issues. Others here may have a suggestion as to what kind of colorant could be used if you're using a waterborne finish. Another option is to apply a second coat of stain then apply paste wax and buff. It's slippery, spots with water and requires upkeep though. There is also a product made by DuraSeal called Renovator that can be color keyed with stain. It softens the old stain allowing the new color to penetrate. I don't think it would be advisable to apply poly over it. Too risky. What type of wood do you have? There are a few chemical based options but you're getting out on a limb. On a few occasions, customers wanted to darken their floor after it was stained once. We scrubbed the floor with mineral spirits, let it dry, carefully applied a coat of strong ammonia (it tends to bead up so it requires a lot of attention), applied another coat of stain and coats of finish. Recently I had a similar situation where we used Rubio Smoke to darken a stained floor without resanding. It was as effective as the ammonia, is easier to get and doesn't require two workers wearing gas masks. In every situation the floor was White Oak which is more susceptible to the effect of these chemicals and each had only one coat of stain applied previously.