We are really stumped with choosing a finished look for our new build wood floor. To make a long story short we are owner/builder/DIY'er and have been living and working here for getting close to a year now. I wish we were finished, but am trying to be thankful for what we have accomplished.

Our kitchen is what we love, however not popular around here. The perimeter has a hutch painted and glazed maple in cream with a blackish glaze. The one wall perimeter, baking area, is cherry and glazed. The (soon, we hope) island will be the cherry stained/ glazed. The family room built-ins will be the same as the cherry shown. The stairs are the same stain as the cherry; however, they are oak.

The bathrooms, mud and laundry will be or are all tile. The bedrooms will be carpet and the rest will be wood. We have 5" heart pine and a mix of pine...my DH estimates that the heart pine is probably about 60%.

My idea was to treat the open stairs more like a piece of furniture or built-ins, etc and not to stain the floor the same as the stairs and trim. Just like in the kitchen with stained cabinets. The more I look at pictures the more I think we need to keep the floors very light. I did not want dark floors to begin with because of the dirt, dust factor showing. It seems everything we try to sample is too orange, too red, too wrong. We are trying to use waterlox and add stain to the first coat. Therefore it penetrates the wood rather than using a poly coat on top.

We love the knots and distressed areas in the wood and are considering distressing it more ourselves. At this time the wood is not sanded or anything. Style wise we are traditional and eclectic. I like to mix In a little rustic and a tiny bit modern. I like some Ballard designs, arhaus and pottery barn decorating as seen in their catalogs. I have looked at houzz for hours and months and just can not quite feel comfortable with these darn floors. I have noticed a lot of catalog pages use a light wood floor with dark furniture. So, all of our cabinets, built-ins, table, etc will be dark. I like the pages with this look, but when I'm in my house I fear yellow floors.

Please share your thoughts and ideas!!!