Pictures would help but right now I'm thinking light floors with the espresso furniture would look best - esp. if you like the grain showing more. Maybe a light stain? Don't use tung oil (or any kind of oil) on floors - it really doesn't hold up to traffic or liquid. I have linseed oil and beeswax on my stair treads, we don't even wear shoes in the house and it's a constant battle. I plan on varnishing or polyurethaning the treads after the latest coat of wax has worn (and I have to use naptha to make sure all the wax is off) and we have a week when the kids can go to grandma's. My cousin used Waterlox varnish on his wide pine floors (house built in 1743, though I don't know when the 2nd story was added) and they look amazing! A lot of people swear by it. Gloss will wear better than satin, but if you like the satin look, just use it as the final coat with gloss (2 coats) underneath.

Oh good points, I hadn't thought about the competition between hickory & knotty alder. Unfortunately I'm a bit alone in this decision, so I need help thinking of the things I'm not thinking of. DH grew up in northern Scandinavia so his only opinion on anything wood is "clear whitewood". We are exact opposites on most things decor/materials. No help! I like the true "brown" coloring of alder, and have considered clear alder in a medium deep offee and hickory flooring with a heavily cut spice stain (saw some gorgeous hickory floors on here lastnight). I love rustic touches, but don't want my house to resemble a rickety cabin. :)

Lhutch, my contractor advised me to do floors last because we were removing a wall (so flooring had to be repaired there) and there was also some damage to the floors during cabinet install (little nicks etc). There was a good amount of dust from kitchen work too, so I’m glad we didn’t do the floors first. Michelle, I hadn’t even thought of that—will definitely do that. Thank you!! anglophilia, I have no problem with the baseboards, they’re fine to me. I don’t like the look of the stained trim, and have always had the white trim. Cole Man, the baseboards are definitely replaceable but again, it’s a significant cost to do so. This guy was certainly not the lowest bidder and I’ve worked with him before, he’s not a fly by night contractor or anything...and he says he doesn’t routinely remove trim or shoe molding. I didn’t even think of it until recently so didn’t think to ask other bidders. At this point just want floors sanded and stained properly and the trim to not look like garbage when it’s all done. I hate that you cannot just trust the workmanship of people anymore...you have to be 5 steps ahead and micromanage them to make sure you’re asking the right questions and getting the right results. I thought I did my due diligence, the guy wrote a detailed proposal, etc but I wouldn’t have known to ask about trim...that’s why I hired a professional. But that’s a different post. :-)

SJ McCarthythank you for your very long process description and NWFA suggestion. With all the risks that proper preparation requires I think I just have to dodge the bullet and pay someone to do it. It really isn't just applying the stain with a brush kinda thing. I emailed seven companies. Four from NWFA and three from neighbors' recommendations. Just few moments ago I had one of them here to look at the stairs. He is certified has all the proper training and certifications. He seemed knowledgeable and explained all the steps. He will have to re-sand. It will be a 3-4 day job depending on how many stain coats are needed. He uses DuraSeal stains and Bona Traffic HD water based seal and has training to work with those. Each coat needs 24-48h to dry. Then he will have to do another 2-3 coats of the seal. His professional opinion was also that the stairs did not turn yellow because of the covering, but they turned yellow because the previous company used an oil based poly. They might have also applied the seal when stain wasn't dry enough. He is almost certain that the amber coloring from the photos is oil based. He never heard of floors turning yellow because they were covered. That being said, he told me I have a good chance winning a small claims court. That the photos should be sufficient. The stairs were first finished in March, we covered the newly stained steps with protective brown contractor's paper, since there was still construction and painting happening. In July we discovered that there is yellowing present. Since July I've been contacting the company to fix it. They refused because they claim that it is not a warranty issue since it is our fault that we covered them, and that is what caused the yellowing. However, the best changes in court would be with two expert opinions. What I should have done was getting an inspector's report and document the yellowing properly. My mistake was sanding the stairs down before finding a new company. Now I cannot get an inspector to examine it. The reason I had my trusted carpenters to sand down the entire yellowed staircase was because our remodel has finished, and I didn’t want a yellow staircase in the house. I was also worried someone else wouldn't be as careful, and do more damage on brand new painted baseboards and stair skirts. Most importantly I knew sanding it down completely will be a huge mess and didn’t want all the dust on our stuff. I wanted to move into a clean house. Now, there will still be sanding just not as much as the heavy sanding. Even the walls were covered in sand. It was awful...