I know it's possible to pull up hardwood flooring, but I don't think it's easy and it might damage some of the boards or finish on them, so you would have to most likely reinstall and refinish. With your situation of having future construction plans with the home, I'm kind of thinking the plywood option isn't a bad idea, as it could be the underlament when you're ready to lay the hardwood flooring so you wouldn't have to remove it. I would think it would hold up fairly well for a few years with kids, pets, and construction, if you put decent poly on it. Franksmom, the paint sprayer we bought is called a Graco TrueCoat II Plus (250.00 at Lowes). It's not at all like the cheaper Wagner paint sprayers you see, it's made by one of the best companies that make professional paint sprayers. It's a handheld (no stand) airless paint sprayer so it has a paint container attached to the gun. Because it's an airless type and not an HVLP type of sprayer, you don't have to thin latex paints, you can use them right out of the paint can, so you have much thicker coats/coverage in one pass when sprayed on. It's easier to clean (IMHO) and you can work with smaller amounts of paint because it has the paint cup attached to the gun instead of of stand type where you have tubes that feed from large gallon or 5 gallon paint cans. There are different versions of the Graco Truecoat, we went with Truecoat II Plus because it has a flexible pump tube so you can tip the gun upwards or turn it sideways and the paint will still siphon to the sprayer (good for painting ceilings), and it offered an adjustable air pressure knob, so you can adjust the spray pressure for more control (a little less overspray) and for the thickness of the paint you're using. Also it is repairable, and you can buy parts for it, some of the older Truecoat models are not repairable. They do sell different tips you can buy for the sprayer to give you different spray size and for different thicknesses of materials (latex paint vs thin stain), they also make a larger container cup, a back pack attachment kit that can hold up to a gallon of paint so you don't have to use the container cup attachment and refill as often. You can also purchase more plastic bag cup liners so cleanup is easier. The cons to this sprayer are, it's heavy because the paint container is attached to the gun, you have to refill more often because it uses a smaller amount of paint at a time, and you get more overspray and go through paint much faster than you do with an HVLP sprayer because it's airless. The overspray will be decent so make sure you mask/cover things well when using. Clean up takes about 20-30 min and you have to make sure you take the time to do it properly, and masking/covering to protect from overspray can take some time, however the upside is you can paint 10 doors in about 10 min with it.

Replace ALL the trim? Dude...it's a 4,000 sq. ft. house. There's wood trim, wood built-ins, wood doors, wood library paneling, wood banisters and stairs, wood everywhere. Are you volunteering the $50,000+ I'd need to do that? I accept cash, checks, and money orders. :) Okay, I know you're right. I'm asking for the impossible, so let's back up and let me get more specific and practical. Why do you think the finish is varnish? Given the long drying time of varnish, would a builder use that on a house with tons of trim? Wouldn't shellac be more likely? I was thinking the finish was an orange shellac that was brushed on in one step. I'm told if I use denatured alcohol I can test the finish...and if it's shellac, the finish should disolve immediately. And if that's the case, couldn't I use new shellac touch up the scratches...basically use a tiny brush and go over the scratches to hide and refinish? Then maybe polish with wax? Has anyone done this? Is there a good resource for information on this...something more detailed than the Minwax website? This must be pretty common. I know I could go the wax stick or stain pen route, but those don't last. I don't need perfect, just good and long lasting. Most of the imperfections are pretty minor and haven't damaged the wood. You know...ordinary wear and tear. I'm okay with a little "patina," I just don't like the scuffy look of the wood right now.

Vinyl is the cheapest way, but it really isn't that cheap in less you can get it prepackaged in the roll, which is what we ended up doing - I wanted vinyl but couldn't decide so I went to Home Depot and decided I wasn't leaving till I picked something to put down as I was tired of the plywood floor - while looking at the big rolls, I turned around and found ours - $50 for a 9x12 and we taped it down, put molding around it and what's nice is if we ruin it, no biggie - remove the molding, pull it up, and put a new piece down - it sits right next to hardwood and looks nice. Personally speaking, if it is only a year, why waste the money - we lived with a horrible sink base and tiny countertop pulling out most of the kitchen for about a year after moving in/redoing ours till we could get the money together and decide what we wanetd. I refused to use some of the stuff so we ripped it out as it was nasty. The best vinyl's we found were just basic/neutral that weren't heavy patterned. I really like ours as we are DIY the rest of the house and it is easy to clean, doesn't get dirty easily, and doesn't scratch. It was only supposed to be temporary, but it's staying as it grew on me. Oh, I should mention, it really wasn't just $50 - the tape was about $10 for two rolls, then you have the plywood subfloor as ours was rotted out - about $200 as I didn't want luan (not as good as solid plywood), deck screws, and other misc. supplies, and the molding to match the cabinets.

Thank you for all of your help and knowledge. I'm pretty new to this and you gave me excellent info and links. You also made me realize that the floor isn't the worst of the problems or the first thing I should focus on: it's those cabinets! I had no idea they were a known quantity. Ick! Regarding the cabinets: the easiest thing would be to temporarily remove the doors entirely as one blogger did, but honestly... I need somewhere to store my stuff. I already have about 20 square feet of open shelving and I've put everything attractive there, and used wire baskets with canvas lining to contain a lot of the less attractive. Even if I were to remove the doors 1) the gross interiors would still show; and 2) one of the cabinets is a deep corner one, which is just not going to look good at all (IMO at least). This post (a link from the brilliant Kylie link above sent by @nosoccermom--truly the best treatment of this subject I've found) is by a DIY owner who just painted the "wood" trim. Easy-peasy! But the white of her melamine was truly white, and as Kylie notes, it would be hideous to paint the "wood" white and leave the rest beige or try to match (matching to tobacco stains, omg whathaveigotteninto). Which leads me to two issues: I really need to use some heavy duty TSP/ammonia/OXY/goo be gone type cleaner to see if I can actually get them any whiter (not a lot of renovating experience, but I'm a great deep cleaner!). Part of the problem is that my landlord has painted all the trim white, which makes the beige-nic-whatever-ness so much grosser looking. I've cleaned them with regular kitchen cleaner and they're definitely not greasy, but maybe there is some level of filth that still needs to be stripped off. That's step one. If they're not white, I need to talk to my landlord about simply painting them white: just the beige area wouldn't be hard to do from what I've seen with the right product and some time/care (flat surface, right?--not the whole shebang including the "wood", and would definitely improve the look of the place. I think he'd be amenable. If not, maybe I could try finding some contact paper or adhesive to attach something that is either white or blue and truly removable. And clean well when I do move (don't worry @nosoccermom!). :) Question: is the "wood" on these cabinets actually wood? One blogger suggests that it is, in that she suggests a quick "helping" fix can be to use this product. It doesn't feel like it, and parts of the edges are crumbling. Even if it's not, is it possible to treat it like it is and stain it (after cleaning etc., of course)? Does anyone know definitively whether it is in fact wood on this type of cabinetry? The idea of adding hardware is great, thank you (@nosoccermom again!) I'm actually headed to Ikea this weekend and they have these pulls for (e.g. two 15" for $9.99). That's do-able! Larger pulls actually installed in the face of the cabinet would have a better "pull the eye away from the horror" effect per Kylie, but I know I can drill and then putty up these when I move. Maybe I'll talk to my landlord about putting in something more tho--if I pay for it he might be cool. They can't get worse. So in short, going to start with the cabinets, since I know that needs to be fixed and is the worst eyesore. As for the floor, I've said above I really don't want to put down any sort of rug, but I have found well-reviewed recycled plastic, reversible rugs from Fab Habitat like this one: (tried to make a collage lol--a link to the product here). NB: often listed at ridiculously high prices--a comparable FH 6x9 on Houzz is currently $329. They're machine made, out of plastic straws. But other stores (and the manufacturer) sell it for much, much less). And I already have an outdoor one that I've decided doesn't fit in my cyan-ized living room--just wish the nap was lower (can you seal a rug like a floor cloth so it has no nap? I bought it for a steal, I really don't care...), but maybe I'll do it :( If anyone has more advice I'd LOVE it! No Anglophile "pro" decorators tho, please! That elitist post bugged me all night :(. Thank you all so much. What a great community! :)