Some of your pictures are old pine, some new and at least one was wide plank oak. Most are wide planks. Pine is very soft, so with kids/pets do you want/mind dings and lots of distressed marks?

I agree with Allison. Pick the oak which will be more durable, but get it in the wide planks. I think you will achieve the look you are after.

I have beautiful random width wide plank floors in Hickory (a very hard wood)from Carlisle Floors (you can google them for more info) . They are probably lighter than you would like, but they have many different woods to choose from. I also have 2 Newfies and the floors have held up well.
My floors have a tung oil satin finish. There was some gloss initially, but the floors have worn to a beautiful soft patina,and they are going on 7 years old. Just needing refinishing now or in a year or so.

I highly recommend...

The second and third pictures are from the blog "For The Love of a House".
Here are the deatils of the stain used on the floors.
Floor Stain:
Stain is an 8 to 1 mixture using Minwax Wood Finish.
8 parts Provincial to 1 part Golden Oak

Here is a link that might be useful: For The Love Of a House paint and stain details

xingxing, I think SPAM is too soft for floors.

Just wanted to say that I love all your inspritation photos, and I agree that the random width floors in a dark stain are going to look great and full of character.

Looking forward to reading all the responses you get. But, really don't use the SPAM on the floor as xingxing is suggesting.

pps7-

The floors in our kitchen and entry are 4" white oak stained Heart Pine, and, at least on my monitor, look similar to the oak pics you posted. The stain is from Sutherland Welles, great company to work with and their products, while not cheap, are of outstanding quality.

http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/

We finished ours with Bush Oil, and it appears to me that some of the pics you posted are also of oiled floors. We love the oiled look and being able to fix scratches ourselves with a little sanding and a daub of Bush Oil. We are hard on stuff, and in our previous house the poly floors looked horrible within weeks. The oil is much more forgiving and works much better for us, we have a kid, 2 big dogs, live on the water and hard a rather extended snow, ice and mud period, and we vowed never to do poly again.

Here's are a couple of old pic of our kitchen, there's not much floor showing, but hopefully it will give you an idea of the look.

Good luck-

sandyponder

Here is a link that might be useful: Bush Oil distributor

I would do 5-8" variable width white oak with a medium-dark stain. If you do a tung oil finish, it won't show scratches as much. We did pine and it dings so easily, I'm not sure I would recommend it.

We have the pine 8-12" floors in the sturbridge brown stain from carlisle. I do love the look! Our layout is very similar to what you are describing.

Pine does dent and oak doesn't under normal usage. I'd go with the oak in a darker stain. If it were me I'd stick with the Bruce as it's soo durable and easy to maintain. I have the Bruce in my residence and non shiny Douglas fir in my lake house and the douglas fir requires much more attention. Maybe you can find something somewhere in the middle which has durability due to the finish but the finish is matte. Maybe Google matte finish hardwood flooring.

Before you select anything, I do feel you should review the wood hardness chart to determine what hardness rating there is for whatever you are interested in. It makes a considerable difference in the hardiness of your floor, especially with children and pets. We have hickory in our home, and I've been most impressed with it's durability. I had pine installed in our home in the Adirondacks, and nearly died when the appliance men severely gouged the brand new kitchen floor when they installed the refrigerator! They were being careful, but the floor was still badly damaged.

Here is a link that might be useful: Janka Hardness Chart

Oh man.....do I love the wide plank oak floors in your pics. If I had seen those pictures 18 months ago I would have done the same in my house.

Actually, I love everything about all your inspiration photos. You have great tastes!

LMAO @ beekeeperswife, I agree that SPAM is too soft for flooring, but do you think it would make a good window treatment?

sandyponder

I just got Bella Cera floors - hickory which is very hard, and stained 'bologna'. The planks vary from 4-6 inches, and they are really handscraped in a random pattern as suggested by the grain. I think they look very rich but also fit in with our very casual lifestyle. We have had them in for less than a week but so far no scratches from our 65 pounds dogs - nor from the chair that i dropped while carrying it over my head. Dust bunnies are definitely a problem though. Was all that in my carpet before?

Here is a link that might be useful: new floors

Thanks guys! Sorry about my late reply. We had my five nieces and nephews over the past couple of days! I've been a bit busy!

You guys have been very helpful! I'm meeting with our architect Monday to ask him specific questions re: site finished vs. engineered. We are in New Orleans and for that reason a lot of people do end up with engineered b/c of its stability with the humidity we have here.

That said, I was at my local flooring place again today throwing down sample boards. Before going, I'd narrowed it down to reclaimed heart pine, brazillian walnut, wide plank oak or stained hickory. Today, I kept going back to the reclaimed heart pine in amber. It's gorgeous. I'm not sure I mind dings since it's expected with heart pine. And from what I've read heart pine is a little harder than regular pine? I also liked another floor from the same local manufacturer (Crescent Hardwood), their Brazilian Walnut (Ipe). It was pretty also but not as pretty as the Reclaimed Pine.

pps7... I'm glad you chimed in because I had asked you (in the midst of someone else's thread) what floors you had put in b/c they're lovely! How did they install your appliances, etc w/o damaging the floors though? The refrigerator tale from nanny2a above scares me!

newfiewoofie - I looked at the Carlisle website and the floors look really nice! But there's nowhere remotely close to here to see them in person or to get them.

sandyponder - your place is so colorful and fun! Your floors are very pretty! Thank you for posting your experience with your finish. I've taken note of it as well.

Beekeeperswife - I missed the xingxing drama! It's been poofed! Ha!

musicteacher - I did look at a third choice floor, Mannington Marrakech Moroccan Hickory in the 5" width. It was nice also.

And to everyone else that responded, thank you so much! I took notes and suggestions to save and look at! More feedback is welcome too. You guys are great!