Are you DIY'ers and do you have the time to work on the floors. If they need a total refinish, i.e. sanded to bare wood, you might look at hiring a pro to do the sanding only. It is not that difficult to stain and finish with poly. What type of wood do you have? Mine are oak with no stain, just several coats of poly. THe last floor we done, I hired the sanding and applied the finish myself - three coats of clear satin poly. It just takes time and patience. I will be happy to share the details with you if you go that route. You can do it much less than $5,000 this way.

What's wrong with the wall color you now have? It is a warm gray from the looks of it on the monitor. And flooring should NOT be a change from the kitchen flooring. Continue it. Even via refinish to all other areas........perhaps a bit deeper, but you never be completely rid of the red undertone if that is what is bothering you. The red casts a tone on the mindful gray cabintery, making it read a bit cooler. Teh counter tops are very warm in tone. Maybe you can elaborate as to where you are trying to "go" beyond ridding yourself of carpet?

I plan on converting carpet to wood on a home I've recently purchased. Floor planks are picked out -- 3 1/4" solid maple. My supplier can install them before I move in. My supplier does not do stairs, and even if they did, I don't know if I can make all the design choices before moving in, given limited access to the property. Should I delay the floors until I have the stairs figured out -- even if it means I'll then have to move around furniture? If not, should I have the floor supplier remove the rails and put in new edge and stair nosing -- so that the nosing has the same finish as the floors, and also so that the floors will be flush against the nosing? Or should I leave existing nosing/balusters/posts in place -- so that I have the flexibility to refinish them in place if it makes sense -- railings are in good shape, but I do not yet know what is underneath the stair carpet -- and if I'll have to put in new treads or will be able to finish the underlying wood.

What I'm hearing about the husband wanting something different = different colour. That's easy enough to do. When lacing in a new wood floor, the ENTIRE wood floor will be sanded and refinished. The colour you have NOW will change (as per your hubby's wish) by the end of the project. Excellent. Win-win. If you leave the existing hardwood IN PLACE you will save the cost of material + cost of labour to remove it. So part of your $16K budget will be minimized by $1K - $2K. So far so good. Currently the vinyl sits LOWER and the carpet sits HIGHER than the hardwood. That's GOOD! That tells me your floors could all be sitting on the SAME subfloor. That's could mean a cost savings (no one will know until the vinyl comes up and the carpet comes up). Or it could mean nothing at all. Subfloors under 'sheet' goods can be horrible. Especially under carpet. Carpets hide HORRIBLE subfloors (that's why builders like to use it...it saves them TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars during a build). If you choose to remove EVERYTHING you will most likely be looking at subfloor repair/replacement. Again, NO ONE will know until everything is down to a continuous layer of subfloor. At that time, the HIGH-END flooring professionals (who deal with hardwood day in and day out....no "guy with a hammer" need apply) will evaluate the subfloor and decide (at the time) what is required to install a hardwood floor. At that time you will be given the ACCURATE quote for the subfloor and labour costs for that portion. Until then you are flying blind re: costs for subfloors. In my neck of the woods (Vancouver BC Canada...just a little north of you), subfloor prep runs $2-$3/sf when dealing with carpet/vinyl removal. Sometimes it is less...sometimes it is more. But that's the normal ball park. I vote for keeping the existing hardwood and adding to it. It will be the cheapest option by far. To give you an idea of costs for refinishing what you have = $5/sf for a full sand/stain/refinish. You can do a quick calculation of the square footage of what you have and then multiply it by $5/sf. It is CHEAPER to refinish hardwood than it is to rip it out and replace it with a factory finished product. Try to convince hubby that he can get the "new" that he wants even if you keep the old. At 19 years of age, your hardwoods are looking for a sand/refinish in the next 3-5 years anyways. Now is a GREAT time to lace in some of the SAME wood (same species/cut/width) and redo everything all at once. Your timing couldn't be better!