" Red Oak is open grain and look's better if filled, White Oak is closed grain therefore doesn't require filling." -Wrong, completely 100% false. Both Red and White oak are OPEN grain woods. The grains on white oak are a bit more narrow, but still open. Maple is an example of a closed grain wood. If you take a close up pic of the floor, and post it, i can tell you if its red or white. I post over on the Floors forum all the time, post your question there and receive a lot more help. I personally dont like the varathane products, but thats for a different debate. For the Smoothest results, lightly abrade between EVERY coat. generally a 150 grit paper is fine, can even go 220. two coats in a day is fine. i would try 3 coats total (2 one day, then 1 more the next), and then see how you like the look. if it looks dry or you feel like another is necessary then go ahead. since you plan on staining the floor, do not keep adding coats after coats of stain. it can effect the adhession ability when you go to apply the coats of finish. If you want the stain to come out darker, you have two options, mix the stain with a darker stain, or you can Waterpop your floor. this will help get a more even color throughout the floor and take the stain a bit deeper. The wood filler i would do this, if you prefer to not trowel fill the entire floor during the sanding process, then after you get two coats of finish on the stain, then spot fill the areas you want and then lightly hand sand the fill off...doing this with finish applied will help prevent you from scuffing the stain off the bare wood causing a shading issue.

My brother has a yellow lab and the exact floors Sophie describes. Clear coat red oak is a great floor for your dog. I love the look of their floors. I've noticed dirt tracked in by their small kiddos, but never noticed yellow lab hair on the floor.

It's mostly a question of preference as to what color you want, especially if you're talking a whole separate level. However, some Houzz advisers would recommend that keeping the same type of flooring throughout all of your home is the best thing you can do for your decor. You sound as though you like the lower flooring look, so I don't see any reason why you shouldn't try to match it. Beware that there is a lot of discussion recently in the Houzz forums about non-yellowing top coat finishes. Bona Naturale waterborne is one of the best for non-yellowing finishes. Other finishes that are oil-based could cause color changes in time. You want a waterborne, and Bona is one of the best. See this link for more info: https://www.bona.com/en-US/Bona-Professional/Products/Coatings/Waterborne-Finishes-and-Sealers/

I have Provincial on my wood floors and love it! It’s a true medium brown, doesn’t skew orange, yellow or red, but feels warm (doesn’t have any grey quality). Not too dark and not too light. It partially depends what species of wood you have. Our floors are red oak. Each type of wood looks a bit different, even with the same stain color. Yours being white oak would naturally have a bit less red undertone than my red oak. The other stain color we seriously considered was Special Walnut, which I found to be the tiniest bit less warm than Provincial. It has a bit of green in its base, which counteracts any red tones in the wood to look more neutral. It doesn’t actually look green. Regardless of what any of us recommend, definitely test any stain colors you’ve narrowed down to on your actual floors before making a final choice. Id be happy to take some pics of mine if you want. Just let me know!