My floors were factory finished red oak with no stain. They are very light and airy. This isn't my floor but is from the website showing the floor I selected.

Two part wood bleach is still made (search for Wood Kote Lite-N-Up Bleach). I also found instructions on making your own if you're adventurous.

One part is a solution of hydrogen peroxide, the other is sodium hydroxide. Once mixed and used it is supposed to self neutralize. After bleaching, a stain is needed. We use Bona DriFast White, followed by a coat of ClassicSeal and either Mega HD or Traffic HD. There's not much point in using more than two coats.

Bleaching supposedly breaks down the wood fibers. I suppose that it might contribute to it being less durable but IMO a white floor is never going to look decent as long as a more practical color will. Bleaching is the best way to remove the pink when pickling Red Oak.

We have refinished bleached floors to other colors.

We had red oak at our last home. It was site finished and we chose a very light stain that basically didn't change the natural color at all. The floors looked very light and pleasant and not pink at all. I would think if you just have your contractor put a durable clear coat on them you'll be very happy. Red oak is super hard wearing-- we were at the Tonka-trucks-falling-off-the-couch stage and our floors still looked fabulous when we moved out.

If you like the floors as they are, just go with a clear stain. you don't have to stain them darker. All of the woods in my home, Acacia, Knotty Pine, Rustic Hickory are considered "natural" stain. Which means my builder just put a clear coat finish on them so the natural colors would come through.

Use higher wattage cool white lightbulbs.

Why would you stain it? If you like the color right now use a clear waterborne finish.

We lived in a wonderful but dark loft some years ago. We decided to lighten the floor so the space would be brighter and the result was fantastic.

The process was known as "pickling" a floor. No bleaching was involved, but we used a white stain we applied and rubbed into the wood. Once satisfied with the consistency, we polyurethaned with water based poly, which won't yellow like oil based poly does. There was absolutely no pink hue on the floor.

I have always wanted to have a floor like that again.

We have had several clients use the Bona NordicSeal and they really like it! We careful about some products they may bring out greens or weird reds in the wood.