coolmom1, Thanks for letting me know that I guessed what your beautiful floors were. I really am getting very good at knowing the different wood species when I should be doing my work and then making a decision. One day I want the Brazilian Cherry rich floors that give contrast to my family room furniture and the next day I want the Quartersawn White Oak floors with the rose stain and that nice Semi-Gloss finish that I have grown to love by having the samples on the floor for so many weeks (at first I felt it was too shiny). I keep wondering what the 5" wide planks look like. I wish they had the Quartersawn Oak floors in a 4" wide plank since 5" may look too wide in my rooms. I do like the look of the 3.25" width. I love the quartersawn rays but I also love the Maple floors above in the natural finish.

Refinish your oak floor; only this time use a quality commercial waterborne polyurethane and you won't have the problems you are experiencing.

I wanted to thank everyone for the responses. We haven't made a decision yet, partly because we found another expensive project lurking for us: The chimney sweep came and discovered our chimney lining has deteriorated, something our home inspector overlooked. The sweep showed me all the terracotta that he cleaned out of our chimney. What's more, he said there isn't room to put in a 7-inch chimney lining, which is what's code, only 6 1/2. So that would require chipping away at the chimney from the interior of the house. Or, he suggested getting an electric water heater instead, in which case he could bring me down to a 6-inch liner. That might be the least expensive, least messy option. The other idea is to possibly make the conversion from oil to gas heat and vent it outside. I prefer gas heat myself, but the new boiler we inherited with the house is only two years old. Also we have some steam radiators--I don't know how easy that would be. At any rate, it all sounds like several thousand dollars, and we have a one-year home warranty that came with the house that I really hope covers some of this. In the meantime he cleaned out the chimney for now and we have a carbon monixide detector upstairs. I'll probably put up a separate post about this issue, as soon as I stop feeling sick to my stomach! Thanks again....

@Marilyn Butler, I'm also considering sheet marmoleum in my kitchen so I'm really glad to read that you were still happy with your floor some time later. Several questions: Did you have the marmoleum installed under your cabinets, or just install up to the edge of the cabinets? Did you install with adhesives or was it a looselay installation? Have you moved your fridge or stove over the marmoleum since the install? And if so, how did the marmoleum do with that? We have a cat too. I was considering cork before, but read that some cats damage cork floors with their claws when they tear around at high speeds (as our does). And I'm a bit worried about inevitable accidents (urine, throw-up, etc.) on the marmoleum and how the floor would do if you don't see the problem for awhile (e.g. overnight). Just wondering how well this floor does with cats? Thank you!