It's what you like that is the best. In a previous house, we had select and better white oak. 2 toddlers, 2 labs a cat and lots of activity. The oak was almost impervious to the abuse it took. White oak stains well and has lots of character. So maybe take that as a guide and go the janka hardness table for various species of wood since there are many that are much harder than the white oak. I think the harder and more natural darkness of the wood (like ipe I believe) the harder it will be to get it to take stain, acheive the color you want or to take stain evenly. That said, ther are many available now at not too outrageously priced that may achieve the color you want with out staining it. For example, ipe and cumaru are both (from what I have seen) reddish brown in color with ipe being much darker of the two. Both rate over 3500 on the janka scale while white oak pushes about 1360. Others here can probably advise you better of the difficulties of dealing with these super hard woods though. I have only seen the finished product in friends houses or what I have seen online. Anyway, white oak is sort of an average price to start with and then you can go form there as to color, hardness,ease to work with (stain/sand/finish etc) and price.

Thank you for this suggestion... I am torn as well with the remodel of this 25 yr old home. I chose cherry floors, SW Sand Beach paint with BM White Dove trim. Nothing as grand as the house above, my ceiling are low, lighting was a challenge, plus kitchen has cherry cabinets as well. I am going with a quartz countertop with a marble look to lighten up the kitchen. Everything piece of trim was solid oak in the house. Now on the window treatments and furniture. Any further suggestions?

Hard without knowing exact shades and your style and the whole concept you're going for, so totally agree with others-nothing will be as helpful as seeing your pics Without that crucial info-I can tell you so many colors your leather can be and work beautifully..whites/off whites, tan, blue, purple, green, pink..you see what's happening here? too many possibilities(and lascatx is right-generally speaking,you pay more if you want more "non-standard" color, not always but in most cases..not without exceptions though, and Macy's, with its limited choice, is indeed an exeption, somewhat. ) but many possibilities are nice to have too:) I personally love leather in colors..and find it much more versatile to use against different backgrounds/with many pallettes, than, say, something like black. (coming from someone who has more leather seating than she'd like to have lol..I've aubergine, off white, sunflower yellow, brick red..ready to switch some of these, at this point, frankly..I covered couple of armchairs as to have other textures, you know. they're obviously not situated in one room either..but one gets tired of leather after 20 years, even though of course it's immensely user friendly))) please post your pics if you want more specific advice/suggestions of stores, etc and whatever your style is-the lines is the most important thing (well and quality of course)..pleasing lines, good lines, whatever color you go for

Oh dear. Now we have too many things going on. You have 3 different floors within several feet of each other. You have two DIFFERENT tiles and carpet. The carpet you wish to be rid of...by using either hardwood or tile. Sigh...so many things going wrong (design-wise) right now. Please do NOT place hardwood NEXT TO fake-wood looking product. That means if you KEEP the wood-look tile you should NOT have real hardwood sitting next to it. The other no-no would be two DIFFERENT wood-look products sitting next to each other. That is a design faux pas on par with real wood sitting next to fake wood. Sigh...Now what do we do? You have one of two choices: add MORE of the wood-look tile (probably not possible due to lack of product) OR you remove the wood look tile and do it ALL in the same product. Most man-made products (like your tile) have a shelf life of (roughly) 2 years. If you JUST put in the tile in the office you MIGHT be able to find more...but it won't be in the same dye lot so be prepared for a colour variance. Either way you are looking at a SINGLE floor in the office-living space. As for the colour, you could do something very simple. Replace the carpet with a product that is the same colour/depth of colour. You already have that same colour in the office. You've done it once (successfully). You can do it again. You are set up nicely for a gray/taupe so you might as well keep using it.