I think any of your 4 selections are fine. To me, they look enough alike that I would attribute differences to photography and lighting. I'd have to see them in person, in my space, to identify any of them as better than the others. That will help answer the "washed out" question too.

If you can swing it, you should go ahead and replace the living and dining room floors. Since you are wanting to lighten/brighten, you would not want to keep the dark floors.

Thanks @kempek01 and @megs1030. Agree that it may look odd with the existing flooring, but we are planning to stick with the existing wood to manage costs and also because the rest of the furniture in those rooms coordinate well with it, so we were hoping to leave it alone. If its really not possible to coordinate the 2 wood floors, the other option is to just go with a more modern tile that better coordinates with the dark flooring, but i'm really hoping we can get away from tile.

Can you refinish The old wood to match the new choice?

Its engineered, will have to check the wear layer to see if thats an option. Thanks!

A pale, modern white oak (with MUCH MORE yellow than you are showing) will look STUNNING with blue lowers and white uppers. The ISSUE is the dark hardwood. As soon as you put the beautiful, pale, buttery yellow updated wood up against the '90's dark' wood flooring you will signal you could not finish the project.

The 250 - 350 sf of the dark, dated wood floor isn't enough to save (assuming it is the ONLY room the dark wood is in). If you remove it and replace it, it will cost (roughly) $3500. Now compare that to the price of the ENTIRE refresh. I'm guessing it is a small amount compared to the rest of the renovation.

I would prefer to see more colour (more yellow) in the wood flooring. You have dark/gray rooms. The pale wood you show has TOO MUCH blue in it. All of your options will look washed out and look like 'death warmed over' in your rooms.

A pretty, soft gold wood tone looks AMAZING with blue cabinets. Remember: a yellow based floor can ADD 'sunlight' to a room. The soft yellows can throw some warm light INTO a space in the same way sunlight can. It comes from the floor not the sky. That's the only difference.

Be aware that the colours you are choosing are 'like for like' with the floors you already have. With your colour updates, that is a dangerous thing to do. I know you want to try to keep the dark wood, but it isn't worth it. A large dark area rug (imagine indigo blue!!!) will do the same thing as the dark floors are doing right now.

The only one I like is the Malta, and I would do the whole ground floor.

Thank you @SJ McCarthy. That wood floor also exists in the attached dining room and a first floor bedroom (about 600 sq ft more). We are making other changes in the kitchen and bathroom, and I've been given a tight budget from the boss (its not her forever home so she's not willing to spend too much). Right now I was seeing install costs around $5.00 in the CA Bay Area and wood costs around $7-8. @SJ McCarthy Do you have some examples of a pale yellow floor you would suggest? If I can get the wood costs down, maybe I can swing it if I cut costs on the other parts of my project.

If you can't get the wood into the $3/sf range (yikes!!!) then you won't be able to afford another 600sf.

Personally I would leave the tile in the foyer and down the hall. Then add the new wood in the other areas...once the kitchen has been finished or close to finished. Then bring in a natural white oak or maple with more yellow in it. The cost of your wood comes from the width and the colour.

Of course you could install ALL dark wood...so dark it looks black (just like the existing hardwood) and simply live with it and hope the next owner likes that amount of 'dark' (not many do...but there are 10% of the population that LOVE that deep dark wood on floors).

I can't see any second wood working with your current wood unless you match it. You may be able to sand and restain your current wood. Honestly, for a space that large, replacing the two small areas that have dark wood would be worth it to get the exact floor color you want and one continuous floor. You can use a darker rug in those areas if you like your lighter furniture on a dark surface. Since this isn't your forever home, you likely have much more cost effective ways to update rather than changing all the flooring. You can keep the floors and cabinets, and just replace the countertop with a warm white quartz, paint the brick and cabinets around the stove a warm white, and lighten up some of your other wall colors.