The hardwoods are extremely valuable. I would work in a medium brown that eliminates all yellow/orange/red. To do that, the stain will have to have a green undertone. That means a specialized mix for your situation. A HIGH END hardwood flooring professional can do this for you. It will take a couple of weeks to find the right colour/mix. The professional will come in and strip a section of flooring (like 20ft x 20ft). S/he will then apply different stain mixes to this area for you to view. You will then choose the colour that is the best fit for your situation. At a mutually agreeable time, the professional will come in and refinish the entire house - including the stairs (quite expensive but well worth it). The banister can then be stained/painted to match the hardwoods. The only time I would look at moving away from hardwood is in the DEEP south or in very hot climates. And it would be VERY helpful if the entire house was built on concrete and not wood joists. Tile is very heavy. It often requires wooden subfloors to be beefed up (decrease the deflection rating = no movement that would damage the tile). The wood is worth saving - unless you absolutely hate it (disregard the colour). If you love tile and wish to have it everywhere, then go for it. But realize that hot climates are some of the few places where this is considered normal. Everywhere else (any place with "winter") would find this a nuisance should you wish to sell the home. Besides, you mentioned budget. Ripping out the hardwood and replacing with tile would be double the cost of refinishing the hardwoods.

Patricia-- not sure why you're talking them out of it. Now granted, in my case, it may have a specialized advantage, that being most of the homes I work on are lakeside summer homes, where alot of sand gets tracked in, and wreaks havoc on real hardwood. Porcelain plank is the cats meow-- you still get the look of hardwood without the wear and tear. But I really don't think this is going to be a fad. In fact, I see alot of companies doing their best to improve on a product that's already proven itself as a real contender. Take a look at the main floor in this house. This is porcelain plank that my company installed. You can't tell the difference, even standing in the house, until you bend down and touch it. https://www.facebook.com/pg/MainEcoHomes/photos/?tab=album&album_id=832149020279774

Very nice, high-end tiles with REALISTIC chatter/saw marks. In a mill, the saws can have some wiggle room when they cut. That play (the bands start to stretch = movement of the saw blade) causes the saw blade to jump a little bit. They are called "chatter marks". You have them on your planks but not on everyone. That is a sign of a WELL DESIGNED high-end tile. The 'authentic' look of 'barnwood' recycled wood has been 100% achieved with your tile. It is a rustic look because barnwood was created in mills 150+ years ago...and chatter marks were EVERYWHERE. Why? Because they were the only mill for 100 miles AND no one could transport that amount of wood to the next mill...because they didn't have the big horses needed to move it that far (I'm not kidding....2-4 HEAVY draft horses needed to haul logs of out the bush = very expensive). So the locals used the local mill. Your tiles mimic that BEAUTIFULLY. Remember: authenticity is EXPENSIVE to reproduce in a man-made product such as yours. Be happy/proud your tile does a magnificent job reproducing that effect. Your builder has access to some EXPENSIVE products. And your builder has done a FANTASTIC LOOKING job installing them. I know many homeowners who would give their right arm and LEFT LEG to be able to afford your tiles. Relax...you are doing just fine.

Limestone-look tile will always be in fashion. Wood-look tile is a style that has peaked, in my opinion, and will look dated in the future. I generally have a negative reaction to design materials that mimic other things, and tile that is supposed to look like wood falls into that category. I know many people like the look of wood tile, but I found it interesting for only about 10 minutes, and then I moved on. Just my 2 cents....