Sheeisback - don't get yourself set on a look from a photo. Oak has a lot of movement and just because a photo happens to show a section that looks really consistent to your eye that doesn't mean the rest of the floor looks like that. I got some excellent advice when I was in a tizzy trying to choose stain for the floors in our new house - everything but the bathrooms and laundry area are hardwood, no carpet anywhere and I was frantic because it's so much wood and HAS to be right! Didn't want natural, didn't want dark, didn't want yellow/orange/red.....sound familiar? Amy (amysrq in the old days) told me to think of the floor as a secondary player - you don't want people walking in and only noticing your floor, not your inviting decor or art or family photos or whatever it is you feature in your home. Sure they can walk in and say wow your floors look great but it should stop there unless you used some vivid aniline dye in a modern house which is totally not you! She said that anything that falls within what our brains tell us is a 'natural wood tone' will become backdrop to rugs, furniture etc - as it should. Of course some stains have more red or orange but even those will look appropriate and largely neutral unless they are VERY red or orange. It was great advice and calmed me a lot about the decision but I still panicked when the floors were done picking out boards that I didn't think right which is insane. I LOVE my floors now, there are boards that are noticeably lighter, a few boards get a distinct pink hue when the sun hits them and there are streaks of lighter or darker areas within the same board! What am I going to do rip them out? Of course not - embrace the wood for what it is and the beauty of a natural product. Yes, 7' is a nice length but see if you can get them to try for 7 to 10. You'll still have short boards which are needed at the ends and in closets if you're doing them but getting some of those longer boards mixed in with the 4', 5' 6' makes for a beautiful floor. We rejected the flooring brought to us initially because it wasn't what we ordered in length, the installer had a fit, said that's all that's out there and quit. We ended up ordering ours from a place we knew back home in Chicago and had it freighted to NC. For some reason the long boards seem to go north and the shorter more 'character' boards are popular here. We wanted neither. Shoot for select, long boards and you'll be happy. Can't wait to see it. And BTW - are you working with a specific stain mfg that the installer prefers?

My best guess is it was still 'fresh' when you moved in. It should be at its toughest by now. Even though these finishes SAY they are fully cured in 10 days (10 days=95% cure = 'full cure' to the manufacturer) they still need another 2 weeks to get the last 5% over and done with. Again, this is HIGHLY dependent on the ACTUAL product used. And the 'cure times' are greatly affected by the humidity and heating/cooling going on IN the home before during and after the finish was applied. Traditionally the finish is applied over 2-3 days (day 1 = primer + 1 coat finish; day 2 = 2nd coat finish + light sanding + 3rd coat). The primer and first coat of finish *can be applied on the first day...but they don't have to be. But these coats need to go down sooner rather than later (too long between coats means more abrading). Once these coats have been applied the house is left in a livable state (heating/cooling system on as if someone were living there). After the first two weeks of cure, the floor could then be 'covered' with ram board to protect it from the rest of the trades people moving in and doing 'finishing' work. Once the ram board is taken off then the floor is 'babied' for another couple of weeks just to be sure. My 'finish' senses are telling me this was a fresh, delicate floor finish that may not have been fully 'hardened'. A rush to move into the space may have lead to a soft floor at a time when you needed it to be super tough. It needed to be babied for the first two weeks that you moved in. I'm going the 'worst is over' when it comes to scratching...but the damage is done. Talk to your builder and get the name of the product and the application schedule. At the same time ask if there is anything that can be done to add more finish (buff and coat) in the Traffic HD (offer some financial incentive to get this moving faster). But it will mean you will need to move everything off the floors, and then allow the final coat to 'toughen up' for another few weeks. You will have to be SUPER careful while you wait for the Traffic HD to harden. If you were in a hurry to get into the home in the first place, I'm going to guess the 'buff and coat' is not going to be easy to manage.

You have the opportunity to have site finished white oak floors...that’s what I suggest. We put white oak, site installed, throughout the home we gutted, 4 years ago. I was on oxygen at the time, and couldn’t be around dust and fumes. We stayed at a hotel for three or four days (can’t recall exactly), while the work was done. Returned home to beautifully finished floors. Love the stain color, and the floor is so easy to clean...even in the kitchen. Site finished floors are are generally preferred, as they can be sanded and refinished many more times than prefinished. Also, the finish on site installed is tougher, if the floor is properly polyurethaned. Three coats of matte polyurethane were applied to our floors. We didn’t care for any of the straight stains, so our contractor customized colors for us by mixing stains, and putting them on samples of the white oak. He then told the floor guy what we chose...a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of Great American and Natural. Here they are:

That wood work in your home is to die for! Honestly, often part of the charm of older homes is the "evolution" of different types of hardwoods over time - are you completely opposed to sanding the existing hardwoods down and refinishing in the same stain? The ones in your pictures look to be in great shape and definitely fit the feel and age of your home. Could save you a lot of money and headache and end up looking great - just a thought. Whatever you do, please avoid putting in wide plank engineered wood floors (that are everywhere right now) - vintage hardwoods are incredible elements in older homes. Newer wood floors can zap the charm right out of an older home IMO.