Perhaps I can help. I'm a degreed Engineer in the furniture industry with 32 years of experience, primarily in the upholstery industry. One of my projects was to come up with a way to produce frames on demand. At that point we had 250,000 parts in bins to support the immediate assembly of any frame purchased by the customer. This is very high quality furniture and competes with Century, Lee, Ethan Allen, etc. That was 1990 and the investment amounted to 1 million plus. As computers and software $ came down, we now could get the equipment but not the raw material. Furniture grade plywood had not yet been made...understand tat it is very different from construction grade with much greater strength and consistancy. Over a period of several years, companies came up with laminated hardwood panels that proved to be much stronger than hardwood frames.....unfortunately called plywood. Purdue, North Carolina State, and Mississippi State have all tested the strenght vs hardwood and agree it can be superior. Notice CAN BE. Many manufacturers use lower grade plywood which will not withstand the test of time. The same is true of manufacturers using hardwood....some don't even kiln dry the lumber but it's still hardwood! As with anything, research. Most companies will gladly answer any questions now that you know what to ask. I have seen the Century frame and "plywood" material that is specially produced to Century's standards. Century has always been associated with high quality and they have not changed. I can assure you, it will last a lifetime.

Im confused..... You say you want "real hardwoods" on the stairs and prefinished "real hardwoods" in the bedrooms. It sounds like you're wanting the same "type" wood with the same "type" finish and the same "type" top coat on it. You know that apples-to-apples thing. So why not prefinished for the stairs too? Then it is the same. I doubt you would save any money by having an installer finish the wood for you. But, if for some reason you need one stained and one not then have your installer bring you samples of the stairs that he has match-finished. Or, if you plan to do this yourself- have an actual paint store (not HD or Lowes-- but a paint expert) "match" the prefinished "real hardwoods" for you to sample stain several pieces on. See if it looks "real" enough to you. We did that when having our alder cabinets stained to match the knot colors in our unstained oak floors. BTW....Engineered is real wood with several layers under it that criss-cross (usually 5-7). In some areas of the country people are advised not to put down solid hardwood that might "pop" on cement floors. This is usually the case for those that live in the western states as almost all homes are built on slab. Laminate is basically a photograph. And just like any photograph some are bad and some are great.

I would love a border even just a simple one. You should find out what he quoted (he can show you a sample) and then ask him for options. It will be easier for you to actually see what he had in mind.

I have dark wood floors much like Unique wood floors pictured above and have had them for about 3 years. I chose them because I loved the elegant look of dark wood, despite what I had read about maintenance. There are two of us here and I have not regretted my choice for a second. I run the Rumba every few days and dust mop once a week or so and the floors look great. Now, when the 4 grandkids are here it’s an every day clean-up to keep them clean, but I think that’s true with any floor. If dark wood is what you love then do it.