Generally it’s preferred for a house to have one continuous flooring material (obviously excluding baths). The house will look larger and more harmonious. If you want something fun buy a rug for over the hardwoods. Grey hardwoods on one level and warm wood tones on another sound discordant.

M., sorry, this isn't mine. just using some pics to show you examples. the 2nd photo is a red oak, completely sanded and done w/a natural finish. You'd be surprised at how beautiful old wood floors finish up! Call in a professional wood floor refinisher and get some estimates. it won't be an issue to match your existing solid wood flooring. https://www.svbwoodfloors.com/blog/wood-floor-faqs-whats-the-difference-between-a-lace-in-and-a-header/ here's a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDqi5NAnTKk look at this before and after https://adamsfloors.com/installation

There is no standards on pricing. So there is a wide range on it based on quality from D + to A + work. You want to make sure the price justifies the quality of product, labor, time and service. Don't be blinded by pricing. You maybe comparing a D+ flooring contractor to a A+ flooring contractor. Do your best to compare apples to apples. A itemized written quote helps. Find out who will be doing the actual job. Make sure they do not have limited knowledge and resources. The actual refinishers needs to have knowledge of equipment, products and process. Including: job site safety, handling emergencies, handling of sanding dust, disposing rags and applicators. See what type of equipment they have or how they perform their final prep work and with what type of equipment. This helps determine their quality of sanding/flatness and how much pride and confidence they have in their work. A list of products they have used also, helps determine how much pride and confidence they have in their work. Photos of their work.

Thanks. I've decided to keep the oil based finish. It was going to cost an additional 1800 to apply the water based finished and I just don't feel like it's worth the fight with my insurance company (I honestly don't think they would pay it). Plus, and most importantly, we had oil based before with zero problems. I will just have to live with the fact that I can't put my area rugs down for at least 30 days (which will be a pain with Christmas decorating). They will pay for movers to come again after 30 days to help me lift/carefully move furniture while we put our rugs back down. We are hard on our floors. Lots of people in our house (grown kids and grandkids). My hardwood floor guy said that the water based finish he uses (don't remember the name) does scratch easier than the oil based. Between the extra money, the pain of dealing with my adjuster and the fact that we were 100% pleased with our oil based finish before the flood, we will just keep it as is. Appreciate all the advice! Here it is today. More sanding and then Dark Walnut stain starts tomorrow. I'm kind over all of this and I'm just ready to get this finished and move back home. We've been in an Airbnb for over a month.