I have two dogs and they both live and play inside. At one stage we had three. Our floors look no more worn than the day I oiled then 6 years ago. We will be selling in around a year and at that time I may rotary with a white pad (never need to sand again)but really there is no need. After 30 years of fixing timber issues, it breaks my heart to see such a beautiful substance treated with a toxic plastic bag. This is our puppy the other day with a sore foot.

Hello Louise yes I think this mix will look good. I would suggest limiting the proportion of Lighter timber though, and using a greater proportion of white (like in some of the images above and here below). I would also recommend that you don't stain (colour) your floors but just polish (clear lacquer) them. Before sanding and polishing you could also fill the small gaps and cracks between the boards with Calking and then sand this calking back (when dry) along with the timber to give a more flush uniform, modern finish to your floor. Hope this helps, Malcolm

Pictures will only be inspiration, you’ll really need to try a sample on your floor. I’m with you on disliking redness in the floor. Can you sand back a section in a wardrobe or similar and try with a clear Matt finish and also with a white wash or similar?

Preserve the hardwood floors as is. You don’t want to devalue and down grade them in an attempt to match an inferior product. Where will the old floors meet the new? We can provide some advice on the transition. Embrace the quirks of your house, it gives them character that new builds will never have. You can get quite good engineered wood for the rest of the house (I hate carpet also) and hopefully you can find something that works.