So . . . . I have wood floors throughout my old house. Vintage 1929. They were refinished in the 90's and really need redoing. I decided to do them all at the same time and the floor guys have been in and talking to me.

Because the house is old the floor boards have separated a bit and show as dark lines on the very light wood floors. I was hoping to minimize that look by staining the floors a dark brown. I do love dark wood floors.

BUT (and you know there has to be a "but") I have oak in most of the downstairs, maple in the kitchen and on the second floor, and something else (ash, I think) on the stairs. The rooms and halls flow from one to another. There is no comfortable or easy place to change wood colors, and actually, I don't want multiple colors of wood floors in the house.

Right now, they are a uniform blondish color. I wanted to go to a medium to dark brown.

I've talked to three floor refinishers -- one told me no problem, one told me the maple would be blotchy and offered no guarantees, and the third said never try to stain maple. All of them are sure their opinions are the right ones.

My questions:

1. Can the floors be stained a dark color and match?

2. Will it take a rocket scientist to do the job?

3. And am I looking at a very expensive job with the real possibility of not being pleased with it when it is finished?

Thanks,

Suzanne

ps Replacing flooring is not in the budget. Also, I don't want to paint the floors.