If the house was built before 1950, I think you can get away with finishing the pine and being done with it. Matching the oak would likely be imperfect and/or expensive.

If the area is adequately supported for the stone, extending the travertine would be ideal, I think, giving you a good solid floor at the top of the stairs. You could even extend it into the powder room. Depends on how big a job you want to make of it. Unless it's a contemporary house, all the different floors just speak to the house's history and are fine.

I'd stain the pine to match the oak and be done with it. It's amazing how uniform wood can look when it's all stained and finished the same.

I say this having spent all week dying new pine quarterround molding to match our 90yr old douglas fir baseboards. :-)

If it's a heavy traffic area, in some ways wood might be safer than tile? I often slip on tile, esp with wet shoes (but then I'm a total klutz).

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

BlF, yes, I know exactly what you mean about the turning of the feet. Ever look at the wear patterns on any leather-soled shoes? They are circular!

Unless of course you want to relay the sheet vinyl that you have on the stairs? That could be option E.
Smile when you say that, blf! (shudder...)

Plllog, the house is from 1930. I like your thinking on the palimpsest effect (now that I know its architectural rather than its parchment or codex meaning).
You raise a good point about the support for that area. I adequately stiffened the joists under the kitchen, but did not make a concerted effort under that area. Happily, I just checked, and it should be fine. Of the 3 joists under that area, two are fine (one supported elsewhere, one I stiffened "accidentally").

Circus: you are probably correct about the invisibility once color-matched. I think there are probably 4 people in the world who would notice: plllog, one of my girlfriends, palimpsest, and my sister. And probably none would care.

I suppose I don't have anything to lose to try staining the pine. If I will change it, I do have to make a final decision soon, though, as I hope to do the kitchen floor next.
Thanks!

I am with you on staining the pine. Keep it simple where you can...

Definetly stain the pine.
In our house, we had to stain a red oak saddle to match our pine floors when we reno-ed our kitchen.
After applying several coats of different color stain, I was able to get the match, not perfect, but so close that only I notice it.
My guess is that you'll have 3 saddles in that space, one at each floor transition and one leading to the powder room.
That should help "fool" your eye into blending the slight color mismatch between the different floors.
The only one who'll notice the difference in graining will be you.

Depending on budget and other decor in the house, it might be fun to do something eye-catching like a mosaic or something like a 2x2" mosaic stone/glass tile. I have a couple of marble mosaics and they're a terrific accent that I still enjoy the heck out of after 5 years.

Otherwise the options of staining to match the other wood or extending the kitchen travertine both sound like good solutions to me.

Thanks, Dianolo. I guess if anyone knows about unnecessary troubles, it is you! I do hope things are going well for you.

Will: Thanks for the moral support! Yes, I was banking on the thresholds to help hide the transitions.

Chiefneil: If I were going to do that, I would probably replicate the earthy tiles in my front foyer or fireplace hearth (oh, goodness, I didn't know the fireplace tiles looked so dirty!):

I love these, but I don't think I am up for a project like that! I am glad to know you still are charmed by your efforts after this long.

Since it's a wooden stairwell and gets lots of use, you might do best to avoid tile, even if you stiffen the joists below. You'd have to deal with adding 3/4" height to the existing subfloor, also (or whatever the total of substrate, mortar, tile thickness would be) which might throw the door saddles off - although I know you're more than qualified to deal with those issues. Don't borrow trouble, perhaps?

To me, a wood 'foyer' (as it were) best matches the style of an older house and brings out the beauty of the surrounding doors, although this is by no means stylistically definitive.

Happy Thanksgiving as you mull over the project!

Another vote for staining it! I just love old floors and the mis-match doesn't bother me one bit. After all that work getting them cleaned up - enjoy the beauty of the wood and your work. ;)

After all the work has been finished, I thought I would update this thread. Last winter, I decided to put tile in the area that I sought advice about in this thread. I had already shown some pictures of that area in the spring in other threads but will repeat one here. Here is a view from the LR into the hallway in question and on into the kitchen. Obviously, I decided to continue the kitchen pattern into the hallway, and to add a decorative border at the top of the stairs:

I still had to decide how to treat the stairs (visible on the left of the above picture) and a landing that leads to the outside. I continued the border pattern down the stairs (which matches the pattern that goes down the full set of stairs to the basement):

I also fabricated the plinths at the top of the stairs to provide a transition between the two different baseboards. (Previously, there was a doorway there so the baseboards did not meet.) I just put a simple ogee detail at the top of a 1x3 poplar board to form those.

and then I put a herringbone pattern on the landing:

I again used epoxy grout (Spectralok Latte) and matching caulk at where the plane changes.

I really like the overall effect! Very happy with it so far.

Another vote for staining the pine to match the oak

That turned out great!

Wow, that is beautiful, Angie! Very nice work--you have such a good eye.

This looks amazing. Just perfect. Congrats.

I missed this thread last year (was moving). Thanks for showing the final result. Your DIY skills continue to amaze me! The project looks great, and I'm glad to see the final conclusion.

Island, thank you for your vote, but I am afraid that ship has sailed! :-)

(Fellow) Badger, sjerin, Kris_ma, and Breezy: Seriously, thank you for the kind words. I think you, in general, overstate the case! But thank you!

Looks great! I think that decision worked well for you.

Somehow when you posted before I missed the bathroom floor. I love that mosaic! Do you have any info about it?

Angie--I refuse to believe, based on the descriptions and pics of what you've done at your own home along with how easily the answers to complicated questions on the forum seem to roll off your fingertips, that I am overstating. :)

Williamsem: No, I am afraid I don't have any info on that tile. I am pretty sure it is original to the house, although I do not know that for certain. (It was the same height as the original wood floors, so I suspect it was never redone.) I assume you did see the better picture of it in the OP? (If you want a better picture, I can take one.)

Breezy: Awww, shucks! Merci.

Angie_diy -Wahoo, looks fabulous! Love the plinths as a transition and love how you have connected so many surfaces/patterns together.

Thank you, OB2B!

Re-looking at my own pictures, it perhaps looks a little busy here, but looks fine IRL.