You can make the color change anywhere you want.

In old houses I have seen, the first-floor flooring was carried up to the first landing (if it had one) or to the top of the stairs if it was a straight staircase. Then the lesser flooring took over. The objective was to make it look like the expensive stuff went all the way up.

One house had three changes of flooring: something hardwood (walnut or cherry) on the first floor, which went up to where the staircase turned, then oak for the next floor where the main bedrooms were, then pine or cypress going up to the nursery and attics. The servant's staircase was pine all the way.

The only house that had fancy all the way up also had a ballroom on the top floor ... can't have the guests stepping on pine!

Right! I have oak throughout my 1885 house. At some point in the 1930s, the owner put linoleum down in the kitchen and then various layers of more linoleum and plywood through the years. When I took out the coverings, the oak is so pristine, it could have been put in yesterday.

Point is, I intend to put a darker stain in the living room and dining room and keep the light in my kitchen. There will be a faux painted threshold just to separate them and it will be just fine. This will mirror the faux marble in the foyer where the wood could not be nicely salvaged. Just as long as you are happy with the overall look, it should be fine.

My house is a little different. There is oak on the whole bottom level. The 2nd level is all "cheap" southern heart pine. However, the stairs are heart pine as well.

My house isn't "fancy" so I suspect the wood choice had more to do with durability for downstairs than anything.

We chose not to stain either and just let the natural colors show through. Have you talked to the installer/finisher about the dark stain yet. In my woodworking experience, very dark stains are a little iffy on most pine since the wood tends to absorb stain unevenly.

Bill ... Southern yellow pine is harder than most supposed hardwoods if it's aged a bit.

Much agreed, Lazygardens. When I recycled pine beadboard from my porch for my kitchen, it was amazingly hard and still smelled of pine after over a century of being out there.

Well, 100 year old heartpine is a great material, but it wasn't "aged" when installed. That was just the pine that was growing around here at the time.