The hallway

Well, it's definitely not perfect – but it's an improvement.

Before:
Carpet removed:
After:
I stuck with the Minwax brand again, but this time again I tried the stain and poly combo. It was definitely less time consuming, but I still find staining to be the most annoying process ever and hope to never do it again.

My only issue with the floor is that I don't like the way it looks when coming up in the stairs. I like the floors from every other direction, but for whatever reason – the glare from the hallway light makes them look super shiny in random places from the angle. I'm hoping once they get walked on enough, this won't be an issue anymore.