Another question on a DIFFERENT subject this time, promise

[IrishAyes]

When the last people to own this house put down living room carpet over the formerly beautiful wood flooring, they GLUED it down! Since I hate wall to wall carpeting with a purple passion, I had the contractor rip out the hideous stuff.

He told me that no amount of sanding would smooth the floors enough to ever make them look decent again. Which I sort of doubt. I do know he wants to sell me completely new flooring.

Question: Would it be smart for me to put down a second wood floor for the sake of winter warmth? Or can I have the original floor sanded and then stained dark enough to hide the discolorations where the glue was spread? I'd wouldn't even mind painting the floors dark burgundy (if dark stain won't do) should it come to that. After all, I'm going to paint the porch floor boards that color.

Fortunately I think kitchen floors are easily salavageable. They have wide dark planks with only peel and press linoleum, which leaves little if any trace. Some of the planks I can see have light stains, but it's not glue and I can redarken those areas with very strong coffee or a number of other solutions.

I should mention there's nowhere within a hundred miles of here to rent a sander; I can buy one for $450 from Oreck but would prefer to spend that $ on something else if possible.