Advice for floorbords, sanding and colour please

[compact]

Hi
I have 2 questions which maybe interlinked

We have stripped back the wood on the Skirting boards, door surrounds and banister.
At the moment is the a dirty reddish colour and still needs more sanding on it.
What do you suggest, from my poor photos? Sand back to original wood then varnish? Or sand it s bit more then clear varnish, leaving it looking 'weathered', 'old' 'interesting'?

What do you think I should do with my floorboards?
How should I fill the cracks? and broken boards?
Should I sand back down to wood and varnish?

Does the flood and skirting have to be similar shades?

All confused with this wood, sanding and varnishing. All I do know is it is bloody hard and dusty work

Here are some photos that could hopefully shed some light.

 

[Symptoms]

Compact - you've taken the trouble to reveal the wood below the paint (nice shade of blue below the phone socket!!!) so show it off; after final sand, clear varnish. Floorboards - sand & clear polyurethane. Broken or split f/boards swap for decent ones of the same size & vintage which may be elsewhere in the house (say bedroom below carpet) before you sand. Doing this will result in a floor of uniform colour; you will not get new floorboards to match the old ones. Any new f/boards put in bedroom to swap for old ones to be used where they can be seen and admired.

Of course, most pine joinery in old houses was never meant to be seen - it was normally painted, or scumbled. Because of this best grade timber wasn't used except in the best houses.

 

[compact]

Cheers for the advice.
I didn't think of swapping boards.

The lovely blue paint was actually on the skirting boards, door frames, stair case etc.

It came off with a heat gun in lots of lovely acrid blue smoke.

We haven't done anything with the boards, they are as we found them when we took the carpet up.
It does actually look like someone has maybe varnished or stained them in the past (also a downstairs room with horrid 60's carpet has boards painted black under them...)