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I just installed new floors in my home and ultimately went with a pre-finished handscraped oak with a polyurethane finish..the polyurethane is less shiny than most other coatings..as for the floors in the picture, your best bet maybe to get unfinished wood, lay it, sand it down (so that its even) and then stain it yourself with a coat of satin polyurethane on top. It would be super cheap to do this--as the wood would only cost about 2 dollars a square foot-but its more labor intensive and the sanding is a mess.

hi EP. i typically use a water-based polyurethane when we want a natural finish, which has a few advantages over an oil-based product--it doesn't add too much amber color, it shows scratching far less, and (best of all) it's far healthier for your installers the environment in terms of VOC's. you can get it in varying finishes, so you should try some test patches to see what you like. i typically recommend satin, which isn't shiny, but still gives the floor a little bit of ambient glow.

if you're looking for a super-pale look, with really minimal yellowness, you could also bleach the floors before finishing. but, that's expensive and messy, and you need a really good installer to get an even color.

What sniplet said... couldn't have said it better

I personally love a product called OS Wax. We've used it on the sanded and restored Doug Fir floors throughout our house and other woodwork. It maintains the original wood color, while bringing out some beautiful warm undertones.

It's not great if you have big dogs, or wear stilettos in the house (unless you have real hardwoods), but we don't wear shoes much indoors. You can also make repairs, ie if there's a stain you can sand then reapply the wax. Enjoy!

I used Osmo floor oil on fir floors I just had put in. Applying the oil takes an evening and it dries over night (you have to do two coats).

It's not glossy at all doesn't seem to yellow the wood. My fir floors look a little "brighter" than they did before the oil, but it seems to be mellowing as the oil sinks in. My parents have this oil on their hemlock floors and they've stayed a very blond shade.

It's a little stinky while drying, but I believe it's a natural low VOC product.

If you are refinishing an existing wood floor to get the pale color, use wood bleach. Test a piece of flooring before you bleach the whole floor.

oops. someone sad that already. :P

What about a soap treatment? Does anyone know what they mean by that? here are some Hansen cabinets with soap treatment.
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/031208karinahousetour/karinahousetour22

teak counters and drawers treated with a soap to keep them very matte in finish

Hansen Livingkitchen furniture.

There are a number of ways to acheive a non-finish finish on wood floors.
Try a lye and white oil finish or a lye and soap finish. A great source of inspiration is Dinesen floors:
http://www.dinesen-floors.com/dinesen.asp

See their maintainence recommendations here:
http://www.dinesen-gulve.dk/engelsk/dinesen.asp?side=vedligeholdelse

Or use a water-based finish.
The products from Bona are awesome and low VOC - especially their Naturale or Traffic finishes: http://www.bona.com/

Good luck!

don't know but I'd like to find out about those little statues - where are they from? what are they made of? very cute.

Those are little metal piggy banks from Our Children's Gorilla:

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/onlinecatalog-only/our-childrens-gorilla-023468

As hessilou mentions, it looks like that floor has a Scandinavian-style white soap finish. I've lived with this before and loved the look, though you have to be careful with them - no shoes in the house, regular cleaning, etc. But they're gorgeous!