Resurface And Restain Hardwood Floors

[Silurian]

The hardwood floors in our townhouse needs to be resurfaced. The current stain is of a dark cherry. I am thinking if it is possible to resurface and restain the hardwood to something lighter. I'm not sure how easy and expensive it would be to sand down the floor to remove the current color. I figured sanding it down is the only way to do it. Any ideas or thoughts?

[chownah]

Are you sure it is stained? Mai Pradoo is a kind of wood often used for floors which is naturally dark red in color. If you sand it it will lighten the redness but not eliminate it and I believe that even if you do this and then apply finish it will darken again...but I'm not sure of this.