Are you staining them yourselves? Maple needs to be conditioned before staining. There is a wood conditioner that is clear and you put it on before the stain. It helps the maple stain more evenly. I have also heard that Maple is tough to stain a dark color - hence why most maple cabinetry etc. is either natural or a light color.

I do know that many professionals have a process to stain maple by spraying on the finish. The other thing is alot of maple doesn't have as much grain as your walnut flooring, so it will most likely look pretty solid dark brown. Have you investigated poplar as a door wood? Poplar has more of a grain like the walnut and it's a bit easier to stain, although I'd condition it too.

The doors are pine and have already been purchased so I have to make them work. I know that they won't look the same as the walnut although the grain pattern is somewhat similar. Mainly I'm looking to match the color without making a mess out of them.
Thanks

I think the best thing to do with pine is to paint, not stain. Your floor is beautiful but I think your doors could end up amateur-ish looking. Can you not return them? If not, I would look for a paint color rather than stain. But I am no expert so hopefully someone else weighs in.

OK let me rephrase the question. I don't think staining the doors will be satisfactory so I thought maybe I could get a dark brown glaze OR thin down some brown paint and paint them and then cover them with poly. Do you think that might work? Has anybody ever used either technique?

Ok, you can paint or stain but first you MUST seal the pine doors. Evidently, the knots in the pine can continue to bleed sap forever??

DH says just seal and then you can paint or stain.

Or, check out the woodworking forum (or a name close to that) here on GW/ivillage. DH is a woodworker so he also said to talk to the people at your local woodworkers store and they'll be very helpful.

Thanks whenicit. I will seal them first and check out the other forum :o)

Whatever you do ... test, test, test first on the same type of wood and one that has the same type of coloring. Get your formula figured out, write it down, and save it.

Just a thought -- when I first moved into my last house my DH insisted that everything be dark walnut. I found it very depressing... but we're where it rains 9 months of the year. I couldn't wait to paint them all white! Doing that gave the house, and my mood a great lift and looked fine with the dark walnut stained floor. I don't know if that would be your experience or not, but just a thought for you. I would never do all dark walnut again after having lived with it.

Try an exterior paint/stain on some pine scraps. This wouldn't cause the problem with pine taking on a stain only. There are tons of colors available. It would also allow the grain to show through. Then paint a final clear coat over.

Here's an idea.... we did this on some pine radiator covers that we had made, and I wanted them to match our chestnut trim. Worked beautifully.

This is time-consuming and you MUST do a lot of testing on scraps first.. but here's what I did:

I used Minwax Polyshades, which is a combination stain and varnish.

I had to mix two colors to get the exact color I wanted. Experiment first on scraps of pine!

First, sand and seal the doors with a clear semigloss finish.

Then, make sure the doors are horizontal. Don't do this if the doors are vertical, because of drips.

Then, apply the Polyshades carefully. No need to wipe; it goes on like paint... because it sort of is...

The only problem might be, if you ever get a chip in the finish; it comes off like paint. Save some Polyshades for touchups.

I'm going to urge you to steer clear of polyshades. It's just too hard to get color control with it. Even more aggravating if you're not accustomed to working with stain or poly. But that's just my .02.

Pine does need to be condition before staining. That helps stain to absorb evenly. Otherwise, you'll have a blotchy mess.

I do think emagineer's idea is an excellent one. I would go to an independent dealer or someone like Ace (my local Ace carries some great exterior stains) because you're apt to get better advice than a big box store. My Ace carries some outstanding stains, including Cabot's and Sikkens. (They are the only Sikkens dealer I've seen in the area, haven't used it yet, but you should see the Sikkens samples on wood, absolutely stunning! Costly tho.) I've used several brands of exterior stains on our deck, privacy and picket fence. Behr is OK. I like Olympic (it held well on picket.) Cabot makes a good product, and their semi-solid exterior stains might just do the trick. The semi-solid will hide more of the wood grain (but not all of it) but allows texture to remain. They sell small sample cans, too, and have a good color selection.

You don't have to worry about a lot of 'extra' feature of exterior stains such as UV protection or water repel because it's an interior job. And it will need to be covered with a protective top coat. Keep in mind oil-based polyurethane can 'amber up' over time, taking on a golden hue. There are other alternatives, such as water based. (Minwax site has a forum as well as lots of info on product types.)

I've linked below to a good book, it covers a multitude of ways to finish wood ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Great Wood Finishes: A step-by-step guide

Ladies,
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! I went and looked at the doors this morning and they do not have any knots in them so that is a good thing. I will seal them all before doing anything as soon as I find out exactly which product I need under whatever I end up using.
Emagineer and Moonshadow I will definitely check out the tip about exterior stains, the semi-solid might be my best bet. There is an Ace about 30 miles away, I'll go there and pick their brains and I don't mind paying extra for a beautiful result.
I have tried my hand at the Polyshades before, they work pretty well on small areas like windows but I tried them on a door once and OY VEY what a mess. I ended up sanding it back down and painting it. So that is a no go.
Oceanna, I know what you mean about dark and depressing but we are in southern GA where it is bright and sunny most of the time. We have built our home from the ground up and have opted for many things that are out of the ordinary since this will be our forever home and we have no worries about resale later down the road. All of the trim is white, yes around the stained wood windows and around the hopefully stained or stained look doors. Very different but we really like the look, it ties in with the base moulding and the crown so we think it works. Mind you we are NOT interior designers and may get laughed at and talked about but this house is ours, we get to live in it. Also the great thing about it is if we get tired of it the doors can always be painted over.
Anyway, thanks again everybody.

Lisette