We just stained our red oak floors Minwax Dark Walnut. I'll post a pictures in a few minutes for you. We used two coats of stain and our flooring guy said that he honestly can never tell someone if one or two coats is what they'll need. He has you look at it after the first coat and then make the call. I think Oak is more resistant to stain though, so it's possible one coat will be enough on Pine.

juddgirl2, please post pics!! Our wide plank floor should be going in in about a month or so. we've chosen a carlisle stain-sturridge brown.

Allison - thanks so much for the info. We'll try the first coat and see how it looks. Pine does seem to take the color easily. I really like the darker color on the sample board but I'm impatient to get back in my house!

chris - I'd love to see pictures of your stained floors. I've been searching on google for images and saw a few that were beautiful. And then I've always admired Allison's!

pps - I will post pics. I really like the Sturbridge Brown. It's similar to the Dark Walnut, from what I remember of the sample board they sent me. Be careful with the glue if you're using mastic to install the floors. You need to wipe that up before it cures, or it just doesn't come off without sanding. We learned the hard way after the first few rows :-(

Long day yesterday, missed you were doing pine. Our trim, doors and interior windows are all clear pine (not as many/any knots, etc). They were stained SW Walnut Wainscot - one coat. They are as dark as the floors, which are not pine. The cedar beams are another stain, and the T&G spruce on verandas is a mix of two stains. But everything is so close, just like I wanted. :D

Can't wait to see yours finished!

Here is a link that might be useful: You can see pine stained here

Thanks, Allison. The stains do look very similar. I really like the AM post on your accessories. That's one area where I definitely need some help!

I just finished the last coat of tung oil on my sample board and I really like the depth of two coats. Might be a bit dark for my DH's taste, but very dramatic IMO. For oak, I might prefer only one coat to show off more of the grain. On pine, I prefer the character to be more subtle.

We're in the middle of pounding in the square cut face nails and it's quite the job! Purely decorative b/c we're over concrete but just cutting the long nails down and installing them is taking many long hours. This might put us behind our staining schedule and I probably would have reconsidered this choice had I known the work involved.

Oh well, live and learn :-D

Tell your DH it lightens a tad with age. We've been in 4.5yrs and the floors are a tad lighter. Not drastically so.

Did not know you were doing nails - very cool!

Thanks. If closer, I would take you shopping for accessories - vintage, of course.

Thank you for the tip. I didn't think of the color lightening up but it makes sense with the UV exposure over time. I tried a heavy coat of stain with a light wipe down on a sample board and it wasn't as even a coat as the two lighter coats, so that's probably the better option.

Shopping with you would be wonderful. I'm sure you have much better vintage finds down south than we do in So Cal. I'll have to remember to check out some antique stores when I visit family in Georgia this summer.