Most commercial furniture companies have a finish recipe and process that allows them to get the same---or very similar---finish on almost any similar wood.

Gum wood is notoriously difficult to stain evenly because of the wide differences in color. Trying to stain the two and get the same color will be very difficult.

If you were to paint it---and include something along the lines of a time line---grandparents to granddaughter, that might be better than trying to stain it.

I am in the process of refinishing a hope chest given to my wife before I met her---remember the 50's/60's blond furniture? She wanted a dark walnut stain but when she saw what was under the factory finish, she said "Just paint it."

A dark stain or dye may be more forgiving if you prefer a wood look to a painted one.

You could try bleaching on a small part of the back of the piece. Perhaps you can use a very weak bleach solution.

If you lightly sand it, does the darker spot get better? I had a couple dark areas from water seeping thru the finish on the top of an old dresser - a practice piece before tackling my better pieces. I stripped it and sanded it before staining. The dark spots weren't deep and they sanded away. I also used rich mahogany stain which covered many flaws.

You can also make the bed with lots of big pillows.

I think it is wonderful that you are refinishing the bed for your daughter.

I recommend using a gel stain on the frame. I had a coffee table that looked very similar to that beforehand and the gel stain gave it a very nice deep and warm brown color but still showed some of the wood grain as well.

Gel stain is generally easier to apply as well and doesn't run as much as liquid based stain. It sits on top of the wood much like paint does (while still showing the grain), unlike liquid based stain which penetrates the wood more.

I actually put together some detail on how I refinished my coffee table which might help you (I put it in the link section below).

Maybe have a look at it if you're interested since I think that would work for your wooden bed frame as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Refinishing Wooden Furniture

use a wood conditioner , it seals the wood up to a point. sand the wood with 120 sand paper then with 220-280 sand paper.clean the dust and apply the conditioner with a brush. i prefer minwax myself. but regardless read the instructions. next use an oil stain (again minwax) the reason for oil stain is because it gives you plenty of time to work with it. brush it on and wipe off the dark wood first. try a small spot to see the how it works. the worst thing that can happen is you don't like it, and mineral spirits will wash it all off.