I'd stain the railing and the stair treads the same color as the flooring.

Can you take a picture of the area that’s been stained?

which stain company are you using? please don't say Minwax.

maybe this will help if you can see the stains side-by-side.

I'd say try mixing a special walnut w/your weathered gray. do a 50/50 and 75/25 and test on a scrap piece.

This is quite the coincidence as I’m in the exact same situation this weekend. I’m sandingmy red oak railings and staining them to match my recently weather oak stained red oak flooring. My railings too were that orangey colour. I too considered the darker contrasting route but for me felt matching the floor was worth it. I’m using mainly a hand electric sander which gets 90% of it off. The rest comes off well it’s those sponge sanders with 60grit. I too contemplated leaving the railings the old orangey colour but felt it would look obvious and incomplete that the extra step wasn’t taken. Plus i was concerned about maintaining consistency if I tried blending.Color is minwaz weathered oak. The installers used Duraseal which they said was the same but commercial name.

As a side note, my wall and trim colour is BM simply White and using flat black metal spindles which further negated going with a darker rail. My suggestion is either match existing flooring or go with darker color. But don’t leave them orangey

I like the idea of going darker! It really does depend on your home decor as well! If your decor is soft and warm colors, I would try to match the flooring. If you have decor with some dark colors, then go with the dark stain. This would tie it all in together!

I once saw a staircase with a RED bannister! Looked like lipstick :)

Find a good paint shop that matches stain, might have to bleach red oak.

Does anyone have any clue how a 50/50 mix of weathered oak and classic gray looks on red oak?