What you have in your pics is a factory finished floor. It is difficult to get that kind of consistent look when staining unfinished, especially if the unfinished has boards with mixed sawing characteristics. The face sawn material will take up and hold the least pigment and will be the yellow boards you are seeing. We can sometimes get a more even look by using a sand grit sequence to allow more pigment to be deposited on the floor and by doing what we call waterpopping; you may still get variations, but it will look as even as it's going to get. I don't do this...but some of my colleagues will first use an analine dye and then, when it is dry, will follow that up with a pigmented stain. Talk with your finisher.

Quick question. As you know, we had our floors re-stained about 6 or 7 weeks ago, they stained and did one finish coat, and then came back once the project was done to buff out any imperfections and put the final coats on. They say to wait 30 days before you put down any area rugs...I know part of this is to protect their business, but if it was just the clear coats is that still applicable? I can't go an entire month with our dogs and no rugs, and we want to move back in!! How imperative is this, the rugs will always be in the same spots with our floorpan layout, so if it affects coloring it won't matter really....thoughts?

I would recommend against staining your floors gray. Look at non-reddish stains for the most timeless, classic look, either lighter or darker, according to your preference. (I have Jacobean on white oak. It is a darker, not red stain. )

@millworkman Thank you for your feedback. I know they will not look the same as they are different woods, but I am hoping to find something that will get me that lighter color with the least undertones if that makes sense.