I do not see how that can be true. A post above said $50 a tread....not knowing but assuming you need anywhere from 13-18 treads, thats roughly 900 right there....labor should be the exact same no matter what. Request a break down quote for him to itemize everything. Or better yet, find a different installer... btw, maple stains just as good as anything else. the majority of wood products on the market are maple. From cabinets to floors, most are maple based due to its staining abilities and smooth grains. I build custom drum sets and use maple 99% of the time, sometimes birch. I stain all kinds of different mixed colors and tones. I have never conditioned the wood, and have never had any issue with staining the wood. Most customers even order a ebony stain. However....walnut grains and natural tones can not be beat by anything IMO. It is a beautiful wood. If that is what you want, go for it. Get various bids, etc. If you love something, do it right from the begining. Everytime you look at your staiway and see a maple wood with a walnut stain, it will look great, but you will always regret not real walnut!

Thanks for all the info, everyone! I have to use a carpet runner on these stairs, because the center area is pretty trashed. One had the lip of the stair partly broken and another one had a big open knot. They're not pretty enough to stand alone, but i think they will look fine mostly covered up. I'm hoping i won't regret using the water based stuff, but the part of the tread that shows won't really be walked on. Here are pictures. the treads have two coats of polycrylic right now, and I'm planning to add a third.

Take a look at Revere Pewter. It is a gray that depends on the light in your house. it looks very light gray in some pictures but can also go well with some Browns. My daughter used it in a bathroom with a rich brown toned vanity and it looked great, but took on a tan undertone, while still looking gray.

It would look odd to have a light coloured stair/banister with a dark coloured floor. If anything, dark stairs (treads) and dark banister are used to highlight a graceful staircase, but never the other way around. It will look like you didn't have enough money to finish the project... One way to do this is to look at painting the riser white (along with stringers and other trim) and then stain the treads and banister a darker colour (darker than the floor). This is a STUNNING look that supports your new floor colour. Can you do this at a later date? Sure. Can you STAND the look of the gold for a few years? I don't know. Only you can answer that question. Personally it would drive me batty and I would get physically sick every time I looked at my gold stair case. The good thing about that is it would encourage me to save HEAVILY to change the look of the stairs ASAP! As in "sell the car, get a beater, reduce my insurance, reduce my grocery bill by 50% (thereby losing weight in the process)" so that I could get my staircase dealt with immediately. But that's me. You have to live your life in your home. To do that comfortably, you need to know yourself better than you know your best friend. "Homeowner: Know Thyself."