This is going to be tough. The pine has an old wax finish on it. Traditionally you want to sand/refinish the floors with the same finish you've already had on the floor. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to change a "wax" finished hardwood to a "urethane" finished hardwood. That is challenge #1. If you can't change finishes (ie. you have to work with wax finish again) you have to find a line of stain that A) will work with the old wax finish already on the floor and B) will work with the NEW wax finish being applied.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/old-wax-off-wood-floors-50679.html

Staining to a VERY DARK level will help even out some of the blotchiness but there will still be some uneven spots. Try to love them for what they are - hand crafted finish.

We are going to hire a pro to sand all the 2nd floor pine floors and re-finish, including the room with the wax finish. The hope is we can save the floors living underneath the parquet in the other rooms.

I want to select a dark stain that is a little deeper than all the doors/trim (see pic), and wasn't sure what a classic stain color would be. The house is a 1920s Tudor.

I'm ok with board variations but the term "splotchiness" scared me a bit. We had red oak refinished in our old house and I don't know what to expect the pine.

Thanks!

kshanahan, do you have the final result of how the dark stain looked after the project was completed? I'm dealing with the same thing in a 1930s galley kitchen right now - oak in the living and dining that I'm refinishing to a natural/light look (from the more yellow, honey-colored oak), and the pine is also very honey/caramel colored. Since I'm switching from yellow-based paint tones to grayer tones, I was hoping to do a real dark stain on the pine, but this post now has me nervous...

Here's a view from a bedroom in pine to oak on the hall. They ended up blending stain on site, and we are happy with the result.

I was told pine is going to do what it wants to do & that is part of the fun.

We are also trying to use grayer tones. Not sure about your cabinetry, but I love Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray with white cabinetry. Good luck!

Thank you! I actually will be getting new cabinets and appliances as part of the remodel, but since these floors are stubborn, I'm thinking it will be easier to find cabinet/counter colors that complement the floors instead of trying to get the pine to match whatever I decide for the cabinets after they've been installed :)

I am also working on dark stain on pine. Can you please post photos of your projects?

Hi Kristen S thanks for posting. This our first remodel and are installing the pine floors as well. We decided on the dark walnut as well but you mentioned "blending on site" what did that entail? Thanks

I agree pine is hard to stain but I've seen it done nicely. I've been to a house that has stained dark pine plank flooring. It's soft and scratches but still looks good.

I have a pine floor i want to have rustic look i have beat it up put worm holes in the floor now time to finish what I would like us to highlight all the mark i made with dark stain then put lighter stain on all of floor . So I have done test area with with espresso trying to make all marks worms hole dark then sand off espresso to bare wood and all marks will be dark then go over floor with lighter stain like early America or honey. Any easier way to do this .as it stands i will put on dark stain the rent drum sander sand down to bare wood then put lighter stain on i am afraid I will sand out all my mark i made trying to sand off dark stain any help thanks