We have used antique heart pine flooring throughout our house. Due to costs and logistics, we elected not to use heart pine on the stair treads and used southern yellow pine instead and used poplar for the hand rails. To have used heart pine on on the treads would have been another $2000 and we will be using a runner on them so only 6 inches will be showing at either end anyway. We chose poplar for the hand rail since it is a very even grain and neutral color and we figured it would stain similar to the pine. And, BTW, ti have used heart pine for the rails would have been another 1,500 bucks and we are just "extra'd" out on this project!

So my question is, "Does anyone have a recommendation as to a stain color for the SYP treads and poplar rails that will come close to matching the natural color of the heart pine?" I cannot seem find anything specific out there.

Thanks!