The beauty of heart pine is in the color! Don't try to make it something it is not, rather showcase its natural beauty! I have it in a family room, not only on the floor, but the window and door casings, base and ceiling moldings, fireplace mantel (to the cathedral ceiling) and truss beams. We finished it natural with clear polyurethane on the floor and tung oil on all the other surfaces. It was done 25 years ago and still looks amazing!

My upstairs oak floors are slightly darker than my downstairs oak floors and my pine stairs are darker than both:) The stairs are closer to the upstairs color which is good because downstairs they land on tile so there is a little separation between oak floor and pine stairs.

My stairs:

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It is not perfect but it works because old houses are just that way - it is part of their charm.

If you are doing the main floor and the stairs now, and the stairs land on the wood floor, match them the best you can and do not worry about upstairs. In really old houses, the species of wood often changes from floor to floor - ending in the least expensive at the top where the servants quarters were.

I agree, don't match floors. Just match the stairs from the floor below up to the next floor. I wouldn't stain the floors either. I've rehabbed floors with a mixture of turpentine and linseed oil, but you have to move out for a couple of weeks while the smell dies down, so that's probably not an option for you!

Consider the color of the oak grain as your guide for staining the pine floors. It will be a very nice transition. Try English Chestnut. It has a warm base and depending on how the Ipswich took to the oak, it would work with the oak grain. Early American is a good color for blending and is more of a brown stain. Both do not emphasize the grain as much as the walnut stains.

The current orange color is from the coating, typically shellac or petroleum based urethane that resulted from exposure to UV light over the years. Once it is sanded, the wood will be much lighter. If you wipe a cloth with mineral spirits across a few boards, you will see how the wood will accept stain. Since pine and fir have more of an open cell structure, I suggest you condition the pine to minimize blotching. I also suggest you stay away from anything "walnut". The black pigment will only serve to over-emphasize the wide grain and color variations along with any potential blotching, damage and less-than-professional repairs. When the flooring is a multitude of 2 1/4" strips, emphasizing such variations can be unappealing. If the boards were wider, the transition of grain pattern and color from one board to another would be more visually appreciated. Whatever you decide, do test patches vs. the Ipswich floor color and see how the sanded pine accepts the stain first.

Gorgeous floors! Love the color choice you selected. Did you go with a satin finish or a matte? We are trying to decide the same on our heart Pine antique floors currently :)

@Sally Wright -- we are thinking of refinishing our heart pine floors. Yours turned out so nice -- are you still enjoying the color (has it changed, become redder, over time)?