why don't you try mixing the provincial with the lighter color for the pine. It seems the pine is really sucking up the dark stain (Please stay away from minwax stains, they're horrible. Try Varathane, General finishes or Old Masters). try 1 part dark w/2 parts lighter stain for the pine and see if that's better. You can also warm up the brown w/a little chestnut or Mahogany. GF has a spiced walnut that is a very nice shade.

also, pre condition your pine first before applying stain. pine blotches.

The oak is a much harder, denser wood so the stain isn't going to be absorbed readily and it won't be as dark. You might try several coats of the darker stain on the oak to get it up to par with the pine. At least give it a try. Or use a much darker stain for the oak and see how that matches with the pine in a medium color.

do not add several coats of stain. 2 at the most. otherwise you risk it just sitting on top. wood can only absorb so much. the pine, being that it's older and drier, will suck up the stain more readily. just cut the stain in 1/3 and mix with the lighter shade to equal the oak side. Pine also has more yellow to it so it's going to give off a warmer hue than the cooler oak. keep that in mind when you pick your colors (add more warmth to the oak side and cooler tones to the pine side)

The woods are not going to match.

If you try it will look like you tried and failed.

This is going to be a silly question....but what do the two floors look like with only a FINISH on top??? How close are they to matching?

I'm going to bet they will create a "tone on tone" - light gold next to medium gold. That's my guess. And to me, that is JUST FINE. You are welcome to fight the good fight. You are welcome to stress and get flummoxed. If you want dark, I suggest you find a dark stain for the pine and a complimenting stain for the oak...and just leave the two as tone-on-tone floors.

It would occur this way in nature with a clear finish...so why fight it? Go ahead and put down the stain you really like, and have two different coloured wood floors that are a tone-on-tone match. And remember: Pine can turn SPLOTCHY. Yep. Oak will look flawless and the Pine *might* just turn into a floor that looks like it is heavily infected with mold. Please make sure you have seen a LARGE swatch of stain on the pine before telling your WELL TRAINED/PAID flooring professional to go ahead and add stain to pine.

And remember: dark is SOOOO much fun to keep looking clean.

I like the unstained pine. Even if you use a wood conditioner first, the pine isn't going to take stain as evenly as the oak and the stain will highlight the different grain patterns.

Be sure to view both woods with sample of finished product, especially if you are using an oil based finished. An oil finish will add an amber tone to the wood which might influence your choice.

Thanks everyone! This was very helpful. I was feeling like I needed to unite the 2 sides, but I also had a feeling that it would never really match and that would look worse than just having 2 different colors. We went with the Provincial in on the oak because I really liked that best. We are leaving the pine unstained. It was unstained before, and I liked that on the pine. I did not like the unstained oak. It got way too yellow over time. Will put a picture up when they are done!

oil base top coats will always yellow. try using a water based sealer and you can avoid most of the yellowing

It is best to test stains on scrap pieces - sometimes it soaks in to the grain so much it is hard to sand out.

Allison, we have the EXACT same issues in our house, down to the provincial selection for the oak. We are locked in with provincial on the oak, since a later addition has provincial oak floors and changing the stain color on the oak in the rest of the house would create 3 different wood finishes.

We have just sanded down the whole house (except for the new addition that didn't need it). The Kitchen, Dining room, and Formal Living Room all have oak flooring. Hallways, Family Room, Sunroom, and Bedrooms all have heart pine (150 years old!)

We are stuck on what to do with the Pine. If you could post some "after" pictures, that would be very helpful. Our contractor starts staining tomorrow and we have to make a decision today! (We are stuck with a last minute decision here because we were under the impression that the contractor could customize the stain to make the floors appear the same...haha we found out that was NOT true.)

Any other input would be helpful...THANK YOU

What did you end up doing? And how did it turn out? We have a similar situation.