for me, it depends on how light the rooms are with natural light.

Do you have pets? a dark floor shows dust and pet hair very quickly. I would stay away from anything gray, and too gold. Have you tried mixing colors to get what you want?

You said you don't want natural, but remember you will be adding rugs and furniture, etc.

Lighter rather than darker will help lighten up the room too.

Are you swatching samples directly on the newly sanded floors?

Floor stain is such a stressful process! The stains look different on every floor so it’s really hard to consult internet pictures. I just had my floors refinished last week. After many, many samples on the floor, i just had to pick something. My DH and friends like the way it looks, but Im still trying to get used to it. My advice to you is to take your time and try more sanples if you arent yet sure. If you like the tone of Provincial but think it’s too dark, see if they can lighten it for you. Dont let them put time pressure on you.

Would you consider a gel stain that fits on top of the wood instead of penetrating?

We did Provincial in our old home and I love the classic color - I don’t find it too dark (and i like how the white baseboards pop off the floor) - remember the floor will have furniture, rugs etc so it doesn’t need to perfect -

FWIW maple is notoriously hard to stain and I think needs a lot of pre work to help it along (conditioning, water popping etc) - is this diy or are you working with a pro?

Looks like such a beautiful house!

As you've already found out, fir and maple take the same stain very differently, due to the differences in the porosity of the wood. If the upstairs is all fir, then that's easy, pick the stain you like best for it.

The tricky part is the floor that is patched in. You're going to have to experiment with different stains, mixtures of colors, until you get something you can live with. As lalagirl said, once it's done and you place rugs and furniture in the room, it won't be as evident if the colors aren't uniform. And keep in mind that even if you have a floor that is all one type of wood, you will see differences in the colors depending on the boards. I have old oak floors in my 1924 Colonial revival, and some boards are lighter than others, but that's just the nature of wood.

Is your flooring company experienced working with fir and maple floors?

I just had fir wood trim finished. The cabinet maker discussed how hard it is to evenly stain fir and that the deeper the stain color (mahogany in my case), the more difficult it is. He used a multi-step process that involved sanding, conditioning the wood, dye, stain, clear coat.

Fir and maple are both lovely woods. Are the mixed woods and uneven blotchy finishes in the living room going to bug you every day? Or are you more likely to congratulate yourself on saving the historic remodels of the living room? There is no right answer, it's a personal thing.

Do you have the budget to change the living room floor to all one wood type? Red oak is a classic and much easier to stain than maple. You could use the old living room fir to patch in the upstairs fir floor if needed.

Another option is to experiment with clear finishes again. There are different clear finishes that may not trend quite so yellow on your floors.

I am ok with the variance in wood species as the one variety just runs along the wall so we can blend it with rugs or furniture. Im getting nervous about the dark floors (love the contrast but worried it will feel too dark at night and in winter and show everything) so i think im leaning towards the light stain in between the two dark swatches which is special walnut

LIghting can easily be improved but I too like Special Walnut it is really neutral and seems to work well with all kinds of wood.