Trim Attempts 1 and 2

Well five cans of finish and we're no closer to picking a trim stain.

Here was Attempt #1
From Left to right we have Antique Walnut, Royal Walnut, and Olde Maple. None of them seemed quite what I was looking for but I did think perhaps by mixing the bombay mahogany and the antique walnut I might achieve just the color I was looking for.

So then we have Attempt #2

At this point I was thinking... maybe the Polyshades isn't the way to go maybe I'll try the pre-stain wood conditioner on the pine and try to finish it that way. So samples one and two are regular Minwax stains Red Oak and Red Mahogany. Although the pre-stain wood conditoner helped I still thought it came out blotchy. Samples 3 and 4 are different mixes of the bombay mahogany and antique walnut. Neither of them was really what I was looking for it just ends up being a bit too red to complement the floor.

So then I did what I should have done before I started this little project I googled "finishing pine" so now I'm working on attempt #3 where I use thinned shellac as a sealer and a gel stain instead of a liquid stain. Here's hoping third time is the charm.