HELP! I took the animals out of the house for the weekend so my husband could refinish our 100+ year old pine floors. When I returned I HATE the color. They are red and look painted not stained. I can't see any of the grain and the color looks like its a state park paint. It wasn't anything like the stain we choose. He has put three coats of poly on top of the stain already. Is there anything other than starting from scratch to fix this? I do want to say that he did a wonderful job replacing a few bad board and left no discernable sanding marks. I am really upset that he worked so hard and its such an unlivable color.

Sadly, the floor will need to be re-sanded to remove stain.

As mentioned, all you can do is re sand and re finish the floor. IF you choose to go that route, maybe your husband can use a different method of staining. From your description, it sounds like he brushed or mopped the stain onto the floor (flow coat) rather than wiping the stain down into the grain and blending with a cloth or terry towel type of material.

The way I stain pine is not easy and not for the faint of heart. After sanding , I partially seal the grain with a wood conditioner , let that dry for about 30 minutes to one hour and then I stain. Depending on what stain I use, I either buff it on with a plush carpet pad under my disc buffer or I mop on and then wipe off the excess by hand. Hand blending is no fun at all but will allow the grain to be seen clearly.

I'm no expert at refinishing floors, but I do know that pine doesn't stain well. They're your floors, but staining 100+ year old floors an unnatural color doesn't seem right, either. After resanding, you might experiment in a closet if possible, until you are sure about what you want. Don't rely on those tiny sample boards you see at the stain store.

Very true.Pine is a very difficult wood to stain evenly.The grain and pulp density varies a lot from soft to extremely soft .The density variation causes excessive blotchiness.Partial sealing of the grain before staining is the only way to battle this.

Great advice above I'd run with it sand stain and refinish is your only option. If your looking for grain stop sanding at 100grit on pine. Then pop or pull the grain. The best way for a uniform stain here is hand sanding (one person or same person hand sands all)your final paper then staining which is a nightmare for almost any sq. Footage but has a beautiful outcome. If it's grain you want than skip the nightmare and water pop the grain before staining and grain you'll get.

Pine:

It was probably turning out splotchy, so he painted on the stain and let it dry, without wiping it down.

More than likely, that floor will peel the finish in the future.

This was stain for floors he used? It sounds like a stain that would be used for fences from the way you describe it. I've only worked with pine a few times because it is a softer wood, easily prone to nicks and dents. Most pine you can press your nail into pretty easy without the protection of a poly. I wholeheartedly agree that it needs to be resanded, and it takes stain very unevenly in my opinion, even with conditioner applied. You may want to consider keeping them natural instead of staining. The look is timeless, and I've noticed it a lot on sites I visit and such that it seems natural or very dark are what is becoming popular.
Personally, my floors are medium, as I don't care what the current " rage" is, but if I had 100 year old pine floors in my house, I would want their natural to shine through.Depending on the poly, it will give it a bit of color, especially if you use oil-based.
I ALWAYS get down when I stain. This way, I have control.I use an old sock and I don't pile it on. I wipe with the grain. Just keep in mind that once you stain it and you don't like it, the only ything you can do is resand.
Pine is pretty inexpensive. Go and buy a large plank that is grainy so you can see the worse you may have instead of doing the entire floor and finding out on such a big area. I would just put a natural stain and clear poly.Good luck!