We're refinishing the upstairs floors in our 1927 colonial home in NJ. It looks like these are pine floors, and we're disappointed to see that every stain we've tried on the sanded bare wood turns it too dark. Even Minwax "natural" stain color really darkens the planks, which was a big surprise to me since I've used that exact stain on pine furniture before and it hardly added any color at all.

The previous homeowners had refinished the hallway before we moved in, and it was a beautiful golden honey color with a glossy finish. We don't know what they used but that's what we want to accomplish.

Any suggestions?

lye