We are building a home and have selected Bruce solid oak (dundee plank) floors in Saddle for most of the first floor and the upstairs hallway. We are also having an oak staircase installed, which the builder will stain. We need to choose one of the minwax oil-based stains to match the floors. The flooring company recommended Special Walnut based on their stain samples, but the builder's Special Walnut stain sample looks totally different - much lighter (both samples are on oak wood). Dark walnut seems to be a darker alternative but it looks pretty dark and seems to have more yellow than red undertones. I would appreciate suggestions on a stain color that closely matches the saddle floors. We are going crazy here trying to make this decision!!

You can experiment by mixing different colors together to achieve the desired effect. It can be very difficult to impossible to match stain to a prefinished floor. You could also try a different brand of stain or have your local paint store mix a stain to match just make sure your builder will be able to use it.

try Duraseal medium brown....or coffee brown..

What kind of, anyway. You need to make sure who ever is going to stain samples sands the sample with the same grit as the treads will be. Otherwise the stain will be different, stain penetration relies on the porosity of the floor which is directly affected by how fine its sanded.