Adventures in stain

It's almost time to get our floors into shape. We toyed with the idea of just doing a clear stain on the hickory because the multiple shades in all of the pieces look pretty cool. After living with them unfinished for months now, I think we're past that idea and onto the world of stains.

The top row in the photo above is an oil-based gel stain. Very stinky, and the dry time is long. The bottom two rows are all water-based stain that are also low-VOC (nice, because we'll be living in the house while we're staining it). 

I think the winner is going to be the dark walnut (bottom right above, and very bottom right on the photo at the top). It has a nice warmth to it without being orange-y. 

Now to get the guts up to start sanding.