Reply by TopamaxSurvivor

Boy, oh boy, you guys are good, analyzing the wood and stain in picture.:-)

About all I would say is go a shade or 2 lighter than you think you really want. You can always darken. Dark makes a space seem smaller. That is my wife’s only cmaplaint about the wood work and cabinets in our house. It was all dark walnut stain. The kitchen looks twice a big with the golden glow of oak. (No, I didn’t build them, too much of a project for my time back then. I would build them today.)

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence