Staining yellow pine stairs

do a test spot or 2 re the stain, pine wood can be very soft and slurp up a lot stain and varnish. I did find a wood conditioner at a big box store that I put on before the stain and varnish.

Minwax makes a gray stain. I have used it on oak and it is very pretty. Try it on a sample board first to see if you like it. As for wood filler--if you are staining make sure you get the kind marked "stainable". You may be able to get it already tinted but I am not sure if there is a gray tinted wood filler. And if you choose to paint choose a "paintable" wood filler. You may still be able too see some of your wood filler repairs through your stain depending on the size of the repairs. As for staining/poly vs. painting I would think that the stain/poly would wear better than the paint depending on the traffic these stairs get. You will have to get all the paint off the stair/wall edges! It's going to look fabulous!

Minwax makes a gray stain. I have used it on oak and it is very pretty. Try it out on a sample board first. And you can buy wood filler that is "stainable" or "paintable". You can also buy tinted wood filler but I am just not sure if there is a gray tinted one. I would think a stain/poly on the stairs would wear better than paint.

Stains come in a multitude of colors, from the normal browns and red tones to grays, blues, greens, blacks etc. Most stores that mix paint can custom mix colors also.

With pine, you might be happier with the Varathane brand of stain. The gray is very pretty. The minwax gray looks splotchy on pine.

Varathane has a new product, Premium Fast Dry Wood Stain that drys in 1 hour. It comes in 54 colors, including grey. I got to try it out at a blogging conference and was really impressed with it. They also make fill sticks for the nail holes.