............. but poplar looks like crap when stained.

I would have agreed with you until a couple of weeks ago. My son's company
built a building in Bentonville, Arkansas and the specs had him trimming the
main office and conference rooms with stained poplar. He balked but the
architect told him to go ahead and do it to finish spec. My son (the
superintendent) ended up trimming it himself and his painter did a gorgeous
job of treating, staining and finishing the poplar. Don't know specifics
but they ended up with a dark chocolate/red and very nice.

Guess I'll try it myself sometime.