On Tue, 5 Apr 2005 20:04:03 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

One wall of my dining room is pine.

As something of an oddity, yours may actually be pine. Almost all
pine these days (esp. the "naughty pine" furniture) isn't - it's
usually hemlock. All of these will darken with age, but pine
especially so.

Also most varnishes, especially polys, will darken the surface
further. Some of the water-based deliberately "water clear" ones will
do it less. This is most noticeable on the really light softwoods,
much less so on pines. I tend to use blonde shellac rather than poly,
partly to avoid this.

On the whole, you're stuffed. Softwoods darken with age and there's
little you can do about it. Sand the surface off if you like, but
it'll darken again. If you're desperate for pale wood, use maple or
ash instead.