"It is time consuming to match stain, inbetween dry times and color
changes it would take me maybe 3-5 trips to stain it, and 3-5 to finish

it. or 1-2 weeks of an hour a day, then final coating, not cheap or
easy, but it is your house and should be done right."

And a good reason to use my suggestion of having the contractor take a
piece of old wood as a sample and come back when he has a piece of new
and the old finished so you can see how they will look. Now that I
think about this more, it would seem that this is also easier for the
contractor. Instead of fooling around trying to match it on site, it
would seem a lot easier for him to take a sample and experiment at shop
until he has it right. Plus, if I were doing this for a customer,
that's how I would do it so there is agreement upfront as to how it
will look. You can never make this perfect and what' satisfactory to
one person will not be to someone else. I'd rather avoid surprises and
unhappy customers after the work is done.