2 issues - Too light new floorboards and dark stain.

[JasonBower]

Little history: Pulled carpet from a room that had continuous carpet installed for well over 15 years. When we pulled it, we looked at the hardwood and thought it would be great to keep the hardwood.
There was a section of floor that had been removed for a floor vent, but the vent had been removed and floor replaced, with a quick/bad patch job done. There was another section that had been cut through with a saw, then had the boards just put back down. There was another board missing from near the wall where there had been a vent.
I removed the old boards, replaced them with brand new boards, and sanded the whole thing multiple times. I know that whatever seal/stain i put down will not cover and magically make them match, so I'm wanting to know if there is any way that I can bring my new boards some color, trying to get them the same starting color as the adjacent ones.
Also, have a lovely couple stains that after sanding, look slightly lighter, but still very visible.

 

[EliteFloors]

Looks like u did a great job with the repairs. What did u use to sand everything? Doesn't really look like everything is flat with the repairs! What are u planning to do with the floors? Clear poly or stain? Water or oil based?

 

[woodfloorplanet]

Good job @JasonBower Thanks for sharing as well

 

[Ernesto]

I agree with Elite, maybe its an optical illusion, but it doesn't look flat. I'd water pop those new ones.

 

[JasonBower]

Optical illusion for sure. The boards were flat and tied in nicely.

I ended up renting a drum sander afterwards, then an edging sander, then a crappy orbital sander, then a polisher (with screen). After a ton of sanding and sweeping and tacking and such, put 3 coats of finish down, re-screened to remove the grain raise, put one more coat of finish down and here's the result:

 

[EliteFloors]

Looks good jason! Good call sanding it the rest of the way down