Hi.

What you need is a finishing specialist and to go through the mock-up process. I am not an expert, but achieving deep colors in wood may mean more that just applying additional coats of stain out of the can. Often the deepest colors are achieved through first dyeing the wood, then applying stain over it. This is definitely a trial and error process if you are matching something you've seen in a photo. If you want to tackle this yourself (that's a big undertaking in terms of knowledge and practical skills to acquire), there is an excellent book on Amazon entitled "UNDERSTANDING WOOD FINISHING by BOB FLEXNER". My suggestion is to find someone who is in fact an expert in wood finishing. If your floor installer has never applied more than a single coat of stain to a floor, their breadth of experience may not be sufficient to give you the product you want. I would not touch that floor again until you are able to have a sample created with which you are 100% happy. This probably means having your installer generate multiple samples right through from sanding, coloring & final finish. They will need to keep a record of the samples to clearly keep track of individual colors used, # of coats, type of sheen (for clear coat), etc. They should not proceed until you sign-off on a control sample. Have them cut it in half and keep one in your possession, and your installer/finisher should keep the other for reference during the finishing process.

It is much cheaper and ultimately can save time and prevent mistakes to perform your experiments on small pieces rather than an entire floor.

Good luck!

Go to Lowe's and get the color you want in their Olympic wood stain line. Their dark colors are impossibly dark for oil stains. It's the darkest I've ever encountered in my woodworking career (25 yrs). To get darker you'd need aniline dye.
Casey

Don't even get me started on the red oak!!! Apparentally all oak takes stain well, but for some reason red oak is hard to stain dark. We stained all our floors on the main floor only to find they were too light, the grain was dark but the rest of the wood wasn't dark enough. So I'm in the process of getting a custom stain from Sherwin Williams.

If you want dark, have a look at my post below as rmkitchen used Duraseal's Ebony stain on her floors to get a dark dark brown.

Read my posts here:
Anti-Progress Pics
Will Our Stained Floors Ruin Everything