Linden wood and basswood are the same wood. The wood is a white to light brown color and has very little grain pattern. It is light in weight and soft, but used as a carving wood by many carvers because of ease of carving. The wood has little character in terms of visible grain lines. How it looks when it is finished depends on your skill.

Yeah, like someone2010 said, you have a pretty flexible finishing wood with the legs in the Linden wood, so you can do almost anything with them. Choose a shelf you really like and finish the legs to match. I'll include a link that had a good article on staining, and understanding stains.

Cheers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Understanding Stains

Linden (AKA Lime and Poplar) are usually painted, not stained.

Any 'grain' tends to be very plain and nondescript.

It is soft and easy to carve, and holds detail well.
It also excels at holding paint.

If stained it tends to be a uniform color with little detail to the wood.