Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - stripped veneer

Please help! I have recently stripped a bedroom set (vanity, chest, headboard, and footboard). All the surfaces are covered in veneer and are in great shape. However, the wood used for the veneer is different on all the pieces. All the pieces matched perfectly (they were stained) before I stripped them . (I stripped it because the finish was in bad shape). How do I get all the pieces to match when some of the veneer looks like walnut burl and others like plain oak or pine????? If I stain them all again using one stain I am afraid they won't match. Doesn't the result of the stain depend on the original color of the wood????

The color of the stain after application depends on a number of factors, including the original color of the wood, the type of wood, and even how it's sanded.

The piece you have was probably top coated with what is called a 'toner' - lacquer with color added to make it semi-transparent. This type of finish is not common, but it is used by many furniture companies to 'even out' the color after staining. It sounds like your piece was done this way entirely.

If you're planning on a medium to light color as a final product, I'd suggest MinWax Polyshades. This is a finish/color combined in one appplication. I would go carefully, since you're brushing the color as well as the finish, it's easy to get brush marks in the color, which are almost impossible to correct.

If you're looking for a dark color, very careful staining is probably the only way you'll get the results you want - probably with 2 or more different colors/shades of stain.