In time I have moved away from stains in general—preferring to start with nice wood and then going toward a simple paste wax finish.

In time I think your woodworker's eye will turn away from the idea of staining an inexpensive wood, like pine, with a dark walnut stain to try to make it look fancy.

(I've seen too many "D&D table" builds and the like on YouTube that are made from plywood and stained to look like walnut. Le sigh… When I make something from cheap wood, I just paint it.)