Taking our stairs back to wood

[Joffmeister]

I have recently finished getting the old paint off my stairs and have encountered the following problems:
1 Where there was a centre runner carpet, the wood is much darker than the areas next to where the carpet was. I have tried a few different things:
A Plenty of lot of sanding with as low as 40 grit paper.
B Liberon wood bleach which seemed to help a little but it's very expensive.
C Oxcilic acid which I now believe is more of a wood restorer.
I have run out of ideas.
The mail problem is when I apply the stain to the stairs , I am going to have different shading.
Can anyone come up with a solution?
Thank you

 

[Woodchips2]

You could try staining the light areas only until you get a uniform colour and then stain all the wood to the colour you want.
Regards Keith

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Paint and carpet them again. Life is far too short.