Cabinet Crown Color Conundrum

I figured that I could stain the crown in the same why that I have been staining the shelf boards

1.       Wood conditioner

2.       Light purple water-based stain

3.       Dark red-brown oil-based stain

I would say that luckily I have gotten better at this whole sort of thing based on the fact that I try it out even if I think it will work.  No one would call me a patient person so this whole 'testing' process is a patience test for me. The test piece of crown looked horrible, it is all blotchy, the wood grain wasn't defined, I could hardly believe I used the wood condition on it. It was bad (see the top piece in the picture below)

I consider trying to make it look like the tag-a-long door, mixing paint and stain, but that had a terrible technique issue, the trying to have the correct ratio of paint and stain on your brush was not a science, it was all about guessing correctly- seriously it was ridiculous.

So my next idea was to use the paint and stain separately.  I tried the paint in two different ways- a dry brush technique and normal wet paint.  I did two coats of the paint, sanded lightly and then put a coat of the red brown stain on.  It was good but I thought maybe a second coat of stain would make it match better.  

In this picture, the surface matches the cabinets, the top test piece is the first stain method, the bottom piece is the paint first then stain and the ends have a second coat of stain for each technique of painting. Except the middle, I don't know what I did there.

I thought it was close, looked good next to the cabinets and will look better with varnish.  Last night I put the first coat of paint on all of the crown pieces.