sanding and staining.

We live in the hills of VT and own a home with pine vaulted ceiling in the living room - we thought about pickling them to make them lighter - we opted instead to dry wall some of the wood ceiling (actually putting a flat ceiling to cut back on the "pie" feeling at the very top) and kept the pine - too much work to change - I agree with Beverly the Pro, embrace it - I wouldn't think of it as 90's. The photos are very nice. You go dark now, you will want to change later . . . and so forth and so on . . .

yeah sand and stain, I think like even more now.

Every wood surface in our cabin had been painted white... We had it all sandblasted, then we sanded ( as blasting left a very rough texture and a lot of remaining paint) and then we stained. It was a lot of work, and miserable at the time, but well worth it. You might consider sandblasting as an option if you can cover your furnishings with plastic to minimize the mess. On the other hand, my mom had a vaulted ceiling and the beams were painted a dark brown....they still had a nice rustic effect despite being painted! Good luck to you :)

Another option worth investigating is testing a sample of a gel stain by General Finishes. They have been known to work over previously stained surfaces (after careful surface prep). The main limitation is that you have to go darker in tone than the current stain. But if you don't mind the cleanup afterwards, soda blasting is a very quick, effective way to get the wood down to a clean, ready to stain surface. Sand blasting is way too aggressive for this application!

Best of luck!

I love it and would totally try to work with it! Beautiful space!

wow! why would you want to change such beauty....really it is lovely. and so light and bright. x

You have a beautiful room. You may want to change the wood but I would keep it in the lighter shades (adding a touch of gray?) so your room stays bright on those early dark winter nights.

I agree that going into a darker gray is the best solution. Look at your stone color on the fireplace. There is no deep wood color to pull from it. I think I dark stain would fight with that stone. Your paint color is off too. I would use your stone as the starting point and then go deeper in color from that, then find a paint color that is slightly lighter on the same tone. The room has great potential!

Found a photo that might help, I agree that going a little darker would really bring out your space. Not to mention sanding and staining will take a lot of time. If you do go the paint route, you may want to consider bringing in more wood furniture that has a medium stain to it. This would emphasize the "mountain home" feel, and help enhance the natural wood look that you are going for.

One of the charms of a mountainside home is the expression of structure within the space. The existing whitewash does nothing to accent that and I believe that is what you are reacting to. I agree mostly with the above comments regarding the whitewash and not being a dated look. The beams appear to be a gluelam beam and not a solid piece of wood so finishing outside of clever painting will not render the "solid wood" appearance but equally elegant. I believe you can spend the time refinishing the beams and the railings to a more traditional wood tone, yet darker, and keep the whitewash for a nice contrast. If you opt to do in stages, you may find / stumble upon the look you have in mind.

Here are some images of finished gluelam beams and you can search for more.

One last comment would be to update the lighting on the tie beam at the loft level. That might help to lighten the look you are going for as well.

Best of luck!!

Joe

Leave it alone and save your money for something important.

I too would leave the ceilings alone. They are perfectly neutral without being the typical white, or too dark. You are free to do anything, anywhere, with this ceiling. So nice!

very helpful info for you here from JFF desigh architects. its never going to look like real wood cos its gluelam. Thank goodness you know this now. PLEASE don't go dark grey however....ultimately its sooooooooo depressing!

Might you leave tha palet you have....and maybe increase the white backdrop in places to reflect light more....You already have some GORGEOUS furniture and are on the way to having something of the look such as pictured by BeverleyFLAdezigner, which is fabulous. BUT your theme is more or less the very sophisticated, high contrast, navy and white extravaganza. If you remove any of the contradictions to that ...you'd be there. ie a cohesive elegant look.

soooo I would take down the picture, I would paint white over that papered on pebble mosaic ...is it papered on? I would go for whitening everything except the gluwood features which I would leave alone entirely since they pass discreetly for this fab driftwood effect...so you'd add a sense of deliberation, merely by doing nothing!! I wouldn't fuss with the central beam or the lighting....you'll need all the lights you can get and more.

Then I would clear everything away that isn't either white, distressed wood, or navy....and voila! The navy accents, if not overdone, will be and are - its just we don't see them for lack of emphasis currently, very classy. I would not add more than you have. Except maybe some tall free standing lamps with white shades. The seating is utterly beautiful. For fun and for a change I woud also get some white throws to put over at times of desire for freshness and that pure white look which is so gorgeous. Don't bother with cushions in a small space you don't want clutter but ultimate simplicity, ease and focus.

I think with all this thought that we're there!

Please may we see the outside? And any more pics....very excited for you. x

About the lighting, and I'm an electrician. I would do something very simple with the lights on that central beam....I would adjust them so thay offer extreme angles as they appear (?) to have flexible stems, or they can be moved by the fixings, so that they each point, as divergently, as possible in different directions. One up, one down, alternately. By this means they will escape attention (being rather non-features) but would cast light in more interesting ways. The single major thing I would do is to add an imitation chandlier, on the side furthest from view in the central seating area, with as many lighting points as you can get or something similiar to the other multi point pendant light which you already have.

Hope this helps. xx

We are in the middle of a remodel project, just soda blasted our wood ceilings. We removed some walls between rooms, one dark and one light. It left them rough, but we like the look, and are leaving them natural. Be prepared to clean up a mess if you do this. After blasting we had to vacuum the ceilings and every exposed wall, along with the floors. The soda will also get outside because you need a lot of ventilation. It took my husband almost 2 weeks to complete, but it was worth it!

Perhaps if you share some photos Terri....

It's beautiful - I'd just tuck the cords away, and incorporate pussy willows and fresh cedar (the fragrance of freshly cut cedar is amazing). You have a lovely home; just cries out for your own personal story to make it magic.

Original OP has not come back with any decision.

Wow, that's going to be so much work to un-do... I think the challenge is the white wash lightens things, but not to a very pretty color. No warmth and still darker than actual white.

I think I'd almost rather paint it bright white, letting the wood provide more of a texture (sort of like shiplap), and then selecting some beams - if you can get to them (look pretty high up there) - to strip down to natural, or put a lightly warm stain on them.

The beauty of wood is it can add a lot of warmth to a space. The challenge is too much natural wood is a whole lot of brown, and you need to be fairly talented in finding a way to work with that not have so much brown the place becomes dark, boring or both.

Is that your furniture or the sellers? Just a thought for any future furnishings... I think you are better of with solid fabric on your larger furniture pieces. You can always change the look with pillows/throws/etc. Patterns are patterns until you change them, and they tend to be trendy. I went with a dark, hunter green velvet on my antique sofa. That was 30 years ago. I think it's too dark, and look forward to re-upholstering in the near future. But gotta say, while the color is dark and a bit dated, I can modernize it with other fabrics patterns and textures, so it hasn't been too bad. And the green has been pretty much a neutral as all other colors go with it. Just a thought for the future...

It's a beautiful ceiling. Unless you really dislike it, don't bother changing it. I think it's elegant and fresh looking. What a great space!