Unpainted red cedar weathers to a gray, but it takes years and doesn't always change evenly. HERE is a picture. For instance, the area below your house's eaves is protected from rain and sun so will stay red longer. Use a gray stain to get that color now. I'm thinking a darker gray would mute the red better.

At this LINK you can see how various Olympic stain colors are supposed to look on a cedar deck. Click on a color and the screen changes to show that color on the deck. I thought Polar Blue looked nice, but Smoke Blue looked most like the weathered wood photo in my first link. It's important to remember that colors on your monitor may not look the same as when painted on siding. Plus natural light at different times of the day can affect how color looks.

Mindshift, thanks for the tip. Wondering, like there are acclaimed Benjamin Moore paint colors, are there any very popular semi-transparent stain colors that are widely accepted as better than others? Any that you or anyone knows of that can achieve this look? Or will we need to just test a bunch of stains on our wood? That's always so hard to get an accurate representation of an entire house from a few boards.

You will not achieve that look unless you rip your boards into small strips as they have in the picture. It will look different with standard size width boards as you will see grain and board defects more.

Woods come in different grades and subspecies. Just because someone says cedar doesn't mean it is what you have. The answer is yes, you will have to test the boards. Usually you have to allow the boards to dry out for about a month. Every MFG has a gray or supposed stain that quickens or emulate the natural greying of the wood. It will also look different depending on what side gets sun an dhow long the wood has been up. That house will not look the same in 5 years. That is why most people either speed up the grey or use a more solid stain. The more solids in the stain the longer the warranty.

Good luck, I love that look too but not the maintenance.

Mindshift, I missed the entire second half of your message. Thanks for the link to the interactive stain tools, I'm going to do some messing around with that!

Wannabath, so with a semi-transparent stain, in order to keep it looking as it does on the photos, would they need to continue to reapply the same stain every so many years? Or just a clear coat?

Thanks for the guidance. We're going to have a mix of board and batten and horizontal siding, and unfortunately won't be paying what it'd cost to rip the boards to be this size. But I'm still hopeful we can achieve a similar light-ish yet still warm color like this.

Sorry, kmschaefer. I posted the first paragraph, then wondered who might have a virtual paint app. I added the second paragraph about 10 minutes after the first. Cabot had virtual paint, too, but their gray was limited to one light color. Check out all the major stain makers to see if there are others with virtual paint apps.

Exterior stains are not generally covered with a clear coat. In general, everything exposed to the sun, including clear coat, breaks down from UV light. You need to restain maybe every 4 years for siding, more often for decks. Solid stain is more durable than semi-transparent, but you do lose the wood grain.

Get some advise from the manufacturer directly. They all have customer service departments. Looks like you will have to select a stain that has some green in the undertones to balance the red/orange tones.

Builders comments on this Houzz photo:

The shingles are #1 perfection 18" red cedar with Cabot's bleaching oil stain. The bleached finish on shingles look like a mix between a light grey and light brown color. If you are interested in recreating the look I would recommend sampling Cabot's bleaching oil and various other bleaching oils on some red cedar shingles to create a variety of similar color tones.

Reading the info about the Cabot bleaching oil, it can be mixed 50/50 with Cabot weathering stain for a more enhanced grey tone.

http://www.cabotstain.com/pdf/BOIL3241.pdf

http://www.cabotstain.com/pdf/weathering-stain-6244.pdf

Thanks for the information mind shift!

Bette P I've never heard of bleaching oil, I'll check that out! Ugh, so many stain choices and combinations though, how does one possibly choose?

Would you all consider the houses in the collage I posted to be gray? I see it as more of a warm, muted golden color. Or maybe I need to choose a gray stain to achieve that color due to the red nature of cedar? I wouldn't say I'm going for a weathered gray look, more of the warm, muted golden color as I just mentioned.

All of the photos in your group have a warm, light color EXCEPT the bottom middle photo. That one appears cool gray. I wondered whether that house had a second coat of stain, or if the photo was taken on a cloudy day which tints everything blue. It's one of the reasons I went looking for a virtual paint program. A single coat of semi-transparent stain most affects light-colored, neutral tones. Dark and bright wood tones are less changed. You might be best served by buying small sizes of stain and testing the color on scrap pieces of your siding. The problem can be that a quart might be the smallest size available.

The lower middle house is actually a different view of the two top houses, so it must have been an evening / cloudy shot. It does change the color significantly though doesn't it. And thanks for the advice, that's what we'll end up doing then. And I guess it will be worth it to invest in selecting the right color, I'd hate to have paid what we did for siding and have it come out not looking how we planned. You've been very helpful mindshift, I really appreciate all your guidance!

What did you wind up doing? I am in the same design dilemma right now!!

Megslam06 I sympathize with your struggle! We ended up using Sansin SDF Topcoat with no stain or tint. It protects the wood from the elements except the sun, which was okay with us as we‘re hoping to achieve a faded look over time. We love it so far! I’ll try to get a picture and post it here.

Would love to see - thanks!

Looks beautiful! Thank you for the suggestion !

You nailed it. It is such a soft color. I really like your entrance area, a great red door. The dark trim outlines the beautiful wood. I love it

Is this western red cedar? It really is beautiful

For future products here is a great product for cedar.

Rachan61 thanks so much, that’s very kind of you to say!
Megslam06 thank you! It is western red cedar. We got a lot of wonderful (free) advice from the consultants at realcedar.com. Best of luck!

@kmschaefer628 I'm not sure if you are still active on here, but I am trying to make a similar decision about finishing a western red cedar deck... which I want to protect but still allow to weather naturally to a lighter grey. I was looking at Sansin Wood Sealer and am a bit confused about the different Sansin products. Your house looks fabulous, and I wonder if you have an updated image to share? Is it greying at all? Also, are you needing to sand and re-apply the Woodforce? Thank you!