I haven't seen it yet. I imagine I'll see it next week. Not sure how to select stains to do color tests on. I'm "in the weeds" on this one.

Gray. It's on trend.

I updated my description to mention that my walls and floors are gray. (I love gray)

With pine, you'll need to apply a conditioner first or the stain will be splotchy. Is the trim going to be stained or painted?

Trim will be painted a white/off-white

We used pine T & G on our ceiling and did a whitewash on it. I'm very happy with it. You can still see the woodgrain and the knots in the wood, but it isn't "orange" which I really dislike and is often the colour that pine ends up when stained or varnished.

To achieve the look, we used white primer and wiped it back. Then white paint, wiped back, but not completely.

I think with your gray wall colour choice it will look good. Ours looks like this. If you are looking to go a little closer to your wall colour, you could do the same thing with paint tinted slightly gray. Just a note about pine ceilings. Ask your builder to use a good grade of pine. The cheaper grades will have a lot of knots and checks in them. In my opinion, that is too rustic. I was OK with some knots but not too many.

Note the picture below...that would satisfy me, but any more visible knots than that and I don't think I'd like it. Sometimes the knots fall out with time as the wood dries.

Good luck with your new build. I hope you love it.