What type of ceiling is between the beams? Also, the lighting is an issue. Those white cords and pipes are very jarring against the wood so that needs to be addressed.

Your inspiration photo is not a stain. It is the colour of the wood species with a coat of finish over it. Your ceiling is probably a different species of wood. I think yours is pine (I'm guessing). The inspiration looks like fir.

Fir is a much softer yellow whereas pine can be a STRONG orange. You could strip the finish (which is probably an oil based finish that turns orange all by itself) and then see what colour you have underneath. Then you can SEAL it and then apply a few coats of WATER based finish over top to stop it from getting DARK ORANGE as it is now. You *might get it a step or two lighter....but it will not go as light as your inspiration photo.

And the reason you need a sealant is TANNIN PULL. Many species of wood exhibit tannin pull (the orange colour bleeds into the surface finish = turns yellow/orange). This is made WORSE with water based finishes. Therefore you will require the sealant over top of the raw wood. Then you apply a few coats of water based finish. Again, I think you will get a colour that is half way between the two photos you are showing.

Whew. All that work just to get a slightly lighter ceiling. Personally I would leave the beams, paint the slatted planks of the ceiling white (after stripping and priming...and priming again because of tannin bleed).

Then I would tackle the flooring. It is easier to strip down to raw wood...and then look at a water based finish that will be two steps lighter. Those two things will get you CLOSER to your inspiration photo.

Thanks, everyone. As for the lighting, yes, all that will be changed. The decor and lighting doesn't do the place justice.

Stripping the ceiling sounds really hard. Would you just use a hand sander?

I'm a bit worried this white ceiling trend is going to pass and I might regret it in a few years. I would rather a nice wood ceiling, but if it's not possible, white would probably be the 2nd best option.

I've posted another photo of the ceiling so you get a better idea of the panels

Personally, I wouldn’t touch staining that ceiling. Seriously, reread SJMcCarthy’s post! I stripped and stained the beams in my cottage (drywalled over the slat part-love it-but I have wooden walls and floors) and that alone was neck-wrenching work. You might try a different wall colour to tone down the oranginess. There are some pros on here who really know what they’re doing and can doubtlessly suggest a white/light colour with appropriate undertones or you could ask at your local BM retailer. This link might help:

https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/the-8-best-benjamin-moore-white-paint-colours-undertones-and-more/

thanks! I did reread SJMcCarthy's post, and they recommended stripping the ceiling and painting white. That's why I was asking about stripping. We definitely plan on re-painting all the walls, mostly white. I will look at what options there are for balancing and toning the wood.

I think the amount of time and effort required to strip all this won't be worth it. It looks like its polyed too. Have to hand sand along all the cracks and restain and finish. Gonna take forever and make a huge mess. Also exhausting working over your head. If you're dead set on it, I'd get in a team to blow it out fast.

So, do i have to strip the ceilings to paint? Or can I just paint them white?

I’m sure it would be wise to prime before painting, that always nets better results and the existing finish may be oil-based. One word of caution with painting however is that, I originally applied a solid, white stain on my cottage ceiling (as a compromise when hubby balked at drywalling it). It looked horrible. The knots and the gaps where the tongue and groove boards met, showed up as dark spots/lines and the gaps had dried to different widths, over the years. These “faults” were completely unnoticeable/read as character before I stained. Hubby was all too happy to drywall over them after seeing that mess.

Did you ever come up with a solution to your orange beam dillema?