Switch the wood out to pine? Sorry, know that's not helpful, but I think doug fir always leans reddish, not yellow.

And your inspiration picture appears to be cedar. Fir in a mixed/flat grain board will have that mix of colors with the reddish/pink hue. If you wanted uniform color natural wood should really not have been your choice.

Wood being a natural product variation is inevitable, unless you hand pick each piece of wood. If you apply an oil finish it should darken the Fir, or a garnet shellac.

It's not clear to me what you want. The "What I'd Like" photo is almost uniformly varying in color and value. You "What We Have" photo is much more uniform in color and value. The major difference between the two photos appears to be the greater amount of natural light resulting from the repeating skylights.

Unfortunately, the only way to "even out" Douglas Fir and eliminate the visual differences in the wood is to use a solid color stain from Olympic or other manufacturer.

I would leave it raw. Fits in better with the rusticated walls. The uneven color will let people know it is real wood not paint. Don't invite people to your parties that walk on ceilings.

"...Don't invite people to your parties that walk on ceilings..."

Or stand and point at them! Make your parties more interesting...

Here is a picture of mine, it is cypress with a stain to tone down the pink tones

I would leave it natural too. It will be beautiful.

By natural, do you mean not doing nothing or finishing with clear natural oil?

I would use some type of clear coat on it, that would make it easy to dust.

My go-to finish for Douglas Fir for decades has been tung oil (I like Minwax brand). You wipe it on with a rag, let it sit for 20 minutes or so and then wipe/polish off any excess with more rags. Wait a day and put on a second coat following the same procedure. You don't have to be careful about how you apply it because it doesn't make the wood blotchy: the wood will only absorb so much. On a large surface like yours, you should coat manageable size areas: if you wait too long, it starts to polymerize and is harder to wipe off and polish. Once polished, it takes on a soft, glowing sheen that brings out the beauty of the wood without darkening it so significantly that it radically changes it. Doug Fir is beautiful and it would be a shame to put on a finish that would obscure the grain; and leaving it unfinished is a mistake that will make it look not-quite-done. You can always re-coat it at any time in the future, but I have never had to. The first time I used tung oil was a major remodel that had a lot of new Doug Fir woodwork; when I sold the home more than 15 years later, the wood still looked great and I never had to refinish it.

Buy a small can of tung oil and apply it to some Doug Fir scraps and you can easily judge for yourself how you like it.

Minwax tung oil finish isn't tung oil but rather an oil/varnish blend. Real tung oil is much harder to work with.

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/finishing/oil-finishes-their-history-and-use/

The problem with leaving it natural would be the inevitable natural dirt and dust that will be hard to clean without leaving discoloration of the wood. I would use one of the "invisble" wood floor finishes that are out there. Try a product like this:http://www.woodcareusa.com/shop/product/invisible-2k-finish-1

Our family has a vacation house with an unfinished pine cathedral ceiling. In 20 years its only needed cobwebs removed in the corners. The only thing that would stain it is a roof leak.

Be careful about putting a finish other than water borne clear acrylic because the wood will darken with age anyway so if you treat it now with stain, varnish or polyurethane, it may eventually lose its charming warm color. The ceiling absorbs enough light as it is.

As for a matte finish, that should be available in most wood finishes.

It will lose its color anyway, whether from age or UV. As a former housepainter with over 2 decades in the industry, and now as a real estate developer, I can't echo this advice. Oil on bare wood. Not water. The oil WILL likely darken it, but water will raise the grain, however slightly. Clear shellac here might be the answer, to keep it clear, treat the wood properly, and darken less.

I have a similar dilemma as thisisstupid874 had two years ago but noticed that nobody actually answered her question. I’m also building a cabin-in-the-woods and will be installing douglass fir paneling on its ceiling. I love the fir grain but don’t like its pinkish hue. Over the past few days I was looking for an advice but found very little useful info. All the craze for the past couple of years seems to be around applying the wood bleach to remove the tannins/redness from fir but, for my taste, that treatment makes the wood look too pale and sickly. Finally, after a long search, I stumbled upon this post, which indicated that “OSMO One Coat Only Natural Spruce” was used to archive the desired result, which thisisstupid874 (and I) was striving for:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/whistler-house-vancouver-phvw-vp~3648151

It seems to me that res architect did give a great but too brief answer-leave the wood alone, My current ceiling is doug fir which was sandblasted and has no finish although orkin did treat it with some pest control which did not change the colour. I have tested penofin verde on some new Doug fir, the natural turned it pink/reddish, and the cedar-toned version added some yellow, which toned it down. Doug fir will go orange over time. I think I will leave my latest project unfinished.