In searching Houzz, I saw this…like how the wood ceiling complements the patterned floor…they each are great counterpoints to the other. Another option!?!

https://www.houzz.com/photos/vaulted-wood-ceiling-in-white-sun-room-transitional-sunroom-phvw-vp~102502004

Leave the ceiling and cabinets as they are and paint the beams and walls white. Match new floors to the kitchen floors. Use the same species and then sand and finish all of them alike.

Scandinavian Style home in a pine tree forest · More Info

I'd prob just paint your beams white (or even black) and get the oak floor you like in a natural tone.

Black beams

you could have the ceilings refinished. the top coat has prob ambered over time. but that's not a cheap date

You have what appears to be red oak in the kitchen. are you keeping that? its easy enough to get more and do it throughout.

look into a Bona finishing for that natural look

w/this, I'd paint your beams white

you can read what they did here.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/70-s-contemporary-makeover-contemporary-exterior-phvw-vp~677600

I agree with deco -- paint the beams white. or if you can handle all the dust, have them sanded down to the natural wood.

the wood floors are perfect for this space -- lighter but warm toned so they compliment the ceilings. anything "beachy" like white oak may clash. if you were to update some of the other dated details, I think you will like your current wood floors a lot more. you could have them sanded and given a matte finish which will update the look.

you can also brighten this space with lighter rugs, furniture, cabinets, etc. or install skylights, which look really gorgeous with ceilings like this.

gosh thanks everyone, so much great info. I do prefer a matt floor, so could sand, lighten maybe slightly and have matt finish. We'd have to sand them anyways to match them to the room with carpet that we'd replace with this flooring. I do prefer wide plank floors but then again feel wasteful getting rid of these.

I worry the ceilings are too yellow for white beams, we don't really want to sand the whole ceiling as that is a big expensive messy job. Another thought is to cover the existing wood ceiling with a different wood or sheetrock.. okay, I am so undecided lol.

I like the suggestion to use Bona to lighten the floors a bit. We have this flooring throughout the downstairs except the living room where we'd replace that carpet with same flooring. only worry is with white ceiling beams the yellow wood up there would look even worse.. really that needs Bona too.. but then it starts getting into a really big job!

that's a good idea Sarah. you could cover it with any type of wood flooring. You'd still preserve the original.

it would be something like this
(and doing this would give you the chance to add some recessed lighting in the ceiling, or on the beams)

white oak ceiling/floor, white beams.

Or you could cover it with a cheaper raw pine flooring (I did a trailer w/cheap pine floor in 6' lengths from lumber liquidators. you would prime it and then paint it. quite a bit of work (paint them on the ground) but it wouldn't be that expensive)

you'd get this look

or, cover the wood w/sheetrock and paint it. wrap those original beams w/a more natural looking oak veneer or try stripping what's there.

I did my ceiling in diff wood. One is a reclaimed wood in a herringbone design

(talk about a lot of work. lol. you can click on my name to see it,

as well as pics of the bathroom redo we did in the French Oak flooring.

I have this on my flooring in the kitchen and living room (Calif Classics - Mediterranean

or you could just paint everything white! (make sure to always seal pine with a shellac or an oil based primer or it will bleed. (the knots)

I like your French Oak flooring Beth.I like the 4th photo.... or the last photo, I wonder what that wall color is, looks better than totally white walls. Also he's suggesting an off white called Swiss Coffee!!? luckily my husband is a Contractor so is very skilled, but also very busy lol... easiest is probably to leave ceiling as is or paint totally white. the effect we really want would probably be via sand/walnut blasting which we don't really want to do.. to $$$ and so messy.

my husband is too. we did everything in this house ourselves! If you click on our master bath redo, you'll see the entire bedroom/bath. my husband built that entire add-on himself. when we redid the bathroom, he vaulted the ceiling, put in the skylight, the window, door, electrical. I did all of the wood work, painting, moldings, and played GC on this job. I can't tell you how much money we saved on this master bath/bedroom/closets.

I had added pics, so I don't know which photo wall color you're talking about.

Swiss coffee from which brand? I did my exterior w/Behr Swiss Coffee.

Ben Moore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyEjj9K4HUM

Studio McGee did this room in BM Swiss Coffee at 75%

This might be a nice color pallette w/your wood ceiling. All of these colors lean on the warmer, yellow side. (except the gray one)

does your bedroom have the same ceilings? What you could do is what they've done here.

Swiss Coffee on the walls, and on the ceiling, they did a flat BM Natural Cream.

french oak flooring. I love this room. Read the link for more info

https://julieblanner.com/benjamin-moore-swiss-coffee/

All of these are nice too

I used Simply White on my walls and my trim (the cabs are supposed to be Sim. Wht too, but I think they went one shade brighter during the laq conversion). the island is Wrought Iron. I have a lot of walnut accents in the kitchen and living space. Simply White is the perfect white for my room.

figure out what your furniture and other element are going to be. pick your flooring. then pick your wall color.

I really like Beth's idea of cladding the ceiling with cheaper planks and painting white (including beams). You get your white ceiling guilt-free, while preserving the original if somebody wants to restore it one day. This way you can retain the interesting tongue-and-groove look and majorly brighten the room. A major bonus (besides lighting like she mentioned) is that you can also add insulation. Ceilings like this are typically not insulated well. Sounds like a win-win!

I have ceilings like yours in my entire upper floor. The wood color really does darken the room significantly -- my lower rooms with white ceilings are much brighter, it's noticeable. I chose to not paint or cover up the wood because I like them. But in a situation like yours, covering them in white wood would solve many of your design dilemmas!

@Beth H

You are so so so resourceful! I wish I had the time to read through them all. Always loved the engineered plank White Oak flooring in your kitchen and living room. We started to offer similar in our collections of 5" and 7". Both became our top sellers fast.

Milennium Cavalli

City Crave Aberdeen

Unique Floors,, you know I have your Acacia Herringbone?!

so... we are going to paint the ceilings! Maybe the Swiss Coffee or similar, not a bright white! And.. then we can decide whether to go light or dark on the floors! Makes life easier in long run :) We will start in the room with the carpet shown in photos and get that all finished and then eventually put new flooring in throughout the house! and redo the kitchen.. I'll post about that another time! Thanks everyone!!!

What a beautiful installation! Beth. Unfortunately, we don't carry solid Acacia anymore. People had hard time to install solid herringbone floors. We had to change it to an engineered version.

Unique, and I wish You'd had had that. I do have some buckling w/a few of the planks. Nothing horrible, just noticeable when I walk over it. it's a 40 year old slab, so I don't know what the issue is. no moisture anywhere.

Beth, Flooring world is quite different today from a few years. 70 to 80 % sold wood floors are Engineered, and lots of LVPs.