Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Paint it White Honey!!

Do you ever lie on your floor and stare at your ceilings?
Well, I do.
Sometimes.

Some days I settle in to my morning exercise routine in our dining room.
Which means that I am reminded of the dilemma concerning our wood ceilings...
which means that I quickly turn my brain back to the question that has gone around and around in this aging noodle of mine for at least 3 years....

Why 3 years?
Well, if you remember, 3 years ago we gutted a section of the main floor of our home
to expand the kitchen and turn a main floor bedroom into a dining room.
That meant the destruction of the old closets and the installation of a wood ceiling to match the rest of the wood ceiling which covers the main floor of the house.

And then this past year I painted the wood wall white to match the walls and fell in love with the white wood. 

 And just to put this all in context you need to remember that we have a lot of natural wood in this house.
 

So, the point is and the dilemma is....
to paint or not to paint.

The general feeling around this house has been.....don't touch those ceilings!


So, I have struggled with attempts to match the stain colour of the original wood so that I can stain the new wood to fit in with the overall colour of the wood ceilings.
Easy, right?
Nope.

After 8 different attempts at matching stain colour I am now considering painting the wood ceiling white.
I have drooled over images of white wood ceilings
 in magazines for years
and now that I have gained the approval of my significant others
I surprisingly
 cannot make the committment.

I have considered staining the beams to match the floor colour 
which seems to make sense given that the main beam is already the colour of our floors.
The beams in the living room area are fully exposed so that is another consideration.



Do I want to have a series of dark beams going across the space with a white wood ceiling between beams?


Hmmm.... what to do, what to do?
What are your thoughts?

14 comments:

  1. Wow! Got to give this a lot of thought and get back to you.

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  2. Wow! That difficult... It's just that one little section! How about just adding a "faux beam" to "match" the real beam in the same stain as the real big beam? Then the center difference won't be as noticeable. There is a faux beam company that makes them to your specifications. My spouse made one himself. However it was painted, so that is not as hard and we were not trying to match one there. A faux beam is a lot less expensive than a real beam and one can even add iron hardware to make them look similar.

    Those are gorgeous ceilings! Beautiful wood. I too would be hesitant. My spouse has an office that is detached from the rest of the house and it has the dark beamed raw ceilings. They don't even come close to this beauty, and I'm really hesitant to paint them. The ceiling that is painted in my house had already been painted. It's really hard to go in the reverse!

    I have several boards on Pinterest with beamed ceilings: Ceilings, Man Cave, and French Country Kitchens. You might find an example of dark with light on one of them that you have not seen already. I'm a little obsessed with those topics.

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  3. Also Sherwin WIlliams makes a ton of wood stains. I have no idea if one can stain over all the existing, to get a similar color throughout, but if it can be done it would be a ton of work due to preventing particles on it. Though maybe it is not so dusty where you are.

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  4. The wood ceilings are AMAZING! But, WOW this is a tough one! I too, love painted wood, but my first instinct is to leave them unpainted.

    Angela @ Number Fifty-Three

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  5. Well, I've drooled over painted wooden ceilings for years too, and have even thought of putting cheap tongue and groove on the ceilings just so that I could paint them white, so you probably know what I'm going to say - just paint it white !
    It would be all or nothing for me though, all white or no white paint at all, apart from the main beam.
    Looking at the last shot though, one thought comes to mind. Wood is warm, and a dark ceiling does make everything seem very cosy. My house is so small that a dark ceiling would be too much, but yours always seems large and bright, yet cosy at the same time.
    Oh, I don't think I'm helping. I don't envy you your decision making !

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  6. I have seen several gorgeous interiors lately with dark beams and light (or white) wooden ceilings. That's what I'd do….dark stained beams, and the rest white! I love the look of your white wall…..so pretty!

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  7. I think I would go all white, Donna. The last photo, to me, makes the ceiling look so heavy and oppressive. You might also go 'pickled' which would lighten it but still show the grain of the wood and maybe even match up the new wood better. I don't know how pickling is done - painted and wiped with a dry cloth? So my vote it to go white. :) Have fun making a decision. At least you have the family on your side if you decide to paint it.

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  8. all white, but you might want to see how you like the darker beams against the white ceiling before painting them. The darker beams usually draw the eyes up, so it might not look as "dark and oppressive"

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  9. Well, I think I would also go all white!! The white wall turned out great! and I really am a fan of the white ceiling as well. Looks like we may have made some work for ya!! :)

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  10. What a mess! Difficult for me to translate it , I'm afraid I cannot help you but I love your house I think it's ok. And think that if you paint it you are having to paint it every two years more or less. Love your table too!

    Marina

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  11. I have the original beams, stained dark, and white in between. My ceilings are not high and all dark would have closed the room in too much. I'd do a combo of white and wood I think.

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  12. Gawd, I have no clue!!! perhaps you can take a picture then photoshop it and make the ceilings white., print it out and think about it some more??? That's what I do, I am so visual.......Greetings to Canada!!!!!

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  13. I'm sure you know I love white painted ceilings! Thus said, I love wood beams as well, and would have kept mine wood if it hadn't meant stripping layers and layers of old paints!

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  14. I am facing a similar dilemma with our bathroom. But I am not going to lie.. everything in our house is painted white! Walls, ceilings, furniture, and if Stephen did not occassionaly move.. i would probably paint him as well. I have decided to paint the wooden ceiling in our bathroom white. However, I think I am possibly leaning towards Maureen's proposal. The big bad boy beams would really show up against a white backdrop.. :)

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