The wonderful thing about Brazilian Teak is that is has many different color shades and just about any stain will match it. Our furniture and cabinetry are in all different wood stains (even black) and they all look great with the BT floor.

That being said, I would not try to stain everything in your home the same color. Doing the front door, the exposed rafter tails and the mantle would be fine, but I wouldn't go so far as to do the kitchen cabinets and built-in cabinets in the same stain. You can have variety with BT floors and having varying shades of stain keeps the home from looking like it was production built and will give it great character.

Thanks Gardenchick, I have seen your great pictures of the flooring you have. That is the reason I chose my BT. I just didn't want too much wood varieties going on. I have to match all of my alder doors as well with the alder wood trim inside all of my windows and french/sliding doors in the same room vicinity. we have large open runs and the doors can all be seen from every part of this open room.

Sound similar to my home. Alder doors, windows and accociated trim. It is stained w/ a light cherry stain. Kitchen cabinets are alder, but are darker brown w/ a very dark glaze. Ridgebeams and columns (interior and exterior) for cathedral ceiling are douglas fir and are currently natural - no stain. Wood floor is a rustic pecan w/ a very light brownish stain. Ceiling is rustic cedar tounge-groove planking w/ more light cherry stain. Mantle will be douglas fir - unstained again...

Buzzsaw, your house sounds wonderful!
How far along are you? I would love to see pictures!

vfish,

We're doing the same. At first we thought we had to match everything but our tastes run to a craftsman eclectic look anyway so.....
Alder cabinets and interior doors in a honey/brown color. Mahagony front entry door with 8 pine 9lite marginal French doors all along our back porch. Rustic white oak (tung-oiled) 8" wide plank flooring next to 9" wide white molding. And, the topping on the cake -- a gorgeous reclaimed river-wood mantel above a flat faced river-rock hearth and woodburning stove.
Maybe not for everyone but we like it!
:)

Kats, that sounds great! I would love to see photos when you get the chance.
Thanks for all the replys.
Now, decision time.

Sorry it is taking a while to get you pics. Didn't have time until now. And now that I'm trying, Tinypic is not uploading my pics for some reason. I'll try later.

Thanks Buzzsaw, sounds good, can't wait to see them.

I missed this thread the first time around...I'd love to see everyone's pics too since we are also doing Alder front door, Alder cabinets and box beam ceilings that we need to pick stain for.

Everyone's homes sound fabulous!

OK, so I am going to revive this thread. Lindy, you said your front door is alder, along with your cabinets and box beam ceilings, right?
Did you decide on the stain?
Well, now I have a new delima. My windows arrived and the inside of the window is alder, I ordered it alder wood, I didn't realize they put a light coat of polyurethene on the wood, so they are light. Then, next to these windows, I have beautiful tri-folding doors. Again, they are alder on the inside as well. The alder is very light and these doors have no polyurethene on them, so we could stain them as well.
The problem is that I can't/or am chicken to stain the inside of my alder polyurethene windows, I want to stain the doors, I have Brazilian teak flooring, 2 large beams that need staining that span the width of my great room (with the doors and windows) and my fireplace hearth is a douglas fir beam (which can be stained).
Would you leave the windows and doors light alder clear color (the windows are already and it would be hard to sand and refinish brand new windows), then put the accent stain on the beams overhead and the mantle?
I am afraid the windows and doors would just fade into the background, after putting all of that money into them?
Then, to top it off, I have beautiful alder doors I wanted to stain, but then they might stand out with the rest of the wood not stained.
I may be thinking too hard about this, I can't visualize anything anymore and am second guessing all of my decisions.
Any help? Lindy, Allison are you there?

How are the windows and doors going to be trimmed out and finished?

Well right now, I have a kerf detail around the window sides and top, then a sill along the bottom of each window. The doors will be the same. A simple kerf detail, no trim around them. My walls are thick and deep and all of the windows and doors are inset with some relief.
I plan to just place blinds inside the windows and keep them simple, with perhaps drapes that are on the lighter side.
I have travertine and wood flooring in this room, with a limestone fireplace and douglas fir mantle.
The light fixtures will be a black wrought iron with burning candles of some sort.I hope this answers your question.
What do you think, the windows and doors will be too plain?
Thanks!

You said "Then, to top it off, I have beautiful alder doors I wanted to stain, but then they might stand out with the rest of the wood not stained." What do you mean by "rest of the wood not stained?" Do you mean the windows - because you said the beams, mantle and flooring are all going to be stained.

Sorry, just trying to understand...I think you want to stain everything but are worried since the windows cannot be stained. Is this correct?

Do your have any exterior doors with glass that came poly'd and cannot be stained?

Sorry Allison, yes, all of the wood in the house can be stained at this point except the alder interior windows which came with a poly stain on them. I'm pretty bummed since I really dreamed of dark wood with the thick walls and warm wood floors. I just think the windows would look silly next to the dark stained doors.
All of the doors in this area can be stained, yes, even the exterior doors. The windows are the only limiting factor. I was told the only way to get the stain on the windows was to lightly sand the inside of the windows and then to stain them.

"I'm pretty bummed since I really dreamed of dark wood with the thick walls and warm wood floors."

That would be disappointing. Using the chart I linked below, which one is closer to your window finish?

Here is a link that might be useful: Alder

Hey vfish! We are doing everything alder in the same color. Front door, stair bannister, beams and cabinets/builtins. Here's the cabinets we are trying to match. The painter is going to go a little heavier on the creases to make a glazed appearance.

But our trim is all going to be white. Baseboards, window casings, wainscotting, columns.

If you let us know what color the windows are, maybe we can help. Do you have any photos?

Lindy

I was planning on doing all my wood in the same stain but now I'm wondering if that's a mistake. We have lots of stained wood so maybe we should break it up with maybe three stain colors. What do you think of this:

Chestnut - Alder cabs, Cedar ceiling beams, Mesquite mantle
Walnut - Pine trim, Pine windows, Pine doors
Honey - Pine wide plank floor

What do you think?

Allison, thanks for the link, the color of the window trim, with the polyeurathane finish on is the natural wood. It's pretty light.
This is a picture of my front door, unfinished as of yet, but I want it in a deep rosewood color:

and this is a pictue of my alder doors, unfinished as of yet,:

and this is a picture of the fireplace with one of the windows that has the clear poly finish next to it, I will take a close up picture of it today, but it's the clear in the picture allison showed in the link:

This is a picture showing where the trifold doors will go (they are unfinished alder and look like the door pictured above), the windows to the left and right are clear alder with the poly coat on them, notice the beam running across the room, it will be exposed, as well as the beam running the length of the room:

Is this a delima or am I just over reacting?
Thanks you guys, your saving my sanity....

Is it possible to sand off the poly?

Kelly, yes, but the alder wood inside trim on these windows is a veneer, so I was told by Eagle windows. They said it could be done, only very, very light sanding. I'm afraid they may not turn out.
I tried the minwax poly/stain that can go over anything and it really didn't look all that great either, too uneven staining for a nice look.

I don't think you're over reacting, but I don't think it's a huge problem either. I would probably try to sand one and see how it turns out. If it doesn't work, I don't think it looks that bad either. Good Luck!

Lindy

I think you're overthinking since you were thrown for a loop when the windows came in poly'd/unable to stain but like lindybarts, I don't think it would look bad to have everything else stained dark and the windows light.

If it were me, I would stained the doors, beams, floors, etc my original wanted color - if not, everytime I looked at them I would think "geez, I wish those were darker!"

If you decide to try redoing the windows, maybe you have one in the garage you could practice with...and it's not something that has to be done right away if you were planning on doing them yourself.

Well, I think you both are right, however, what would you do? Would you try to stain the windows darker or just leave well enough alone and move on?

Personally, I would just leave it alone. But I think the point we were trying to make is that if it bothers you enough, experiment on a garage window like Allison said. Then, you can decide for yourself if it A) looks better and B) worth your time

Let us know how it comes out. I'm dying to see your house finished. I was just telling dh about you since we are very familiar with Coronado having lived in Encinitas prior to Portland. Best of Luck!

Lindy

What Lindy said. ;)

Thanks for the advice. I am going to leave them alone now and once I get toward the finishing stage, with all of the other elements in place, I can decide then what best to do. I will keep a protective coat on the la cantina doors and inside alder doors that will enable me to stain if needed down the road.
I appreciate your thoughts, since I love both of your homes:)
Lindy, Coronado is a lot of fun to live in, except for the busy summer months, lots of tourists. Let us know if your in the neighborhood :)