Thanks for the responses. I've made a little progress on next steps. Yesterday, a sales guy from Mountain Lumber (a company in Charlottesville, VA that reclaims/re-mills old wood) stopped by and took a look -- he's pretty certain that it is chestnut. They have chestnut available that we can use for baseboards and to frame the new door opening on the new wall we're building. He said chestnut is frequently wormy (ours is not) but that they made be able to "grade" that out of what we purchase. We'll probably also buy extra so that we can work around any that we find. I guess I could experiment with filling the worm holes too. I haven't narrowed down stain options at all. I think the current color is a combination of stain and oxidation. In the third photo where we've removed the trim piece, it looks to me like there is a brown stain that is a different color than the wood that's been exposed all these years. I'll be trying to match the patina-ed, exposed color. Casey, I was really hoping you'd see my post and respond, so thanks. You're right, flat varnish was hard to find. Pratt & Lambert makes an oil varnish in a dull finish, so I've ordered some and will experiment with that. I think folks are right that shellac was common and traditional for a house of our vintage, but I just don't see signs anywhere that it was used in ours. I could definitely be wrong. Anytime a contractor or old house person comes in the house, I ask them to look at our wood and try to pick their brains, but I haven't found anyone that seems really confident or knowledgeable in what they're telling me. I'll keep trying though.

kerry I'm in your boat too - I know people on this board hate what we did to our house, but it was so neglected when we bought it, so poorly "renovated" over the years preceding that we ended up basically starting over. The woodwork had been chewed by dogs in every room, so we had custom duplicates remilled (at $10/linear foot) to replace it. Not old growth wood, but better that what was there. The wiring was a hazard (you should have SEEN what we found POs had done with "wiring" when we started pulling it out.) The plumbing was a mess, had previously caused damage that was poorly fixed. There was no insulation. The plaster had been (poorly) replaced by drywall in half the home, and what was left came off in chunks when we tried to remove the wallpaper that was covering it. I could go on and on. Could we have saved some things? (new casing on this side of the door, original on the other?) Maybe, but in the big scheme it seemed futile. So everything we do we keep in mind the age of the house and what's appropriate, and seriously spend alot more money than necessary getting "right." (expensive custom millwork, etc. etc.) We are saving our windows, even though many don't work properly, some have rot, they all have lead paint, and we'll need custom storms along with the new weatherstripping. We looked in to doing custom wood sash kits (which you should look into b/c it will save your trim) but in the end decided that even though we're going to have to do it ourselves and it was going to be a major PITA, it was the best thing to do. In the end you have to do what's right for you - not everyone will agree. We all have different perspectives, and in mine we are doing the best we can to restore the glory of a home that had lost it for good long ago. It's not going to be original, but in the end it will be beautiful.

From what I can see the trim looks in good condition - what are you hoping to accomplish by painting it?. Get wall colors that work with the color of your wood, instead of vice versa. (there are an infinite variety of greys so you should be able to find something that will bring out its beauty while still being something that you like). Colors are all about how they relate to other colors. Once you start on the slippery slope of painting woodwork it goes downhill pretty fast. The first coat looks pretty for a while but eventually it starts peeling,chipping, getting stained & discolored, getting re-coated with more layers of paint that starts looking like a lumpy mess. Paint layered on window sashes eventually starts messing up the functioning of the windows. If it's you who ends up having to remove multiple layers of paint (which eventually needs to be done even if you are just repainting it) you will regret the day you ever went down that path! I would stain the trim before I'd stain the floor just because its a more manageable job and dark floors are a PITA to keep clean. What kind of wood are we talking about, oak? There are products that would really beautify and enrich the color of oak without being a heavy pigment stain that obscures the grain - look into shellac, waterlox finish, or even a dye stain for first coat under the finish coat. When you put a dark pigment stain on it obscures the grain but also goes deep into the grain which can only be removed by deep sanding (bear in mind there are only so many sandings a floor can take before it has to be replaced.)

Hi, I would use gel stains for this. I'd start with a "new pine" color, very light but pigmented. Then layer on the color of your choice until it was dark enough. The first stain will seal the grain so every subsequent coat colors the entire piece the same without the softer wood taking in the majority of the color. Instead of the new pine color, you could use clear "sealcoat" (de-waxed) shellac. That would likely give a clearer grain effect even under a few coats of gel stain, but not do as good a job stopping the natural orange tone of fir. BTW, oil gel stain, not acrylic latex. If your drying conditions are less than ideal, you can intersperse more coats of shellac; rub out with synthetic steel wool before the next layer of color. Topcoat could be whatever you wish, but the clear satin gel varnish looks great if you can keep up with it. It dries very fast in warm weather. Casey