I agree with Abby--I would not let that outside element dictate at all. If you wanted it to be the introduction to many more similar elements inside that would work but it doesn't have to. Your remodel appears extensive. I am not good at getting a read on the flow with all the open walls but I suspect your choices have already revealed a style of some sort. What ruled how you chose to set your new spaces? Are you purchasing ALL NEW furniture? If not what style do those choice already reflect? I am thinking your style preferences are already revealed in choices you make with out effort. I wonder if that is part of the 2016 "look" to be more eclectic not matchy matchy to much of any style. People live in homes that meet their needs, how they spend their time vs letting a home's design dictate how they will live.

I think you can have the front in a stain and not be tied to craftsman or other stained throughout. Although just a bit of stained wood features could be nice, maybe in areas that you can easily paint down the road if your tastes change. The good part about a tract home is that you can really make it what you want.

On a separate note, if you haven't already you should submit the kitchen layout to the kitchen forum. There are phenomenal people there that can really make sure you get the most out of the space.

No need to carry the stain on the exterior to the interior unless you want to. Also, for example, our library is open to our DR and they have cherry woodwork and stain, but the rest of the woodwork in the house is painted. So it need not even be carried throughout the interior.

From the color choices you're making, it sounds to me like painted moldings is the way to go.

As an aside, any time I see 2 roofs come together in a V, I get nervous about how water/snow/ice is going to be handled. Not sure if your area of the country these are issues, but in mine they sure are. Please be sure your GC has considered proper drainage and guttering for that configuration.

Also, personal preference for me would be 4" cans instead of 5".

If you stain it now and decide later that you want to paint it, that is an easy job, but if you paint it and regret it, it is more difficult to change, since you would have to strip the paint.

For my house, the only thing that stays the same from the exterior to the interior is the front door, which is stained the same color inside and out. I do not particularly like doors that are one color on on the outside and another color inside, which is what our original front door was.

Hi Folks

@arcy_gw: The new spaces came to be by enclosing the front and back porches since they were under the existing framing and were easily done to get square footage. The 1/2 bath was added since the 2nd bath is small and we entertain semi-frequently (for example, I host poker 2-3x/month with about 10 people; they're already calling it the "poker pisser"). The kitchen/living room was divided with that new wall due to the 8' ceilings and trying to reduce the illusion of lower ceilings in a long, narrow room. It also provided some wall space for the wine cabinet and a piano on the living room side. Let me know if that answers your question

We will be purchasing mostly new furniture. We'll keep our brown leather sofa, for now. One thing my wife and I discussed recently was that, for years, it's been reds, browns, blacks, earth tones, etc. I think we're tired of it and are being drawn to pictures of things with a slightly more light feel - softer woods, whites, even considering the white perimeter counter with green backsplash (hard to believe we're saying that). the 8' ceilings seem to really throw us for a style loop as we don't want to appear to be trying to be something we're not (e.g. 9-10' ceilings, beams, T&G ceiling, etc.).

The choices we've made thusfar have been to try and be as 'timeless' as possible as we don't want a kitchen that is dated in 10 years and I hate.

@Annie Deighnaugh: by painted moldings, you mean interior crown, base, etc., right? I would agree. I think one way to tie in the wood would be a maple mantle (the GC had to cut down an old maple tree in his yard and ended up milling it himself; he's wood-geeky like that).

re: the roofs...totally agree on being nervous. We live in N. CA. (north of sacramento), so we get some rain, but not a ton. Never snow. In the design phase, there was lots and back and forth on how to land the porch roof and we settled with the over. The GC says we will have a maintenance issue in the valley where it meets the porch that we need to stay on top of. Also, if we choose to not do gutters on the porch, the roof may wear somewhat faster on the drip points. of course, this is CA, and water falling out of the sky is rare these days...

Can you comment on the 4 vs. 5" cans? I thought of 4" due to the lower ceiling...GC. We are doing a solar tube in the entry and in the laundry. We'll see how the rest of the house looks when finished before thinking about any additional. '

I'd like to specify that the GC built the porch knowing that it was originally going to be painted. However, he looked at the ridiculous metal that the engineer was asking for and said, "uh, ya, I'm not doing that. It will look stupid and it's expensive." We checked with a structural engineer friend who said that the way the GC built it is better than the plan strength-wise. It has passed inspection as well.

it was more a change of heart by me once I watched it come together - it just seemed a shame to paint it. it opened up this can of worms for me where I am terrible at design and tend to make bad choices that i end up disliking. We have a designer that came up with the floor plan and has helped with some style choices thus far, but her fee budget has already been met (e.g. we're already at the amount she said would be 'all in' upon project completion), so we have to be judicious about her use.

Do I use this thread for updates and additional questions as needed? It would be great to have additional minds to bounce things off...

Here is the proposed floor plan (let me know if it is readable). If you need me to post an as-built, I can try and dig that up. NOTE: the kitchen will have an Oven/micro combo next to the pantry, then the 42" fridge, then counter, then range.

oh, and thanks for the encouragement re: going different. That is tied to the aforementioned mistakes I have made and regretted - I just end up with anxiety over screwing it up again.

GC got the shingles finished today and we chatted. He recommended not staining it all since the T&G is pine and pretty yellow compared to the fir and cedar. He threw out there to paint the T&G and facia and stain the beams and cedar shingles.

I think he may be on to something. We're thinking in the blue-ish/slate like darker color for siding and T&G...no idea on trim yet...

I would also paint the pine, partly because it is the ceiling and partly to cover the knots, which are a bit distracting in the last photo. I agree with your GC. I think the shingles especially will look better stained than painted, as paint would tend to accentuate flaws in the shingles.

I wouldn't want to lose the charm of that ceiling by covering it with paint...here's another idea:

I had to look up "snout house." I have one, but I refuse to call it that. Seriously.

good catch on the cluster of knots in those boards on the right.

The painted shingles look better than I had thought.....right now, leaning toward the GC recommendation of staining the beams and shingles and painting the rest, but could change. If painting ceiling, that would be the same color as the siding / main house, right?

@olychick: any idea the type of wood in those photos?

I googled pine board porch ceilings, so am assuming that's what they are, just stained darker so the knots don't show as prominently. I think painting over those knots would be a big pain so they don't show. I like the way they look, clustered or not. The shakes in the pic I posted look like they are treated with a stain, which works well on cedar. I love semi transparent stains on shakes.

ETA: I think I'd stain the beams and the ceiling (maybe a bit lighter) and use color on the siding and shakes (either paint or stain). I'm thinking doing the shakes different from the siding could make it look like a bit of a patchwork? You'll also have something different on the door, so that's a lot going on right there.

are you sure those shakes aren't painted? Can't tell...The GC did mention darkening the stain on the ceiling and trying to get it the same as the shakes, but said it might be a PITA. Worth a try, though?

The door is from our original build. We couldn't decide on anything and in order to keep things moving, it cost us $75 to re-hang it and saved $1125 in the budget. When we want to change it later, we can just get a slab and change it out. Given what is happening, it sounds like that door needs to match the stain of however the beams turn out.

No, I'm not sure about paint or stain on the shakes, but I live in a shake sided house and I love stain on them. We started out with semi transparent stain (but it was a woodsy, tree trunk kind of color) and eventually, as the house aged, had to move into a solid color stain. It's just much easier maintenance on shakes than paint, because it doesn't peel.

But I just searched for that house again and it shows it being built with what I think are prefinished shake siding panels. There are no pics of it with the shakes a natural color, just that color was already on them and none of the other painting or staining was done, so I think they came that way.

Is there a reason you wouldn't color the shakes the same as the siding?

Wish some kind soul would photoshop it both ways so you could see. If you're interested in seeing that, you might start a new thread asking for photoshop help. Some here are great about doing it.

pulled this from the ideabook:

Wright · More Info

might be interesting assuming we change the door in the future. I also just figured out what you meant re: solid color stain. it would seem that would look best to match the siding (assuming the above scenario where we paint the beams the trim color (probably white).

Countryside Make over · More Info

^similar but with darker color

Casa Corbino · More Info

^this one has the stained beams. Strangely, I might like the white beams better...surprising myself with that....I'll let it stew a bit. The last picture has a beam structure most similar to ours (not molded; more lincoln-log like)

I have a photographer friend i'm going to ask re: photoshop...maybe post if that doesn't work out.