I'd suggest purchasing the T&G ceiling lumber in a pine and staining it instead of starting with cedar. I purchase (your pic) 116 V groove #1 pine for a lot less than the same board in cedar and it looks better because there's not many knots in it. I like Sikkens stain, but there are many quality finishes available. The guys here can tell you some of the other MFG's names. Just steer clear of products that the DIY stores sell cheaply. Here's a few pic's of my pavilion by the pool, I used 116 double V groove, and a cedar color stain. It's the same board you like with an extra groove in the center and runs vertically instead of horizontally. See ya, Kelly

We used a combination of pine/MDF. We used MDF were we could, as it is quite a bit cheaper than pine. In my experience, the MDF is easier to paint and cut, and won't crack if you nail close to the edges. We wanted to recreate a more "old farmhouse" look without too much work. Our house would never have had any "fancy" woodwork to begin with. For the pine, we used high quality, well sanded, and you can't see the grain through the paint anyway. I used a brush as I wanted the old, hand painted look. We created "corners" also. These are sort of like the two we found in a back closet. I think you would want to match the windows with the doors. And in case you are wondering, the flat peices are clear pine, and the moulded peices are MDF. We used a combination of MDF and pine to build the caps. The trim was cut and painted before getting put up (after the walls were painted). We uses 1x6 pine for the base with an MDF top. The top peice is flexible enought to conform to the variations in the wall, so helps to minimize those rather large gaps that can happen when using thicker base boards. Or you can use a lot of caulk and repaint (done that too). BTW- the actual window will get primed and painted once the weather is warm enough to have the windows open all day. Cathy

So long as the product is allowed to be floated, you can float. Subfloor flatness is crucial for a happy floating floor. If you float, you have the ability to use an underpad such as cork to help reduce the noise created by a hard surface floor. Either way you go, the crawlspace must past mustard when it comes to cross-ventilation and moisture barrier installation. These too must be assessed before installing bamboo. And make sure you have the ability to control your moisture levels. Bamboo is tricky...and then it gets tricky, right after that it gets tricky....and just around the corner it gets trickier. Just for good measure. Make sure you have PIN POINT humidity accuracy (your expensive HVAC system has humidity control at the push of a button...called a Humidistat). And a kitchen installer is NOT a trained flooring installer. If they are diligent, and have been trained by a professional flooring installer with a decent reputation for acceptable work, then they can probably slam together some laminate or nail down some hardwood. Bamboo is a whole other kettle of fish. Good luck. You need to keep your house humidity (relative humidity) between 45% and 55%. Bamboo has the narrowest window of humidity happiness in the industry. Go ahead and try to adjust your humiditistat at the push of a button. If you don't HAVE a humiditistat...you probably have to add that to your renovation budget. It is the only way to keep bamboo (and the owner) happy.

I’m in the strong do not paint camp! The ceilings are so much a part of the house design. I do agree that I wouldn’t choose heavy or dark furniture & I would have large colorful area rugs. The lighting looks very yellow in the pictures & my preference is daylight color & dimmer switches all around. The two big square lights - what is all the trim around the edges of them? Looks like trees or something. I might change those out for something lighter in feel but I'd need to see a better view of them. They might be great - just can't see in picture.