I am only interested in the color of the ceiling beams in this picture. The paneling on the wall would go away were I to take on this project.

That looks to my untrained eye like white oak, possible cerused oak. I don't mind it as much as attempts to stain wood gray to get a gray weathered look - like the paneling in the second pic. My own opinion is that wood looks best natural or simply stained and not treated in any kind of a faux way. Those treatments seem to have a limited span of popularity - like the pickled oak of the 80s. I do like the present return to warm woods as I am not fond of the cool gray / white look. This is probably due to the climate where I live - combined with a long cold gray winter which doesn't seem to want to go away. Sorry - we've had a few cool gloomy days here that are getting me down:)

jhmarie, you understand my problem perfectly. I think the wood is probably fine, but it is so very close to the look I don't like, I worry. The good news is there is not actually a lot of this wood in the house. Only one room has the beams, there is the front door , which I would absolutely change anyway, just because i don't like it for other reasons as well, the pocket doors and the balustrade.

I think I'll accept the wood and if in a few years it looks like pickled wood to me, I can make the changes then.

I had no plans on changing houses. This one showed up and is practically perfect for us.

I'm sorry you are having gloomy weather in May! Not what we usually associate with the Month of Mary :-)

Thank you so much for helping me think this through. My husband is beyond tired of this subject and you know how much I respect your opinions.

Rita you are so kind:) I tremble at the thought of buying a new house down the road and it having perfectly good surfaces - that are just a little off from what I like - and by then I will be too old to DIY it to what I like when my husband is out of town. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 70!

Oh, april, you are never going to believe the debacle that happened with my dining room lighting. First, it took me forever to finally make a decision. Then once I chose the word's most boring options, a lantern (two actually), I ordered them from a company in England. Then it took the company almost one year to deliver and guess what- they delivered the wrong size. I received two monumental lanterns suitable for lighting a town square. I was on the floor laughing and crying when the crates arrived. Those lanterns must have cost many times more than what I paid, no less.

Here is the lantern- except mine was with clear glass:

I had absolutely no intention of finding a new house, even though my current one did have a few issues that kept nagging at me. First the lack of anything but a formal dining room, second the size of the living room- it holds only six people comfortably. That would not bother me if the house were small, but the house is actually quite large by Palo Alto standards and so a living room that can only hold me and my family and no guests was a problem since entertaining is what I could never do when we lived in a tiny house and being constrained again was annoying. And of course normal people downsize when they are 50 and their children are going to uni ...

Alright so back to the wood. I am over my issue. You and jhmarie have convinced me that the wood is absolutely fine and I am paranoid about gray (all the areas with tile are gray in the house- most work fine- but the kitchen is hilariously mismatched- a gray and white marble floor in a beautiful pattern- a really beautiful floor- that is 100 percent disconnected from the cabinets- very strange- but easily fixed.

Our bid went in yesterday. We will see what happens.

Thank you so much for weighing in, april.

the lantern story is both maddenning and hilarious! I'd be hysterically laughing/crying too. What a story! I love them, in any case..thank you so much for sharing.

Keeping fingers crossed for you(we say" keeping fists tight" in Russian. anyway. Anticipation of a good outcome seems to be about doing something with one's hands))