I am thinking you will find the lack of light is going to have an effect in the daytime with those dark walls. Posting a pic of the space and the ceiling would be good too. A good contractor would be able to feather in the new wood but it will not be the same color as the old . You will need to add some lighting for sure.

Thank you for your response. We have wonderful fine carpenters who would finish the ceiling, but staining the new wood to match the older tones is an issue. We have thought about the lighting, but it should be fine since we have flood lights on the ceiling plus much natural light with a double French door and a large window. We live Up North where the weather of ice and snow makes removing or replacing older skylights a necessity. I will take some pics today.

You mentioned 'arty'. How about something like a painting of a window with the night sky behind it. A stylized version of the view through a skylight.

Can you post a photo?

If budget is a big concern, I would fill in with drywall and cover up with a HVAC grill of some kind. Either leave it white or spray paint a neutral color to blend in with the ceiling.

Stain the new wood before having the carpenters install the patches. You can experiment on getting the right match when you are working on the ground rather than up high.

What if you framed them in about 6" up into the openings and paneled them in the chalk white paint over wood panels with cove lighting like this:

Thanks Margaret for the picture.

Here is a photo of one skylight. There are two in the room.

Staining the wood before putting it up is a good idea. I never thought of some type of grill work in the open space (with wood or drywall behind it.) I wonder if punched tin would even work. The cove lighting has a classy look to it...that's another good idea!

I will be meeting with the contractor next week. Any additional ideas? Thanks.

We have a lot of clear coated pine in our home (previously our cottage). Have had to add new pine in various places. Chose to clear coat, leave it and let nature colour over time. After a year or so, barely can notice the new wood.

The problem w/ patching that ceiling with wood is sourcing material that matches the milling of the existing. Appears that there are 3 different widths.

If you have more of that wood elsewhere in the house, like on a wall, you could possibly steal it from there (carefully & anticipate quite a bit of demo damage/ loss), use it to weave in ceiling repairs. Will be tedious and time consuming. And you'll have to do something with the wall you stole the material from.

If you try to match it, you won't succeed. Even if the tone is good initially, the new wood will change over time and likely create more of a contrast. It will always look like a patch. However, if you are determined to remove the skylights, I vote for doing something that is not a patch, and looks intentional, such as Margaret suggested above.

Thanks for all the advice...much appreciated. I am afraid the wood would always look like a patch unless we paint the ceiling. Sadly, the previous owners did not leave any wood remnants. Removing or replacing the skylights is a necessity...not a choice. We will be talking to the contractor about putting in lighted cove molding.

Please post "after" photos when you are ready.

I know that you said you didn't want 70's basement lighting...

But have you looked at LED thin panel lighting?

Maxim Sky Panel

ci_lantro

I really didn't want light panels, but I will admit the link you sent me was helpful. Thanks. The light panels of today look so much better than what I remember in my childhood. After reading your post, I did some more searching and I found these lights that remind me of Margaret's suggestion. https://www.alconlighting.com/commercial/alcon-skybox.html

CoolAir Inc...what do you mean by Fall Ceiling Design?

I'm pretty sure that CoolAir meant to type 'false' ceiling design.

The light that you linked would work & it does look nice. See what your contractor says about it. He may not like the fact that it is a recessed light given your Up North location. (No insulation behind the light creating a warm spot on the roof that will cause snow melt & icing.)

Why don’t you just replace the skylights?

Our decision to not replace the skylights is related to a restoration issue. We live in the Northern region of Wisconsin where the weather isn't kind to skylights. After a few years, skylights tend to leak and our contractor recommended we remove them. There are also issues of losing heat through the glass and creating ice jams on the roof.

You could install the thin light panel and cover with a faux stained glass film.

Hi - I am wondering if you ever finished this project and what you did to fill in the area where the original skylight was...we have a similar issue in our cottage in northern NY.

Thanks for asking - life got in the way of finishing our restoration. Once our county is out of the "red" for COVID, we are going to continue the process. I am currently waiting for an estimate on new skylights. We are also considering the narrow light panel. I will let you know what happens this summer.

We have the exact situation at our cottage. What did you decide to do?

We have the exact situation as well. I like the 2 ideas mentioned (fill in with drywall and cover up with HVAC grill of some kind of lighting option.). Did anyone finish their project. Would love to see pics if so. TIA

We have the exact situation. Does anyone have pics of finished projects?

Hi. i have the exact same ceiling (3,4and 5” boards) and very much the same looking skylights (with leaking). please send pics of what you did. we had the skylights removed and are trying to decide on a solution. TIA

Same situation here! We have removed 8 skylights during our home remodel of a house we purchased All of our walls/ceilings are cedar...stained cedar and it's impossible to match up! Would love to see finished pictures!

I wish that I was able to show you pictures of a finished ceiling, but we have yet to be successful with contractors after their initial visit. One of the issues with living Up North. The size of the skylight is no longer available, which we learned after waiting months for a contractor to "get back to us." We even called the Velux manufacturer for suggestions, but the closest certified installation person was three hours away - they won't come this far.

We decided the next step is to remove the skylights and are currently waiting for bids. The thought process is to remove the wainscotting in the loft and use the lumber to repair the holes in the ceiling after removing the skylights. Hopefully, the wood tones will be compatible, and we will not have to paint the ceiling. Plan B would be to replace the entire ceiling with new wood. The roof will need new shingles to avoid a patchwork look.

I will post if there is good news to share! Good luck. I am interested in hearing if any of you have had success.

I wish that I was able to show you pictures of a finished ceiling, but we have yet to be successful with contractors after their initial visits. One of the issues with living Up North. The skylight size is no longer available, which we learned after waiting months for a contractor to "get back to us." We even called the Velux manufacturer for suggestions, but the closest certified installation person was three hours away - they won't come this far.

Our next step is to remove the skylights and wait for bids. The thought process is to remove the wainscotting in the loft and use the lumber to repair the holes in the ceiling after removing the skylights. (Reminds me of patching a wooden floor.) Hopefully, the wood tones will be compatible, and we will not have to paint the ceiling. Plan B is to redo the entire ceiling with new wood, but we question if cost for a studio bunkhouse is worth it. The roof will need new shingles to avoid a patchwork look.

I will post if there is good news to share!

Thanks for responding! We had a new roof installed (shingles - so wish we had went w/ metal)..you can see where every single skylight was when the roof is wet. (we live in IN, I wonder when it snows what will happen) It also appears to be dipping a little in those spots. We are having the roofer come back. Ugh!