Looks like a great space. Are you really set on a wood ceiling? I would wrap the center beam and add faux beams (since the house is spanish style) If you really want wood I would paint it- you already have wood floors, you don't want to fight that. You can get primed V groove pine fairly reasonably and it will paint beautifully.

I do like the warmth of wood, but don't want it to look too rustic. What type of wood would you use for center and faux beams? It's meant to be five faux beams flanking each side of the center. There is pine, but I was also looking at alder. I thought about painting the v groove, but have seen a lot of light wood ceilings lately. Thank you!!

If you are doing wood beams and you are set on a wood ceiling I would match them- you don't want three woods in one room (floor/ beam/ ceiling) It can be done of course but it is tricky to get all the tones to work. Secondly if you are building beams and wrapping the main beam I would choose woods that have clear straight grain- much easier to make it look like real wood if the grain and color is consistent board to board especially since the main beam will have to have joints along its length.

Without knowing where you are I cannot suggest materials as that is somewhat regional. I'm in the south which means I have a ton of yellow pine at my disposal, followed by oak and poplar (poplar would not be a good option for stain)

Funny story about pine beams- we were installing pine 'beams' in a remodel and the client wanted them to match her new oak floors. The painters made a stab at staining them to match the floor and it just didn't work- no one was happy. One of my employees got up on a ladder and in a couple hours sanded and glazed them so the color was perfect. The painters came back the next day and saw that something had happened to their work and proceeded to re stain them to look like they had looked when they left the previous day. Oh vey!

Oh, no! Ha ha, that sounds like something that might happen since I am new to construction. Communication between all parties is hard to keep up with! What was your trick to get the floors and beams to match? I know it's trial and error, but I'm wondering about adding a bit of white paint to lesson yellow look of pine and using a water based finish because oil darkens. I am in Southern California, right outside Los Angeles. There is cedar (a bit red and knotty), pine, and Douglas Fir (doesn't stain well) and Alder for lighter woods- clear straight grain to hide the joints is a great tip! Thank you.

Sadly no tricks other than experience and trial and error. oil stain doesn't darken- oil based poly ambers. Water based stains tend to raise the grain and be tricky to work with IMHO. I would use an oil based stain and a water based poly to finish it.