We are building a screened in porch onto our existing porch. We are using red wood cedar. The porch faces west and we live in Mississippi.

I do not know what my options are for finishing the wood. Aesthetically, at first I thought I would either paint or solid color stain the wood white to match the deck railings and the windows and trim on the house. Once the cedar went up I wanted to retain the dark brown color and match it to the brown stained french doors coming off the house into the porch. Issue there is the 10/10 post, the 2/6 boards and the 2/4 boards are all different color cedar. We also plan to have french doors made for the screened porch to mimic the ones on the house. That is another reason I would like to keep the dark wood color.

I need to know if there is an option to have the screened porch match the French doors/retaining the dark color of the 2/6’s? And if so, what primer and stain do I use? I also have read I only have about 14 days to start staining the cedar before it loses its absorption properties.

If there isn’t an option to stain it to retain the deep brown wood color, do I paint the wood or stain it with a color stain. If so, do I have to sand it and what primer and type of paint would I use.

I have spent hours online and calling different stores and seem to get more confused the more I research this.

I’m attaching a couple of photos of the screen porch during construction and the French doors going into the house (which need to be refinished soon).

Thank you for any advice.