A little background, which most would certainly help. Our house is 40+ years and has never been remodeled. It is in the NC mountains, and was originally built for a vacation residence. It wasn't built up to snuff years ago, and we are playing catch up. We added the tongue & groove ceilings, out of necessity, because the original ceilings were drop ceilings in some rooms, and some weird woven tile in other rooms. The ceilings we installed are tongue & groove wood, stained a light oak color. To begin with, the house had zero moulding, even around the windows. We will have to add moulding as we go. That's another subject for another day, but the windows are to be replaced also. Obviously, we have started from scratch. My husband & I are doing all the work ourselves, which slows down the progress. I just need to concentrate on one room at a time, or feel too overwhelmed. Currently, the loft is the project. I will post pictures when I'm able. I will try and post photos, so you have a better understanding.

Are you all feeling superior now? Comments posted while I was writing mine, including the one Sandi wrote. Actually, I have a habit of calling out anyone when I know what I know. As of this posting, the time you posted at is one hour difference then when Sandi posted about letting it acclimate for a week. So I know you didn't post at the same time. So you were commenting on the acclimation, without reading all the responses. Also the advice of The entire project does NOT have to be redone. Take down the ceiling area that is buckling. Trim off enough from the boards on either edge to alleviate the problem, then put all the pieces back up. So says my carpenter husband. It's a simple fix. This in itself is horrible advice. This is tongue and groove, you may want to look up exactly what that is. To enlighten you, if you cut some off the tongue or groove. You would have to router each piece. This would be a total waste of time! If all you wanted to do is alleviate the buckling and not solve the problem. You would pull it down, reinstall, and have to trim down the last pieces installed. Just imagine if you "Take down the ceiling area that is buckling." Since it's tongue and groove it would be extremely difficult just to pull that area down. Then you may come up short when attempting to meet the area's not buckling. I'll mention about having to face nail when attempting to work a piece in, but I doubt you'd understand any of it. You may also want to read upon insulation/vapor barriers etc. There are very few areas in this country where the vapor barrier actually goes on the opposite side of the conditioned building envelope. However, no place in this country calls for vapor barrier in some areas of a ceiling, and none towards the peak of the structure. You would have to have minimal knowledge to understand this, and look at the pictures provided, plus an understanding of what you're viewing.

I enjoyed reading all the commentary. I learned alot especially about the use of varnish. It is an old school finish that uses resins to protect the wood with the added benefit of a leaving the wood with a lovely patina as well as adding a drama to the hue. A comment up the chain aptly likened it to the look of wood on his boat. In addition to varnishes I love using gel stains when i want to add a stain. The viscosity or gel quality allows longer curing period and therefore enough application time to greater control than regular stain products. I have also had excellent effects with gel stain on painted wood. If you work with it the look mimics wood quite convincingly.

Thank you for all the feedback. It is really helpful. We really don't plan on going anywhere, which makes me think that I need to choose what will make us most happy for living her another 20 years. I suppose we can take the paint off down the road if it just isn't working out. The contractor wants to get the ceiling painted first before floors and cabinets just because it is easier for them. But we can tell them we want to go slow. I have my heart set on the wood floors and we found something that all 7 of us (hubby and 5 daughters) all like. They are all really wanting to try the painted ceilings too. The girls are ready for a house change (teenagers) and so I think we might just go for it. I found these photos from another log house remodel that look like what we are aiming for. The sink we have now is an 1920's farmhouse that I found at a flea market. I love the look but it is really stained beyond what we can afford to repair. We've been "test driving" it to see if we want to invest in the special sink base we would need. But it hasn't been very comfortable to use... stains easily, small drain, dishes chip easily even with a grid in the bottom. So we are going to put in a new farmhouse sink and keep this one for a work sink elsewhere.