newhomebuilder - thanks. I am hoping it will look okay. I had wanted to put in a built-in for television etc, but DH wants to put in wet bar. I am just not so sure if I like the open sink showing. Thanks forhgtv... I think we will be okay too since the molding doesn't connect to other molding. I did a quick mockup of what it will look like... I put in the bar, lightened the crown molding and darkened the ceiling. What do you think of the bar layout? We already ordered the cabinets but we would send back if there was a much better layout worth possibility of getting stuck with restock fee. The upper cabinets will be lighted and have seed glass. There are two wine cubes, then below those is a small cabinet that opens. I am not sure what to put behind the sink. In the mockup I put a mirror and then at the lower level is a two tile high backsplash with a vineyard scene (not sure if this is too much or too tacky). The bottom cabinets will be a cabinet with slide outs to put liquor bottle on, then the sink base, then a stack of drawers. The chair will be moved and those windows will be sliding doors to deck. I also modified the mantel to be a wood mantel. Not sure what we are going to do. Previous owners glued mirror onto the two tiered rough cedar mantel. So we are having the mirror removed and then will see what our next step will be. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the input. For some reason I cannot picture my crown being white with the other trim elements being stained. Dunno why. But if you say yours looks good, I do believe you. My house is a little ranch style 2/2 that we are remodeling from builder grade stuff to 'us'. It is a dwelling that is on a large piece of land that we use as our facility for training horses so I can feel pretty free to do what I want, since any potential buyers down the road will likely be more interested in the barn and land than the house, LOL! I have put rough slate on the kitchen floor, scabos travertine on the backsplash, and pretty much done it up in the kitchen altho I did not go custom with cabinets - used Ikea - and am thrilled, BTW. It looks great, IMO. The Acacia wood floor is so cool - natural graining and lots of movement. Altho I like the crisp, creamy trim against the darker wall color, I think using stained or even raw cedar boards with a sealing finish would be very appropriate. I also have some great cypress logs that I would like to bring into it if I can find a way. None of that - IMO - marries that well to the rather colonial looking white moldings that I presently have. Hub will be puzzled at my wanting to redo what looks pretty good right now, but as an artist and first time home redecorator in my 50s I aint wantin' to do it any way other than MY way! LOL! If I did NOT want to keep the crown white, does anyone have any suggestions / opinions? Pics are always appreciated, of course and would not mind seeing pics of that 1926 Tudor, if you have any. I dont really know how to post pics but would do so if it would help and someone can point me to directions. Ceilings in my house, BTW, are 8 feet. I am open to creative ideas and only limited by money as the husband is open too!

I am not a botanist, or even an expert in any kind of wood "ology", but I have bumped into similar situations. It sounds like you may have encountered issues from two fronts: Different manner of harvesting (cutting) the wood, and possibly even different wood species. How a stain reacts to each of these conditions can be quite unique, even with a pre-conditioner. I have found pre-conditioners to help make stain appearance more consistent across a specific "type" of board, but not as helpful across different types or species. When cutting wood from a log, different methods are used depending on the type of product they are trying to make. For wainscot (or plywoods in general), it is desireable to have a wide, flat, thin piece of wood. This can be made by either by joining several flat sawn pieces together at the edge, or by actually peeling the log like an apple skin. The grain created by these two methods are quite different and will take stain quite differently. Peeling can produce large areas of the same layer in the log's growth rings. My guess is that the "goldy" sheen you are referring to is in the harder, summer layer which does not take a stain very well; while the surrounding wood soaks it up like a sponge (very dark). On the other hand, the moulding pieces and flat stock were likely harvested in the simple flat-sawn manner. The mouldings probably have the grain going perpendicular to the face (works better when routing or cutting contours), while the flat stock has it running mosty flat. Again, these cuts can setup conditions that make the absorbing of stain very different. Another thing you could be dealing with, is that PINE is not just PINE. There are several species, each with their own characteristics. Sometimes with mouldings they only classify between hardwood and softwood which leaves a lot open to interpretation. So that might help with how you got here, but doesn't do beans to help with your current problem:-( You can try sanding the flat stock as others have suggested; that's probably not an option with the mouldings though. You can try a solution of laundry bleach or wood bleach (oxacylic acid) to see if that pulls enough color out. Keep in mind that both of these methods will likely raise the grain so let it dry completely and sand smooth before trying to adjust the color or put on any finish. If you decide to start over, here are some ideas to avoid the same pitfalls. - Gel stains. These are much easier to control and do not "soak right in" the way typical oil stains do. You sometimes have to "rub" these in a bit to get the desired look. You can also let a thin layer actually just "dry" right on surface of the wood, if you can't get it to soak or rub into the wood. - One-coat "varnish stains" (Minwax calls these Polyshades) can give better color control, but has a tendency to hide the grain detail. Use additional coats of the "varnish stain" to get a darker effect. Once you have the color you like, you can add additional topcoats (if needed) of clear varnish without affecting the color. Be careful sanding between coats of varnish stain, as the color is mostly in the varnish coat and not soaked into the wood. I have used this method many times on windows where the casings were made of PINE, but the trim is Oak. I've also used it on woods that don't take stains well like Maple. - You have probably already realized this, but experiment on the actual woods that you are using. You may very well find that you need to apply a different treatment to each "type" of wood to get the same (or at least acceptable) color. This actually happens to me often when I'm building cabinetry and mixing the use of both solid woods and veneer plywoods. Not as bad with Oak, but with woods like Pine and Maple, I like to steer toward either no stain at all, or toward red/mahogany. The brown/black seems harder to control. I even do this when purposely substituting different wood types for durability reasons. I hope that helps. I've felt the same frustration as you. Good luck with your project. Jim

How about a really dark color? Or else cherry on top (whipped cream optional LOL) and make transition to white back at the walls (same profile)? Someone else has thread about transitioning CM color but I haven't seen any replies to that.