writes:
My wife and I are about to start building a home in the country. We
want to use tongue and groove ceilings in several rooms. Where is the
best place to buy t & g? Are their choices of wood, texture,
finishes, etc? We want something that looks like a distressed pine.
Is that possible. Any suggestions of where to buy where we can look
at choices would be appreciated.

Deja vu. The first house my husband and I bought had a living room with
knotty pine paneling (tongue and groove 1x8 boards). On the walls and on
the ceilings with ceilings 6-1/2 feet tall. I hated it within six months.
The walls would have been okay, or the ceiling, but not all. Fortunately
we lived there only two years, then to a house with 9-1/2-foot ceilings,
lathe and plaster painted a light color - such a pleasant change. From
our experience, I'd say be very careful what you put on the ceiling; it's
with you a long, long time.

Of course, the bathroom was battleship gray, all of it, likely because
they bought WWII surplus paint at the shipyards! (Note, I said "was" cuz
that was easily changed, even though that room was also tongue and groove
.. . . lumber country.) The bathroom was painted immediately, but I simply
could not bear to paint over that beautiful pine though we personally
hated it. There is just something about painting over fine wood that goes
against everything in my nature. We often wished they had paneled only
one wall, that would have been truly enjoyable, but four walls and the
ceiling? Too much, too small a room; in a lofted room, it would have
worked.

Good luck on whatever decisions and choices you make. Enjoy.

Glenna

Glenna,

I hated it within six months.

To each their own... My wife and I went to great effort and expense to
install T&G cedar ceilings throughout our house, and our master suite has
T&G pine installed vertically on the walls. We absolutely love it!

We have visited many cabins and cottages over the years that had wood
ceilings and/or walls, and really wanted that look in our home. For us,
there was no other choice.

Wood has a warmth and depth that can never be achieved with drywall or the
stupid "popcorn" or "textured" ceilings.

We put drywall on the majority of the walls in the house, mostly because of
the cheaper cost, but also to allow the flexibility of changing the room
colors. But, the wood ceilings go well in all the rooms, regardless of the
wall colors.

We cringe when we think some other family will move in years from now and
paint our nice wood ceilings white, or whatever the current trend is. Or
worse yet, cover it all with drywall and spray on a popcorn ceiling.

Anthony