u/otowndowno

Hello!

I am going to be installing cedar T&G to this overhang over my driveway. I will be using 5' lengths with 4" faces. I mostly have a handle on the process, but am unsure if I should stain & seal the wood prior to cutting.

I am stuck on this step because I am using 5' lengths and so will need to stagger the boards rather than simply stacking them. In order to ensure a random pattern I will be doing the following:

• start 6 rows, 1st row- full board-100% 2nd row- 50% 3rd row- 25% 4th row-75% 5th row- 33% 6th row- 66% Using 5' material it equals out to a full piece, a 30" piece, a 15" piece, a 45" piece, a 20" piece and a 40" piece.
• run row as far as it can go before needing to cut the last piece in that row use a whole board for this cut.
• cut off the appropriate amount take the leftover and place it in a spot where you can place all of the leftover pieces from these 6 rows of end cuts, while keeping them in the order they were made
• When done with the 6 rows bring all of those balance pieces back to the starting wall. If all stacked properly you'll probably have to flip the stack so as to pull from the bottom or what was the first rows piece and continue

Anyways, long story short, since I basically need to install before knowing what cuts to make, I am struggling with figuring out when to stain. Is there a better process I can utilize?

Our master suite has a vaulted ceiling reaching ~13.5' at peak, with the ensuite opening directly off it. I'm working through how to handle the transition between these two connected volumes and want to use wood treatment as a way to define each space while maintaining a cohesive relationship between them.

My proposed approach: Clad the bathroom ceiling in T&G penny gap cedar to draw the eye up and emphasize the vault, while treating one or two walls in the bedroom (likely the closet wall and the wall the bed is against as imaged) with flat-finished teak or cedar paneling to anchor the room horizontally at eye level. The bathroom gets overhead emphasis (where you naturally look up while showering or soaking); the bedroom gets vertical plane emphasis (where you orient toward the bed). Drywall stays white in the bedroom to keep the vault feeling tall and uncluttered. Why I think this works: Each room gets its own spatial identity through which plane carries the wood, but a shared species and finish family ties them together as one connected suite. The contrast in application reads as intentional zoning rather than inconsistency.

Where I'm uncertain and want to pressure-test: Does applying wood to different planes in adjacent rooms hold up as deliberate contrast, or will it read as two unrelated decisions when viewed from the doorway sightline? Is there a stronger argument for treating both rooms as a single continuous volume — wood ceilings in both — given how connected they are spatially? If I commit to my proposed approach, should the species be identical across both rooms, or is matching undertone enough?

Title. Thanks!