Picking Out Stain for Cypress Shakes Is Hard Work

  

I’m out on The Kuppersmith Project, again. And this is where the decision-making goes into overload. You can see what I’m facing here with making the all-important decision on the stain for the shakes that we have on the outside of this project. Then there’s the 1×6 cypress that we have on the ceilings on the back porch, the front porch, and the breezeway. Plus, I have to figure out the color for all of the trim that goes around the windows and doors and the gables on this Tudor home.

So, you can see I’m struggling here. I got some of the little samples, tried them out, and some of the colors were just way different than what I thought they’d be. But this is the way to do it. Put a little stain on a piece of material that you’re going to use. Then combine them and see if any of them work for what you want.

It took me a couple runs, but here’s what’s been decided. First of all, for the trim we’re going to match the brown metal that’s already on the house. Then for the shakes, I wanted to go back to as close to the original color of the shakes as I could. This is where I ended up. This shake shows two coats and one coat of the same stain color. We’ll need two coats on the shakes because it will really soak up this semi-transparent stain.

Then for the ceilings, look at this awesome looking cypress. The cypress company that provided this did an awesome job. All of it will be stained a different color from the shakes, which is this reddish tone. It’s not a whole lot different than the original, but it will really look nice when we put the coat of polyurethane over it. That satin sheen will seal it up. The stained ceiling contrasting with the stained shakes and the brown trim will be the perfect combination for the outside of the Kuppersmith home.