everyone has an opinion...

....and everyone has shared theirs on this particular wall.  i know someone very well that loved the old way (with the filled in window, not matching to original stain) and felt it added quite a charm, indeed it did, but i had other plans.  lets just say it was probably a fair balance between who said to leave it and who said..stain it to match.  i just had to make an executive decision :) and proceed with the staining.

i included some photos for a historical reference.  the condition of this wall when we moved in was a wallpapered (a textured grass wallpaper) sheet rock wall.  well, one of the first things i did after we ripped out the dropped ceiling was see what was behind all of the sheet rock.  well, we were thrilled when we found the original redwood plank wall that was from the late 1800's and the more we tore down the  sheet rock the more we were mesmerized by this incredible wall... and then we found the hole in the wall that was originally a window. 

well, i finally got tired of the unfinished wall, as well as the ceiling (which we also loved so much..had a great rustic feel).  the ceiling had equally beautiful aspects as the wall, but it has 3 different types of wood, with 3 different stains and three different widths.. and there just wasn't a workable way to address this without more demo and expense...plus i wanted to paint it as we desperately needed some light paint to reflect the natural light (gets dark in the winter).

so here are the results, that only took 2 weekends to complete.   its the little things that bring joy and this one small task feels like we made a huge impact on the project....that feeling will surely last a month, and then reality sets in.