Harvesting the grain

These shots should give you a good idea of what we're trying to achieve -- not necessarily in terms of the actual tint, which is distorted a bit by the camera (and the flash), but in the grain that emerges with the wash of paint and wipe of rag.

The wood wall in the den -- which will be sitting in an intensely Chinese Red room -- actually looks a little like the side of a barn without the louver doors that will give it some sophistication, the flat-screen that will break up the central panel, etc., etc.

"Right now, I almost expect bluegrass music out of it," Roy said Wednesday morning.

Not quite. But I'm going to hold off topcoating it with polyurethane until the side walls go in, in case it needs to get a little darker to match its surroundings.

I felt no doubts at all when he started on the little guest room after lunch. The yellow brings out every tiger stripe in the wood -- knots and all -- and reminds me that every board in that wall was a piece of a living tree.

At the end of the afternoon, it was like cloud-watching: We were all standing there studying it, picking out our favorite boards.