I need affirmation if I'm correct or opinions on why I might be wrong. My husband and I have basically completed our home after a 3 year building process. One of two main items left is finishing our roughed out stair case. We have a 2500+ split level home and we utilized lots of rustic colors throughout and a custom walnut stain on all baseboards, doors, window casings, etc. The only wood stain variance we have is in the kitchen wherein I chose hickory cabinets and tied in the dark stained trim and doors with a butcher block counter top on the island stained dark and a dark tiled floor and coordinating back splash. I utilized oil rubbed bronze fixtures, so with the the dark undertones and graining of the otherwise natural hickory, it looks great. I've had so many compliments.

Now comes the dilemma. For finishing our stairs, my husband wants to use cedar boards that his father has supplied to us and encouraged that they be used for our finished stairs. He also has a planer so we could do the work ourselves. The cedar is red cedar, which in and of itself is beautiful and most people enjoy its natural beauty by simply using whatever clear finish product they desire. However, I feel that it will stick out like a sore thumb with it being such a contrast from the rest of our trim. Also, I forgot to mention that we used hardwood hickory in our great room, which had a factory dark finish on it, which is what we matched our trim up to. The hickory flooring is just across a small span of tiled hallway (I took a piece of the cedar to an expert and had it stain matched to the dark hickory flooring. My husband is appalled that I want to cover up the natural beauty of the cedar with a dark stain and says it takes everything away from it. Help! Am I wrong? Because I really don't think so.