Cover, Not Sand, Sunroom Rafters

The sunroom ceiling is coming along. I started out thinking that I could just sand down the rafters, clean them up, and then stain them. But, after working for several hours with a belt sander on the first 2 rafters I decided that effort was futile and set about wrapping them with the ¼ inch oak ply. I had thought about this before, but resisted because of the rafter hangers. I didn’t know how to deal them. I thought about leaving them exposed and just painting them black, or something. However, I figured out that I could fur out the ply using ¼ ply scraps. This turns out to be the exact gap needed to make it so that the ply can now cover the entire rafter including the hangers too. I have to say, so far anyway, it looks pretty good. I only got as far as wrapping the vertical surfaces, but tonight I hope to start with the rafter bottoms. After I finish the bottoms I need to put the corner moldings on, set and fill the nails, give it a quick sanding, and then stain the ceiling and rafters. Not sure yet what stain I’ll use. But, after I finish that, I’d like to redo the bottom part of the center beam in the main part of the upstairs. I don’t quite like how that turned out and I plan to add some more molding. Then I’ll set, fill, sand, and stain them too. Once that is complete, we’ll be ready for flooring. I can hardly wait!