Here's an interesting project we tackled on the Cape. The homeowner started remodeling, removing ugly paneling, and discovered beautiful old solid fir paneling underneath. He wanted to restore the original look, but much of the fir paneling was missing. So our challenges were: 1) where do we find a source of new, old style paneling? and 2) how do we get the new wood to look like the stuff that has been hanging for 70+ years, undergoing color changes from sunlight, cooking smoke & other indoor pollutants. We located a wood source, and then started experimenting with stains & shellacs. Our formula consisted of 3 coats of cherry stain (to darken the fir), and 2 coats of an old style amber shellac, probably the exact same product that the old wood was finished in. The results were terrific. We dare you to tell which wall is new wood & which is old.