This is a case where we've had a really big change in our opinion, catalyzed by the suggestions of WA. Our original thought was plaster walls painted white (or in shades somewhere between white and grey in some rooms) with a dark industrial-type floor (more about the floor in another post).
WA suggested that this combination is a dime a dozen and that a much better choice for our house would be to leave the wood of the construction elements visible. Our first reaction to this was quite negative as the examples we had seen so far were too rustic and we didn't really like them except maybe in small chalets surrounded by fields of snow and pine trees. This discussion kept coming up and we kept shaking our heads and finally we went to see a house with an application similar to ours. Actually, if I understand it correctly, ours will be one grade higher than what we saw. The manufacturer, Pius Schuler[1], has recently started producing panels with knot-free, A-grade wood on the visible side which is quite smooth and we were pleasantly surprised and agreed that it does look very nice and airy. The company also has a planning service and they're (re)designing the walls for our house right now. I'll put up detailed drawings once the design is decided. Quite possibly the energy performance will be much better than that of the version I had written about before. More on that topic later.
Figure 28. A close up of a AB-grade Pius Schuler panel in spruce and fir. One half of the panel has been treated with a UV protectant to prevent darkening.
Figure 29. Interior of a house built using Pius Schuler panels in larch. Our version in spruce or fir should be lighter, and have less variation in the strips. More images can be found at the Schuler website.
[1] Pius Schuler is well-known in the Swiss low-consumption wood construction circles → Examples of houses built using Pius Schuler wall elements
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