My house is full of 1973 funky flair and I adore every square inch of its past-its-prime-but-still-really-cool-ways-of-dividing-up-the-space and just-interesting style. In my room known as the “pointless room” and the office I have a very large exposed wood ceiling (don’t know the wood). It’s been whitewashed and finish and has a slight yellow tint to it from the now aged finish. It’s cool but I stare at it and dream often.
Ideally, I would love to warm up this look by staining the wood a dark rich color and give the walls a solid punch of white to put it still slightly stylishly behind. I would love to still have the wood show in all its glory. But how could I do it? Stain gel? Would I need to sand down the whole mess and stain it properly? Not entirely sure I’m willing to do the whole mess but it’s nice to dream.
I don’t want to paint the sucker.
General finishes gel stain (maybe in Java?) would look amazing and would give you good coverage. Light sanding would be optimal, but you could do a test area without and see if the time savings are worth it.
That’s a pretty big under taking so maybe consider renting hvlp or airless setup and spraying a stain as well.
Sounds like you’re messing with something that ain’t broke. Wish I had a ceiling that made me dream often… 
That is absolutely true, and one of my favorite things to do.
You know - if you feel like gambling have you ever done the throw some steel wool into vinegar-let it sit for a day-then spray it on wood thing? It’s a total crap shoot depending on the existing finish - might do nothing, might be as squee! as double rainbows.
I tried that with a strange wall in my garage. It was a disaster - well it was no disaster - but it was ugly - now it’s ugly in a more socially acceptable way. This is quite the square footage of wood ceiling. Once again, staring at it tonight wondering what it wants me to do with it.
I can hear it whispering…pay someone to scaffold up to the ceiling for a few days…but I’m trying to ignore that…because I would much rather him and haw for months on end and take no action.
You say that like it is a bad thing. 
Russell Ward
Ebonizing solution (iron acetate made from iron oxide (rusty iron) and acetic acid (vinegar)) reacts with tannin in the wood to darken it. Also used in leatherworking, where they call the solution “vinegaroon” for some reason unrelated to the scorpion-like arachnid of the same name.
Little/no tannin present means little or no color change. I’ve had good luck doing this with oak and walnut, as well as veg-tan leather. Light woods like pine, maple, and ash tend to not change much, but you can stack the deck in your favor by brewing up some strong black tea and pre-treating the wood with that tannin-rich elixir.