Painting interior rough wood

We have a fairly modern big kitchen (Cherry cabinets with European hinges, etc) with exposed rough 6x16 fir beams. Some of them have dark water stains from drips during construction way back when, probably nail related. I think we used some kind of penetrating oil finish on them but I'm not sure. I'd like to refinish those beams so it looks as nice as possible. I'm not sure that staining them would cover the water stains. So I guess painting them is my best bet. Any suggestions as to preparation, paint, stain, any particular product? I wonder if we should use a color that's close to wood color or not, or whether that matters. I guess flat would be best. Thanks.

 

Option 1: Painting
Many of KILZ primers are great for stain blocking. You may sand down the wood beams so it will leave a nice smooth finish, then apply KILZ primer and a good coat of paint.
KILZ Original primer, KILZ Odorless primer, should be used on medium/heavy stains to acheive maximum stain blocking. They can also be used as a primer/sealer on new wood and millwork without raising the wood grain.

Option 2: Framing
You can also frame the wodden beam with sheetrock, but there will be alot more work involved. Skim coat/plaster, prime and paint. Search for exposed beams kitchen to get some more ideas.

Option 3: Remove water stains, apply sealer and stain coating to keep a rustic look.

Hope these ideas help.
____________________________
-Andrei
painting contractor

 

Thanks, Andrei. Sanding those things or doing sheetrock would be more work than I want to get into. Your third option is to remove the water stains - how would I do that? These are vertical dark lines from nail water dripping down years ago before the roof was on.