Thanks everyone. It's really helpful to see the examples.
Boilermaker-- I'm actually originally from Indiana but I never owned my own house there. Now that I've got a much better idea of what I like, I'm realizing oak is king to a lot of people. Hard to get used to now that I've lived in Florida for awhile!
Fuzzy-- Do you have any downloaded pics of your silver and blue rooms?
Steffie-- I do like that look a lot -- but probably b/c the moldings are white! But good to know that the wood doors could look good without being painted, in case I decide to paint the trim white.
Fuzzy-- Do you have any downloaded pics of your silver and blue rooms?
No, I'm sorry, I don't. But I can try and take some shots next week (out of town this weekend...)
I do have a shot of one of the bedrooms with the former owner's stuff. I have since repainted the room, but it may help you see another non-white wall next to wood trim:
Amorey-- I love those houses! With houses like that I prefer the wood color (esp. darker) but the oldest houses we've seen in the area we are looking at are about 30 years old.
tenofcups-- I was under the impression that before the wood could be painted, it had to be stripped, or at the very least primed. Do you know if that's not necessary? That would make quite a difference.Actually, I just finished painting much of the woodwork in our current house to get it ready to sell -- we got new, unfinished baseboards for a lot of the house and I painted a fresh coat over the interior doors -- and it was quite a job! I did it next to tile and laminate floors, and I imagine it would be more work to do it against carpet (I could afford to be sloppy with my flooring since it came up easily). I guess it's the time-consuming aspect, not difficulty, that I dread.
It's interesting.... I searched for more upscale houses in our area to see how they handled decorating with wood, and I'm finding *very* few home with the wood color! It's in the subarbs, maybe that's why.
Fuzzy, if you get the chance to take pics later, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you!
If the house is 30 years old, I think you should go ahead and paint it if it suits your tastes. They just don’t make wood trim like they used to!
You won’t need to strip the wood to paint it. Just lightly sand it with a fine grit paper. You will need to apply a coat of primer, but if you prime you should only need one coat of paint. If you just tackle one room at a time, painting the walls and the trim, I think it might be manageable.
I have very vivid yet not so pleasant memories of stripping ALL of the painted-white moudling/trim in my parents house (Illinois) so they could have natural wood trim.
We thought about that. Our house is a 1925 bungalow, and has fantastic, but painted woodwork. We tried to strip one window as a test. It took 2 days, 2 coats of $80/gallon "Peel Away 7," and it was still not done. When we multiplied how much time & money it would take to do the rest of the 15 windows + All of the crown & base molding... we decided to have painted woodwork.
If you ever think that anybody might like to have your wood trim unpainted in the future... leave it so. If it's the type of woodwork that is easily replaceable... paint away.
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Originally Posted by fuzzy
