Painting wood ?

[gummybear08]

Hope you don't mind a lurker posting, we are about to close on our new home and have a question about our new living room. My family thinks I'm crazy for wanting to paint the wood. I can't imagine decorating with these wood walls, I have always loved white woodwork in homes. So if we plan on painting the woodwork in the
home white, would you paint the wood walls white? What about the beams? I think we're going to go with navy, gray, green/or yellow color scheme. 

Hope me the picture shows up

[prazenjc]

personally I would paint the walls a soft shade of green (sagey tone), paint the trim white (including the beams, but if you are set on having them different, then paint them an uber light grey).

[cjeanette]

If you prefer white then go for it. I think it will open the space up. I like wood and like that space but wouldn't pearl clutch over it painted.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[auntie]

That's a pretty authentic MCM design.

It's almost like a museum piece. Not to everyone's taste; I get that.

Why did you buy something so unique if you want a more conventional/on-trend gray and white decorating scheme?

[gummybear08]

We bought the house because of price, # of bedrooms/layout, and location. The living room and dining room were an addition from the 70's. Original house was a 1940 bungalow. The house has a mixture of painted woodwork and non painted woodwork. Some walls are plaster, some are newer drywall, some rooms have popcorn ceiling, some not, so not one cohesive look.

With our current budget paint is the main thing we can do to update the home.

Would painting the wood walls gray and also the beams, but paint the baseboards white be a bad idea?

[gummybear08]

A few more pics of the house. 

[lavender444]

The wood is NMS, so I would probably paint, too. It looks like it has a shine to it? Make sure you prep it well (sand/degloss,clean, prime) so the paint sticks well.

I would for sure take the woodwork in the eating area white. The living room, I'm not sure what I would do to the walls. I would probably leave the beams as is, though.

[mollybrown]

I would paint all of the wood white, immediately. It's NMS at all. I wouldn't paint it any other color though.

[dr.girlfriend]

I had a wood-paneled room, and painted it all white. That plus installing recessed lighting made it look twice the size, and so light and welcoming as opposed to the dark cave it was before. That said, I would keep the beams and trim around the windows in the wood color, and just paint the paneled walls. I can't fathom living with something you don't like just because you think you should. Here's some before and after of my space:

[dr.girlfriend]

Oh, a few tips. If it is actual wood paneling with knots, you need to use a shellac-based primer, including several coats over the knots, otherwise they will leak sap over time and make yellow spots underneath the paint. That stuff is really strong-smelling, but you have to do it. I had a lot of trouble finding the right white, but in the end this is Benjamin Moore's Sand Dollar and I adore it. It gave me a heart attack because it looked pinkish when I put it on over the grey-toned primer, but in the end it's a perfect, creamy white.

When I was going to paint my paneling a lot of people were all "Noooooooo!!!!" and most of the others recommended I rip it out and put drywall in instead, but I love the texture the painted wood gives the room -- very beachy.

[TBM]

What style is the house? When was it built?

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 17, 2014 8:20:22 GMT -5 TBM said:

What style is the house? When was it built?

I missed it the first read-through too, but she says it up above.  "The living room and dining room were an addition from the 70's. Original house was a 1940 bungalow. The house has a mixture of painted woodwork and non painted woodwork. Some walls are plaster, some are newer drywall, some rooms have popcorn ceiling, some not, so not one cohesive look."

[TBM]

Apr 17, 2014 8:32:41 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Apr 17, 2014 8:20:22 GMT -5 TBM said:

What style is the house? When was it built?

I missed it the first read-through too, but she says it up above.  "The living room and dining room were an addition from the 70's. Original house was a 1940 bungalow. The house has a mixture of painted woodwork and non painted woodwork. Some walls are plaster, some are newer drywall, some rooms have popcorn ceiling, some not, so not one cohesive look."

Thanks.


In that case,  I would spend a lot of time figuring out what would give the interior a cohesive look...whether it is painting the paneling to make it look more cottage-y or putting up drywall over it to take away the cottage-y look...or something else entirely.

[demandypants]

I kinda love the wood and beams as they are. But I am admintingly very drawn to the MCM aesthetic and it would look awesome in my house. However if your home was a bungalow with an addition, I would not get all preachy on you about painting the paneling. But the beams are gorgeous.

[housegeek]

Id paint the wood walls and trim white and restain the beams. Or just paint the beams.

[TBM]

Apr 17, 2014 9:15:04 GMT -5 demandypants said:

I kinda love the wood and beams as they are. But I am admintingly very drawn to the MCM aesthetic and it would look awesome in my house. However if your home was a bungalow with an addition, I would not get all preachy on you about painting the paneling. But the beams are gorgeous.

That is exactly why I asked about the style/age of the house.  I was kind of afraid that someone was going to mess with some cool features of a MCM home. lol

I agree with you on all points.

[msmerymac]

I would leave the living room as-is. Or at very least the beams. But really, I think having natural wood in ONE room, especially one with cool beams like that, it totally fine. Then I'd probably paint the rest of the house. Or at least the paneling in the breakfast nook - you can paint that white like traditional wainscoting, but leave the trim natural?

[auntie]

I kind of like the MCM feel of the first room. It reminds me of a house my aunt had that was built by a prominent architect for himself. I find that room appealing and think it could be awesome left as it is with less brown decor- or painted white. I'd leave the beams and the ceiling molding.

The kitchenette space reminds me of my old sunporch. Knotty pine wood and stuccoed walls- I painted everything in that space some kind of white and added a lot of pattern in the soft furnishings. I agree with the need for a good shellac primer.

[gummybear08]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! 
Here is a picture I found that catches my eye and is kind of how I am picturing this room if painted. But I do like the look of the beams, if they were a darker stain. I've never restrained wood. I assume this wood be a lot more difficult than painting? And thank for the PP with the tips for priming and painting the wood!

[gummybear08]

Oh and Dr. Girlfriend, I love your after room, that is the look I am going for. 

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 17, 2014 21:02:39 GMT -5 gummybear08 said:

Thanks everyone for the feedback! 
Here is a picture I found that catches my eye and is kind of how I am picturing this room if painted. But I do like the look of the beams, if they were a darker stain. I've never restrained wood. I assume this wood be a lot more difficult than painting? And thank for the PP with the tips for priming and painting the wood!

I'm glad you like my "after" room, a soon as I saw your inspiration pic I knew we were on the same wavelength. :-)   The open, sunny feel of it now is just amazingly different from the den-like feel it had earlier. I'll try to take a more "whole room" picture this weekend if I can. This Young House painted paneling in their very first house and it had a similar feel, and The Lettered Cottage is another blog that I think actually put up boards to be painted just to give that cottage-y feel. Do what makes you happy!

I don't have much info about restaining, but another poster on this board just restained her staircase darker with gel stain and it looks amazing...she had lots of helpful info in her post.

pandce.proboards.com/thread/314317/stair-makeover-whine-little-advice

I think dark wood beams would look amazing with the painted paneling.  I love how my dark wood floor looks in the room I posted.  Here's a picture I took while it was going in:

[dr.girlfriend]

Here's what I'm imagining...you could always try this first, and then paint the beams afterwards if you decide you don't like the contrast. Much easier than painting them and realizing later you wanted them stained!

[downtoearth]

Apr 18, 2014 9:16:31 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Here's what I'm imagining...you could always try this first, and then paint the beams afterwards if you decide you don't like the contrast. Much easier than painting them and realizing later you wanted them stained!

Yes, that is what I was thinking!   I bet the wood beams seem warm after you paint the wood wall(s) white. Plus you could always gel-stain the beams darker after you live in the room awhile and see how you like it.

This first picture is similar color beams and window surrounds.  I really like that style.



Here are some other inspiration pictures.

[housegeek]

Apr 18, 2014 9:16:31 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Here's what I'm imagining...you could always try this first, and then paint the beams afterwards if you decide you don't like the contrast. Much easier than painting them and realizing later you wanted them stained!

Yes yes yes this!! Love it!!

[TBM]

You could try a gel stain on the beams. Scroll down to the posts by Lavender444 (or something like that) about her staircase. She used a very good brand og gel stain and did a really nice job on on her staircase.

[kaylie]

I love wooden beams, but we painted ours white. The dark wood made our family room look smaller than it was. It was a beast of a project, but totally worth it. It might have looked good if the room had higher ceilings, but ours are only 8'.