To hate my new build orangey doors?

[Diy322]

I hate them but people are telling me it’s high quality wood and I should leave it alone. I’ve been looking at social media and YouTube tutorials for inspiration and lots of people commenting in other peoples posts about how tacky their doors look with paint and how the natural wood looked lovely! I personally like the after look. So my question is will painting the doors make them look cheap and tacky? I’m thinking either black or a beige colour, here is what they look like right now:

p.s. the picture I’ve just uploaded doesn’t reflect the real door colour for some reason! I’ve taken loads but it’s actually really orange in real life here it looks more muted.

I would sand them down as I think it the vanish that's giving the orange hue. Use a Scandinavian matt/clear vanish will give a natural finish

Not helpful, but I really like them as they are!

Vinyl wrap them, then if you don't like how they look you can just peel it back off?

I agree they look really orange and I wouldn’t want to live with them either. I’d sand and stain. Start out on the back of one that’s rarely closed as your tester xxx

I am not a fan of the ‘orangy’ wood shades, but I disagree with the PP’s who said you can’t paint them easily. It’s your house OP, and you can absolutely do what you like to the doors - doesn’t matter whether they were really expensive. I have used Frenchic Al Fresco paint on various projects, and it’s fantastic stuff. No need to sand, just wash the doors to ensure they are free from any greasy fingerprints or dust, and away you go. A lovely soft, matte finish. It’s not cheap, but it goes a long way. I painted a fair sized table and four chairs with 2 coats, and only used a third of a 500ml tin.
I painted outside plastic drain pipes with this paint four years ago, and they still look great.

Sand down and stain, that’ll look so much nicer than painting them - I personally don’t like the example photos you’ve given of them painted. If you like it though go for it it’s your home, but sanding and staining will be a lot more nicer and paint quickly becomes outdated/tacky in a few years

I have these doors in my house and love them. I used a matt natural oil on them. Mine do not look orange, they look like oak. You can get some cheapish ones (usually the white ones), but mine are heavy, and are engineered oak, they cost hundreds of pounds each. You'd be committing a crime to oak to paint them.

You're meant to reoil them every so often anyway, so if you don't like them, either try sanding and using a different oil on them OR get them removed, sell them to someone who will appreciate them, then replace them with the cheap MDF crap.

ThI’m a looks awful and cheap

There are different doors on the development because the ones with the white doors will be a lower specification - they will be white mdf hollow core. What you have is solid timber and more expensive and an upgrade option or only installed in house types over a certain size / price / number of bedrooms

no I wouldn’t paint them. They will chip and the maintenance on them will be time consuming and they will look cheap

if you don’t like them I’d remove them (sell them!) and have new ones installed - cheaper than removing every door and priming and painting them

You can buy doors like the white one in your pic. I have them. I expect people either specced them when they bought their house or have replaced the entire door since moving in.

(My pic will appear after review… it’s also dark and murky here but my door is exactly the same as the one you posted.)

But it’s a cosmetic choice and you’re fine to have a preference. It will be a lot of work to sand, prep/prime and get a perfect smooth finish if you paint all the doors in your house. If I was that bothered I would buy new ones. You’d still need to do the door frames though, I assume they are oak like the doors?

Edit to add: As PP have said my doors look lovely and do not look cheap at all but they ARE hollow and yours look better quality.

I’ve got the orangey doors in my house. They’re heavy oak. I’ve just accepted them as not being the cheap white ones

I'm with PPs that your doors are good quality doors and will look nasty if you attempt to paint them.

It would be better to sell them and replace them, but it won't be cheap. Approx £110 each plus fitting can be another £100.

I'd try to learn to love them. They will mellow over time.

You want to get rid of your oak veneer doors and have painted mdf? Really?

I have doors similar to yours and they have darkened a bit as they’ve aged.

I don't think doors like yours will paint well - you'd be better off selling them and buying what you really like. I agree they're a strange colour and style, not my taste at all.

If you can find out exactly what brand and style they are you can probably make a bit of money from selling them, as people might be looking for replacements.

Don't get the cheapo hollow white doors to replace though, they won't feel as nice. Go to a builder's merchant and look at all their doors, and get something solid wood. It will be expensive but worth it when you feel pleased every time you open or close a door.

Honestly it will look crap. If you’re doing it yourself it will take ages, plus however careful you are the doors will chip and peel over time and look even more crap, then you’ve created a constant job for yourself. Plus they might I'd honestly live with them for a while and if you still hate them in 6 months buy white ones.

If you don’t have experience with painting doors, I wouldn’t start with these - although it, could be done and personally I like painted doors.

this style of door goes with your house, but you could sell them and buy a different style - of equivalent quality - please not brand new cheap Victorian style panelled doors in a new build - and/or stain them.

Another suggestion is to replace the handles (again, sell them) - that can change the look of a door quite a lot.

Definitely stain rather than paint. The white door you posted that looks the same as yours will be the white version, not one someone has painted.

This is awkward... think you have the same doors as me. And I chose them as I like them!

I've just treated them with oil as recommended by the joiner who installed them.

I defo wouldn't paint them, the doors are far too good for that. When you move down the line, buyers do like contemporary wooden doors like that, not painted ones.

I’d get someone in to paint them if you’re not sure what to do - a handyman would likely be able to, you don’t necessarily need a painter/decorator.

I have the cheap white version in my new build, they’re fine, not my fave but I’m not paying to replace them!

It's hard to tell for sure from just one photo if they're the same but these are the doors I have https://www.howdens.com/joinery/doors/howdens-daytona-oak-door-obj-sku-family-25405969?skuId=DIH0760, they weren't the cheapest

We painted stripped 1930's doors with Ronseal's Diamond Hard Floor Varnish - White Ash and it seals the wood, but still shows the grain, rather than a sold white paint finish.

Don’t paint them. I had a decorator do this to my upstairs doors. They don’t look good. Your doors look fine.

I’d consider a gentle sanding and revarnishing with something lighter like pale oak. It’s masses of work though I’d wait and see if you get used to it. I’d put colour in the hall big pops of it to draw the eye so you aren’t in this space with these glaringly obvious doors.

Not helpful but I assumed there was a typo in the title and was hoping for pictures of a stunning if disappointing orangery.

If you hate the doors just get them painted but do it well with good quality eggshell.