Would love to hear your views

[Ninahoney]

I live in a converted barn with entirely oak windows. There are modern windows in my sitting room, externally it’s clad in stone and the oak is in keeping with the building.. It’s a very plain room and was added on to the original barn.
I'm about to decorate and have panelled the walls to make it cosier.
should I paint the oak windows and french doors in egg shell? They are a heavy looking syrupy colour at the moment.
my decorator had warned me that they may chip on opening and closing.
Any opinions gratefully received and thank you

Solid oak windows? No. Do not paint them.

Please don’t paint solid oak windows. That’s craftsmanship.

They sound beautiful but if they have a toned varnish on them I would strip that

I wouldn’t, I’d try to work with what you’ve got rather than risking ruining the window frames. Sounds like they’re good quality frames.
Wood colours go in and out of fashion quite quickly, I imagine you’ll regret it more quickly than you think if you change them.

Hmm, we also have a barn with wooden windows. They are 30 years old and are rotten. We’ve just changed a couple to a wood effect pvc in cream, and it actually looks much better against the stone walls. The wood had a reddish finish. It looked dated. Plus we are quite exposed and the windows get a lot of weather.

Thank you. The wood is in good condition but just looks very dated and unattractive. The windows are the typical ones you see in barn conversions.