To paint or not to paint

[Mumstheword1983]

Moved home. About to have this room decorated, new flooring to bring it up to date. Big question. Should we paint the woodwork white or leave it as the original wood skirting boards and door surrounds?

Hmm doesn't look like oak, I would be tempted to sand the vanish to get a good key, and repaint I would expect at least two coats.

Reminds me how we stripped our stairs back to wood 25 years ago, and then repainted them this summer back to white paint. You can't win!

Null

Yeah, those close ups just cemented it for me. I think it's horrible. I'd also be looking to replace the spindles. That's quite easy for me to say as I'm not the one paying for it 😂

It looks really nice wood if the new flooring is a similar colour I think it would be better as the light floor and darker skirting clash a bit.

Leave it. Painting the spindles is a hellish task. Woodwork gets grubby and chipped very quickly if painted. It's much easier to wipe a varnished wood surface.

The hallway is the next big job so I will come back in the spring to get opinions on that 🤣 the house is quirky and has 4 split levels so the bad news is there are plenty small staircases like this!

What is the new flooring?

I’d say for a 1992 house then paint the woodwork. You could go with a bold colour, it needn’t be white. As for colour drenching, that’s a thing just now, it will date so keep that in mind. How long is this new decor to last?

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We just moved from a house with very bold colours. Dark blue walls as it was the fashion at the time and we got very negative feedback when trying to sell. So unsure on colour scheme. I'm not a fan of white but OH is. I've just ordered 4 flooring samples. Some (darker) wood effect and some light grey wood effect. Very modern compared to this original flooring. I really appreciate all the feedback. Thanks. Pic attached is old lounge on move day.

Look up colour drenching. Paint the skirting in a wood finish the same colour as the walls. I've done this recently to update an older hosue and it was surprisingly effective (I kept the ceiling and coving white)

I'd have moved too.

Grey flooring with the wood as it is would be quite jarring. It’s a pain to paint but would give you far more options. If you use a water based paint they don’t discolour unlike the old oil based gloss.
I really dislike pine/wood wood so it’s a no brainier from me that I’d get it painted.
I think unless you went from a flooring that was close in colour it would look dated but it’s really down to personal preference.

if the budget stretched to it you can get overlay skirtings that slot over the old ones if painting all the wood would be too much effort.

I was thinking that it does look like oak but varnished rather than waxed. I'm still not sure what I'd do but would feel like it's "wrong" to paint oak. Get rid of the sheen on it though.

Definitely paint the woodwork white imho.

Looks like oak to me

Paint, we had a modern house with similar stairs, it was stained quite a dark colour. Faced with a choice of replacing all skirtings, door surrounds and stairs with a more modern profile and in light oak or painting we went for painting. We replaced the doors themselves with oak. The hall and stairs are painted white which really lightened the space. The other rooms are a mix of white in bathrooms or matching the walls.

Another one saying colour drench it. We repainted our entire house after rennovation. I paid a few hundred quid for a (independent) paint colour consultant to help me with the colours. She said always paint the skirting/ door frames same colour as the walls. And if you've got colour on your walls, don't necessarily paint the ceilings and doors pure white - it's too much of a contrast.

We went with F&B colours and they have loads of complementary whites/ neutrals.

It looks like varnished oak to me OP. I like it and the stairs. You could get a lovely oak door and varnish that to the same colour as the skirting. It’s a crime to paint lovely oak imho

We used www.ukoakdoors.co.uk a few years ago and they were amazing quality and value

I like both looks, but dust does show more easily on white, speaking from experience. If I could easily and cheaply trade mine in for unpainted, I would, for that reason alone.

If you are undecided then don’t rush into painting the wood because when it’s gone it’s gone forever. Removing paint from woodwork is a slow, messy, torturous business.

That colour wood is quite dated and out of fashion so if you’d like to modernise the look then I’d paint. White would be fine but painting it the same colour as the walls (or even a contrasting colour) would be lovely.

Just this morning I read that colour drenching is “out” and will look very dated in years to come 😀Whatever you do it will date unless its fairly neutral.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If the architraves/skirting/bannisters are oak I would consider stripping back the old varnish and looking at the quality of the wood, possibly waxing it rather than varnishing. You could also paint the hand rails/base of the staircase but leave the spindles and paint the skirting but leave window sills as waxed wood.

I would hesitate on grey for flooring, it can be cold and the dominance of grey ten years ago makes it look quite dated. I have light oak flooring throughout the ground floor and it has a warm but not dark feel and seems to go with anything. I dare say in 20 years it will look dated but its unlikely to date in the way that very strong colours and greys have in recent years.

If your expensive buys are neutral you can go mad with colour in the soft furnishings/small furnishings. They can change the feel of a room entirely without a complete refurb.

My house is 1905. The previous owners had every skirting board, picture rail, door surround, door, window frame and the entire banister stripped and varnished mid 80's. It's all very good quality wood and original so in situ 120 years. I kept it like that for 10 years to so but it was looking dated.So I started painting it in the next wave of redecoration.

So now , all the window frames, skirting, door surrounds, picture frames are white. The doors and banister remain varnished. The banister is spectacular , and the doors look good. Before when everything was brown they just 'merged into the background". Now there are a real feature.

The flooring ( downstairs hall way) is Spacia (Amtico's "cheaper" range - I use the term relatively!) in a wood. Matches the doors and staircase. Its been down 12 years and is as good as its was when new.

I've lived in my house since it was built in the 80s. All the woodwork is wood.
Over the last year I've had it gradually painted white. Some by decorators some by me. I'm currently doing the landing.
It's transformed the place. Everywhere looks lighter and brighter and more modern.