White for interior woodworks

[WhatWillSantaBring]

Hello all,

We are in the process of slowly re-doing our whole house. Its an 80's village house, but DH and I are quite classical in our taste, so trying to get the decor classic/traditional but not too country twee or faux period.

Just starting work on getting rid of the hideous dark stained interior woodwork, which we want to turn white. So do we go with a pure white or an ever so slightly off white (NOT MAGNOLIA!!!).

All the paintwork on the walls is going to be coloured (due to my magnolia aversion) - not too strongly, but definite colours in them. Probably the palest will be the halls (which are quite dark and pokey) which I'm thinking of either elephants breath, blackened or cornforth white.

So for all the interior woodwork, would you go for a pure white, like "all white", or something just off it, like "Wimborne White". We'll be going for an eggshell finish rather than gloss. I'm worried that all white may be too harsh, but equally that wimborne white will just look grubby.

Anyone use something like Wimborne White on the woodwork and either regret it or think it was the best decision of their lives?

If the wood has previously been stained, paint will not work well and the colour may come through.

Sand it lightly to take the shine off, then try a couple of test patches using oil-based Aluminium Wood Primer (which dries grey, not silver) before white undercoat, and see if it adheres and covers well. It usually does. If not, you can use a Zinsser product but take advice from their website or somebody who knows what he's about.

I find eggshell gets dirty and coesn't come clean, so I prefer satinwood.

Thanks piglet - luckily we've already worked that bit out and DH currently at home with a sander, taking it right back to the wood. [secretly glad he's an anally retentive perfectionist] then he's going to do the primer and basecoat. Sorry - perhaps my post wasn't clear. The point about it being dark at the moment was really just because I can't picture it white, let alone decide what shade of white to use!

I think off white is much nicer - I try to use an antique white rather than brilliant, as I find it yellows with age anyway and it makes it less tricky when you touch up (as in the new bit isn't stinking brilliant white next to mellowed older bits).

Hijacking slightly, but how would a knowledgeable person recommend dealing with bare and slightly knotty pine? Our new staircase will need painting soon and there are a few knots in it which I don't want bleeding through the paint.

We've used All White everywhere and I really like it. Looks clean and bright against the colours that we've chosen for the walls.

I have just done my bathroom brilliant white and had forgotten how stark and bright it is (too much, IMO). It will obviously go yellow soon, so not a problem. I will do the hall and kitchen- next on the list- in pointing for reasons MummytoMog states above. I prefer satinwood, but gloss seems easier to wipe down.

aluminium wood primer will seal knots and is very durable.

Can I put normal satinwood on top of the aluminium primer? If so, where can I buy a carful of it? I'll have a lot of woodwork to do around Christmas time (all being well) and I want to do it properly so I don't have to do it again any time soon. I hate painting woodwork SO bad.

Pure white, anything else looks a bit dirty to me tbh. And nobody, not even you, will notice the colour of your skirting boards when the decorating is done!

You use white undercoat on top of the aluminium wood primer. You will need white spirit for cleaning up and thinning. It needs a lot of stirring as the solids are heavy, and its own brushes as it is difficult to clean it all out.

If you are putting a water paint on top of an oil paint, give it an extra couple of days to dry and wipe the surface lightly with extra-fine sandpaper to remove any shine. Any trace of spirit remaining will interfere with the water paint wetting the surface.

You can buy it from places that sell paint.

We went for pure white satin wood throughout and it looks lovely and clean.
Walls area mix of colours and neutrals.
I would worry off white would look faded or dirty or tobacco stained.

I've got the old faithfull FB (well its a Johnston fake but you could never tell) Pointing on all my woodwork and doors. Looks good

I prefer satinwood to eggshell

Thanks all - apparently the decision was not mine to make anyway, as DH has gone off and bought all the non-FB pure white satinwood. Which I think is probably the sensible decision anyway. As long as my walls aren't magnolia, I'm a happy bunny.