Decorating Advice

[Monkeymummy1]

We just bought an Edwardian Semi which has floor to (almost) ceiling dark wood pannelling in the hallway, all the way up the stairs and all the way around the first floor landing and hallway. I think it's original but it's so dark and oppressive, that I need to do something with it. I don't want to get rid of it, but would you paint it? What sort of colours would look good and bring some light in, and what type of finish? I don't want to destroy the original character of the house, but I just don't think I can live with the darkness long term! Anyone have and "bright ideas" No pun intended!

I guess if you paint it, anyone who owns the house after you always has the option of stripping the paint off. But, has it been waxed or varnished do you know/can you tell?

There was another thread on here recently about painting varnished tongue and groove panelling and a good primer is needed over varnish as varnish soaks into and hardens the top layers of wood, it doesn't just sit on top.

If it were me, I would do a test patch somewhere unobtrusive upstairs, sand it, prime it and paint with satinwood paint and see how it looks and wears for a bit before committing to painting the rest. Satinwood is as hard wearing and easy to clean as gloss ime without the high shine, it has a sheen to it instead.

Anything lighter than the current finish will help reflect light - perhaps steer clear of pure brilliant white, but cream and stone colours could look good or you could go for more of statement with a stronger colour or just pick out interesting detail or the edges of panels with a darker colour.

Do you know if it's varnished or stained? It's likely to be a lighter wood that was darkened.

Getting varnish of is messy and disgusting and takes forever but can be done. If it's stained there isn't much you can do. Painting is likely to e the best option, but look into how to prepare properly or the paint will peel off.

I think it's varnished. Only because it's quite shiney. Stain would be duller than varnish wouldn't it?

That's a good idea to do a test patch and see how it wears. That would probably be useful too for picking a colour, as the choice of paint colours is totally overwhelming. I did wonder if we'd be able to strip the varnish off and see if the wood is lighter under it, but that sounds like a ton of work, and I'm still not sure that I want to have all the wood on the walls, even if it's a lighter shade.

I'm wondering if it would look weird to paint it, but leave some of the details like the stair bannister in the wood.

I've seen pictures on Pinterest and Houzz where the panelling has been painted white and it looks lovely.

Leaving the banister dark would look nice as a contrast.

You could paint the spindles and leave the rail in the current wood finish as well as painting the panelling. I think that would look good.

I'd go for a colour you can live with for a long time as you don't want to find you go off it after a couple of years and have to do the whole thing again. Also the light in h,s and l can vary wildly from place to place, depending on time of day, time of year, which doors are open, etc, etc so worth spending the time getting it right.

Do any of your neighbours have the same panelling and what have they done? That could be worth seeing to help you decide.