Toying with painting all the stripped back wood in our Victorian house...

[CuddyMum]

The previous owners of our Victorian house had clearly spent a lot of time and effort stripping everything back to the wood. We are talking, staircases, skirtings, architraves, picture rails, dados, doors, inside the original front door, sash windows (and more). The kitchen is dark wood too and that is another story. Would it be a bad thing for me to consider painting everything an off white/cream colour satin? I'm finding all of the wood a little oppressive. I know it will be a mammoth task but it can be done in stages. WWYD? I'm sure I read somewhere that the Victorian's would not have approved of bare wood (but then they did use lead paint!).

You could maybe paint some of it? Door surrounds in white with wood doors looks good for example.

Not a bad thing at all. It's your house now, it doesn't matter what the people who lived there before did.

I have one room where the door and skirting boards are bare wood, but the door surrounds and windows are painted white.

Why don't you start off doing one room and then see how you like it?

I hadn't thought of leaving the doors. I shall try that! I will start with the hall, stairs and landing dados and picture rails as they break up the wall too much.

Stripped wood was just a fashion. Fashions have changed so I wouldn't feel bad about painting it. And I speak as someone who stripped the doors in my previous Edwardian house. Maybe leave the doors stripped but paint the skirtings, architrave and windows.

Go for it - a lot of the wood used in older houses just wasn't designed to be seen; it wasn't anything special and was sometimes quite ugly without paint. Stripping the wood was the 1990s/2000s version of nailing hardboard to panelled doors in the 50s and 60s.

The last owners were here from 1998 until last year, so I guess you're right wowfudge! Am feeling much better about painting over it all now.

Here's something else to make you feel better...

Chances are, there will have been many many layers of paint on all that woodwork, hiding any detail. And it will have been lead. To make that look lovely, you need to strip it all back and then repaint. The previous owners have done the hard part of that job for you.

Personally, I'm lazy. I love bare wood.
DD2's unfinished wardrobe doors are a thing of beauty compared with DD1 and our yellowed white gloss ones.

If I wasn't allergic to paint stripper I'd attack the lot of them.

Personally, I'm lazy. I love bare wood.
DD2's unfinished wardrobe doors are a thing of beauty compared with DD1 and our yellowed white gloss ones.

If I wasn't allergic to paint stripper I'd attack the lot of them.

Sorry

Previous owner of our house stripped all the doors. They look rubbish imho - as pp said, this wood was never designed to be seen. Dh carefully restored a set of cupboard doors and we painted them and they look so much better.

I'd go for it.
Personally I think painted wood in a Victorian house looks stylish and elegant, stripped wood is more 'cottagey' to me. Off white is nice and you should get a lovely finish now that all the stripping back has been done.

Paint white. Will look so much bigger and light.

When we moved in all wood was bare and walls different colour in each room. We painted all walls white and all wood with a white wood paint. Looks great now as with all our stuff would be overly closed in otherwise

Oh go for it. We've just done it. It makes the place so much brighter. Agree with Wowfudge that most of this wood was never designed to be exposed. We've also just carpeted upstairs as some bright spark mid 90s decided to take the carpets up. Would have been nice if they'd sealed the floors at the same time to stop every little noise and every single draught fly through the place!

Be warned though, the most popular move of stripping doors back in the day was to leave them in caustic soda for a week. Which completely knackered all the joints in our front door and we now have to replace it. Not happy.

I'd do it. Most of that timber was pretty cheap and unlovely in the first place.

Do it white, not cream. Cream just looks like your paint is going yellow! Eggshell is nice.

Well, I've started the painting! Watch this space...

Currently stripping back to wood in our victorian house and have no intention of leaving it that way. Am due to start reprinting it all this week. Have probably damaged a few brain cells from all the lead paint but it will look beautiful when I've finished...

May I ask what brand of paint you are using karron?

has it been varnished, or oiled? or is it truly bare?

I'd say that it has been stained.

try a small piece, perhaps an architrave, and see if the undercoat adheres well and does not knock off once hard.

If it does not adhere, you may need to sand it off or use a special primer.