Paint these cottage beams white??

[MrsMummyBx]

Hi All

Holiday cottage in Yorkshire- doing a total Reno and having spotlights in bedrooms due to low ceilings. These beams are actually RSJs boxed in by pine stained darker- add to cottage feel in some ways but should I paint white?? Would it be better? It will be a holiday let so want to appeal to as many people as possible. Thanks in advance?

I’d keep them exactly as they are. Wooden beams are a feature and add character.

Pinterest has some lovely suggestions of painted beams. I think it really adds to the decor

I painted all my (17th century) beams white and it improved the place no end.

Paint them

I’d go with the painted look. You could use a watered down paint, so they have a limed wood look. They would then look more subtle.

Personally I would paint them white.

As it's a holiday let I'd keep them as they are. People like the character.
Or have a look at lime washed beams. Not sure if you could get the look on faux beams though.

As they aren't actually wooden beams which could be sandblasted, etc I'd just paint them. They might need a decent primer like Zinsser first as they've been stained but you can find out if it's oil or water based by rubbing a small area with alcohol like surgical spirit. If some of the stain comes off, it's water based.

They are not real beams-they don’t act character as not original-paint them.

Thank you lovely MNers - this is really helpful. Seems like the majority consensus is to go white.

@borntobequiet I'm just being nosy but is there any chance you might be able to share a pic of your painted beams?

The place is a mess and I have to go out - but will take a couple of pix later on!

Thanks so much @borntobequiet that would be amazing, and don't worry about the mess, I live in chaos

Yes, I would paint them white, and the skirting. It will brighten up the room no end.

I have literally just done this in my 17th century holiday cottage. It has taken me 2 years to come out of the 'it adds character' camp.

My beams were original but had been - badly- painted black. They made the room so terribly dark.

I also had the outside of the inglenook fireplace painted white at the same time, after finally realising that my particular stone wall just looked dirty!

I haven't seen it yet, can post some pictures when I go down next week if you like?

Gosh, surprised at the folks painting original beams 😱

We had ours sandblasted back to the original pale oak and it's gorgeous.

However op as yours are not original it's just pine boxing, then it's different, and I'd prob paint them out.

@loveka I would love to see pictures if you could share them once you have them. I know what you mean- I've been so firmly in the 'don't paint features which look original' camp for so long, I need to change my mindset as I think these beams aren't original and it will look much lighter probably.

Now all you lovely people have got me thinking about the rest of the house....

There's a wooden staircase - again not original - currently stained dark. Unfortunately I don't have any full pictures. I'm also having some under stairs storage built in - the only pic I've got is this - do you think I should paint the whole staircase white too? Will have carpet on the treads.

@bluntness100 if I had original beams I'd definitely consider the sandblasting option, I'm sure yours look wonderful - wish we didn't have pine everywhere!

Thanks op and To be honest, I'd paint those stairs. They do look quite dark and not really much of a feature, it would really Modernise it.

I'd definitely paint the staircase white.

Okidoki thank you both - that's another thing to be painted then!!

A bit tidier, some pictures. The beams used to be black and made the space very dark (small and few windows).
No chance of sandblasting these - if you look carefully, you will see that I left the woodchip paper, as I realised that if I tried to remove it I would probably remove the wall complete with wattle and daub in places.

@borntobequiet thanks so much for these. Looks really lovely and I'm 100% sold on painting now- your pics have really helped me visualise it. Love your kitchen btw and it's so so much more tidy than mine!!

Also can I ask what colour you used? It looks a lovely soft colour.

Born to that's really nice.

For anyone with original beams here is the difference sandblasting made to mine.

I think you’re right to paint the beams but am in two minds about the staircase; any dings on the woodwork may chip the paint. It doesn’t show on stained wood quite so much.