Varnished Doors, frames and skirtings Yay or nay

[MrMayoNessie]

Hi there,

We have been in our forever house for 10 years now and we are going to do quite a lot of renovations over the next couple of months, new kitchen dining room knock through, bifolds etc.

Drawing up a list of other things that we would like to possibly change and one item that has come up is painting all the doors, door frames skirtings window frames. They are currently varnished in a 1980s detached house.

What's peoples thoughts, Pro's for keeping varnished is nil upkeep just a wipe over. Con's as my wife says in Waynetta slob voice it's braaan, and possibly looks dated!

All the wood work in good order and great quality so we wont be ripping any out so if we do paint we will change the door furniture to chrome.

Just to out in context, its 11 good sized rooms, plus bannisters (which may be changed to painted newels and glass balustrades) painted so feels like I will spend the rest of my dying days painting and repainting the forth road bridge every couple of years.

I've attached a couple of images just so you can see.

[quote MrMayoNessie]@FamilyOfAliensm, sadly no, wife would rather stab herself in the eyeball with a gloss white paint brush !!! As she tellls me "she is the project manager with the ideas"![/quote]
No job is too hard for the woman who doesn't have to do it herself.

If budget allows I’d change all the doors for contemporary ones. I’ve seen it done in other people’s 1980s houses. It’s a complete game changer. Plus means you don’t have to paint existing ones 😊

but avoid hollow doors, which are made of air with a thin ornamental coating of cardboard or ply. If you can easily lift a door, don't buy it.

A solid dense door will feel substantial and block noise. Very important on bathrooms, WCs and bedrooms. You may need or prefer fire doors, which are very substantial. The paint grade doors are not veneered so less expensive.

A carpenter can fit a door ands its furniture much quicker, and much better, than a DIYer, handyman, or Builder Jack of All Trades.

Hey all, thanks for all the comments, decided to make the change to white and wow what a change!, took a good while to do and many tins on zinsser and dulux trade satinwood later, but glad we did it here are a couple of the images of the new look.

sorry all forgot that Id posted already

That is such a transformation! Well done @MrMayoNessie !

Such a difference, looks great OP.

Mine aren't varnished. They're just stained but I'd never paint them. Too much work for me!

Yours look fab though.

When we moved into our home all the woodwork was a cherry coloured varnish- very early 90s style. We decorated one room at a time. We learnt as we went that undercoat and primer were a must (in the rooms where we didn't use the primer the colour bled through after a year or so)
Mind you, the primer was grey and I'm sure the navy could use it on their battleships it was that thick. Having said that it was easy to apply and the gloss then went on beautifully. It was definitely worth doing!