We've recently bought a 1960s era ranch style home. It has all wood floors, many of the original wood windows, and interior feature doors with bubbled glass. However as my sister put it, many updates to the house have been done by a "weekend warrior". New white aluminum doors that open completely up to the outside were installed in the lounge and dining room as well as a full wall of windows in the kitchen. The dining room also has some original wood windows that are in rough-looking stained shape. Throughout the house, some baseboard moldings are stained, others have been painted the wall color. In one room, one side of the room has painted baseboard moldings and if you look across, the other side has them stained! In some cases, lovely wood feature doors with bubbled glass are left stained on one side and painted on the other. I don't know how to balance this painted/unpainted use of wood as well as the white aluminum new windows in the same room with old stained wood windows. Do I paint all the old stained windows white to match the few "open all the way up" windows/door walls? Do I paint all the baseboards or do I strip the ones that ARE painted? Same with the doors. Thoughts? (Please note, the furniture in the photos is not ours. These were photos from the listing/previous owner.)
Hi Mallory, Congrats on your new house. Perhaps it depends on the quality, condition, and craftsmanship of the finishes -- if the stained portions are of very high quality and the painted portions are in bad condition, maybe go with all stained ? Conversely, if the painted portions are of very high quality and the stained portions are bad, maybe go with all painted ? If both stained and painted portions are both of excellent quality, condition and craftsmanship... hmm, it's a dilemma. Or if both stained and painted portions are all in bad condition, then you can go any way you want ? :)
Samples of nice base board designs:
Larkin Street Residence - John Maniscalco Architecture · More Info
I'd definitely say the "painted" trim is NOT quality and I'd say the stained woodwork (i.e. the windows, baseboards) are in original condition and would definitely need re-doing. It seems that you can go either way when you have wood floors... go painted or stained with other woodwork.
I love a QUALITY paint job. Few people know the ins and outs of a quality paint job but, a seasoned painter for INTERIORS will have many techniques and processes to dial up the end result. I love my painter and I listen closely to his advice and he is so expert (40 years) and good that he makes it look effortless. BUT IT'S NOT. Will find and post favorite picture of painted trim here. I think the secret is style and proportion of trim and then the quality of the finishing.
Did you know most paint curing really needs 2 to 3 weeks to set up as a really good tough finish? "In a hurry" is the curse we mostly experience for improving interiors. I wonder sometimes how different things would be if people took the right amount of time to do things in the time frame related to that finishing task!
Personally , I wouldn't be too worried about the interior -- leave most doors and skirtings as they are -- stained or painted . But the 2nd dining room pic grates -- probably too late and too expensive to take out the white french doors , but they look like a sensible upgrade anyway . Just sand back the side windows and paint them white gloss or satin IMO . If 1 side of the house is whilte aluminium , 2 are white paint aand the other wall windows are stained , it sort of jels .
Nice place -- a couple of nice bold pictures with colour and preferably texture ( with one isde at least 1.2 mtrs -- maybe one horizontal in the lounge and 1 vertical in the dining area ) would really add to it too IMO .
Ed
mallory5nzOriginal Author
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