Design Dilemma: How Do I Modernize My Cedar Walls?

tonigottlieb Would these ideas work equally well on pine flooring? I also want to change the yellow colour to grey.

amf30316 I've got the same question about pine flooring....the stains I've tried have come out too blue...I'm really going for a driftwood look as it's a beach cottage.

cspaniel1 Similar question ... but knotty pine tongue and groove in the bathroom. So very dated - paint or stain??

decordemon Paint, paint, paint! Pine is low on the totem pole of woods. Take the opportunity to make inexpensive pine floors your own and paint right over the planks. Walnut floors? Well, it would be a sin NOT to simply re-stain them.

stephaniecornell Can I do an ash stain on cherry panels to lightnt he red?

eveford Could you tell me the name/brand of the gorgeous color on the kitchen floor in the third picture? thanks.

decordemon stephaniecornell, it's all about trial and error. The issue is that the redness of the wood will usually change the color of the stain. Test a few small areas first, if it doesn't work, have stain tinted a bit darker to mask the red undertones.

PaintColorHelp.com Dallas Woods that lean heavily yellow or red can only be changed so much with stain, because it is a transparent product. Sometimes you can compensate by adding violet or blue to the stain color, but the color matchers will need a piece of your bare wood to test the stain on - and unless you can pry up a piece from say a closet floor or other inconspicuous place, that may not be practical.

Another possibility is to look for a solid color interior stain, which could be thinned slightly. The opacity will better hide the underlying color, without completely obscuring the grain.

jaredbybee For painting wood - don't forget a really good primer. Those paint/primer in one products are nonsense when it comes to wood.

amielamm I've painted ugly pine moldings and doors espresso to cover the knots and give the room a luxurious traditional look. It looked wonderful with beige and coffee colored walls. Now I can just switch out curtains and throws to update each season.
When in doubt, I paint it white or antique white. Especially in a kitchen or bath! I've saved many "ugly" cabinets by painting white and adding new hardware. Then the homeowners have time to live in the space and figure out what will work before they gut and redo everything.

Mulberry Interiors This article just goes to show that we don't always have to renovate to make a big change to a room. I love the slate stain on the cedar bedroom wall. Bronze accessories would look fabulous in this room. The bedding could be bright or understated.

Michal Brenneman stephaniecornell: While Cherry is a beautiful wood, the fact that it gets more red overtime is what makes it a love/hate relationship for a lot of people and we hear it a lot in the cabinet industry! You can somewhat mask the redness, but as Cherry ages, it becomes more red. For the people that love Cherry wood, they love this quality. For someone who inherited Cherry cabinets, floors, whatever in the house that they purchased, it's some times a major complaint!

My recommendation is to go either to a custom cabinet shop where you can have them custom mix stain for you, or to go into a Sherwin Williams or another paint store like them and have them mix a stain for you. Good luck!

lkm96h Thanks for all the great ideas!

aeykelbo This is an awesome idea book - thank you so much for putting it together. I have fairly hideous unfinished cedar paneling down the long wall in my living and dining room. I was going to go through the work of ripping it out, but this idea book has made me think twice about it (it would be a huge mess - and drywalling, not my favorite thing). I may just trying to sand it down smooth (the grooves between planks aren't that pronounced) and then paint it white!

angelajfreeman I live in Australia where cedar walls are not common. I have a 'parquetry' type cedar wall in the entry to my house that I hated when we bought the house.. but now prize as a unique feature in an otherwise suburban home. This idea book is a great showcase of timber feature walls! My wall really came to life when we painted all the trim, skirting, doorways, cornice etc.. white. It 'framed' the timber and made it a real feature. After seeing photo #4 though, I could really consider dark gray tiles.. love it!

furpants Thanks, this is really helpful. All the interior walls in my Northern California house are paneled in wide, horizontal Redwood planks. It's too much to stain, and I think the architect would spin in his grave if I painted them. This look book helped me with ideas for decorating to complement the walls as they are. Slate gray floors, neutral palette, pear green accents.

Denise Vilim Thank you so much for this ideabook! I have knotty pine laminate floors throughout my living and hallway areas and I just painted all the walls a light gray (BEHR Silver Sateen) and one bright green and one orange accent walls. Have I just created a design disaster? Other than re-painting my walls (I love the way they look) is there anything I can do make it all look better?
Thank you!!

lindav Great ideabook. Would love to see more ideabooks on how to update homes with feature brick walls and cedar/pine panelling. Was interested that a fellow Aussie (angelaj) hasn't come across many homes with cedar walls. Our home has the lot.... two cedar walls(bathrm & fam. rm), tongue and groove pine paneling on lounge room walls and raked ceiling, and just for good measure a feature brick wall and fireplace. Sounds hideous, but it's actually quite welcoming with the warm colours and different textures. We've got attached to the brick wall too as the 70yr old bricks were locally made and salvaged from a town that was demolished in the 1980's to make way for an open cut mine. My main dilemma is how to retain the history and the character of our 1970's home while dragging it into the 21st century. All help welcome.

pamnmike From the time we moved in 13 years ago, my husband hasn't agreed to paint over the tongue and groove ash (with gloss finish) walls in our great room. We painted the rough, dark cedar beams, and have just lived with it. For the last few years my husband has been complaining about the carpet- keeping it clean. Two weeks ago he was ready to rip it out. I calmed him down and said we have to have a plan. I knew I didn't want tile, and a wood floor would be too much wood (with the walls), so after some brainstorming we decided to take the wood off the walls and put it on the floor! There are five widths (3",4", 5", 6" and 7") and all different lengths. After it's installed they'll sand the gloss off and stain it a dark brown. I'd like a distressed look, but those really vary and it would be a risk. We are also updating the built ins on the sides of the fireplace and the fireplace mantel. It's a big project, but worth it to us! The huge cedar beams (which we painted years ago) came down, and the vaulted ceiling is being altered to have seven foot width of flat down the center with recessed lights. We always hated the lighting on the fan, so we'll be replacing that. Exciting stuff. By the way, I just discovered this site and love it! I've already used many ideas for our project.

lindsey31 Can you please explain step by step and which paint and tools are ideal to paint my cedar walls white?

rendirad Does it ruin the quality of the cedar to paint it?