Major dilemma on wood trim

8 years ago

Hello, I bought a 1908 Craftsman wood bungalow. Super cute, but the home is not in the best shape. PO did some remodeling. In the living room, some wood trim was restored or replaced with oak. They didn't do the best job on replicating a Craftsman trim and it's inconsistent in style, however, it creates a warm room. And I will likely fix the inconsistency in wood trim. A room right off the living room is the only room in the house with original wood. The wood has years of white paint on it and looks bad. So I want to strip it, but not sure to stain or paint white. Here's why: although staining would go well with the living room stain -- walk 5 feet into the dining room / kitchen area and most of the wood has been either replaced with not great painted white pine. Or any remaining original wood (like 3 pine doors) has been painted white. Baseboards are newer not original and painted. Dining trim around the windows is missing apron, crown and the sill is damaged. Only the original side and head casing remain. Needs total restoration. I would love to stain and work on restoring room by room but I think that could be almost impossible without a complete gut job. Trim around other windows in kitchen is new MDF and MDF (or else it's cheap pine) around other doors. So...do I slowly restore this old house (what will it cost!!) or go with white due to the fact that I wouldn't be saving any value (most original wood is gone). I could get Windsor Arts & Crafts replica of painted wood in dining. My thoughts are to blend in white with oak -- so I stained oak doors, but painted pine doors. And I plan on putting in new stained windows. So the look would be stain wood windows with white trim in dining and bedrooms. Living room, I'll keep all stained as is. The dining ceiling is coffered and I thought to replace them or restain them. I guess I just want to know if I should paint bedroom trim or stain it, and if stain, start thinking about replacing a lot of wood elsewhere.

Featured Answer

groveraxle

8 years ago

FWIW, not all Craftsman bungalows originally had stained wood. Some were built with cheaper woods that were always intended to be painted. My 1910 Craftsman is this way. So you won't be violating any Craftsman principles if you paint it all white.

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Comments (11)

PRO
JAN MOYER
8 years ago
I'd paint EVERYTHING. I'd forget the stained windows too. ....you will brighten/unify the house and save a ton of money. jmho. Add photos if you want me to change my mind.
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rwiegand
8 years ago
In a real craftsman bungalow I'd start replacing all of the miscellaneous woodwork with appropriate quartersawn white oak. Yes it will be a big project, but you'll end up with something wonderful. Stripping oak is a PITA unless it was finished with shellac or similar first because the paint gets into the grain and you end up spending a long time with a wire brush and solvent getting it out. If the trim is just made up of flat boards it might be easier to just replace, or take them down, strip as much paint as you can and then run them through a drum sander. (you can take the opportunity to insulate around the windows when you have the trim off)

Our new house/addition is in an English Arts and Crafts inspired style. I incorporated a fairly elaborate curse on anyone who paints the cherry woodwork I installed.
mpikul9 thanked rwiegand
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PRO
User
8 years ago
Many of those houses also had cheap wood grained to look like a more expensive wood.
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Jmc101
8 years ago
Please post this in the Old House forum where many have a true appreciation for old homes AND have done much restoration work themselves. Note I did not say “remodel”.

Currently employed designers will always say “paint it”.
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PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
8 years ago
I agree that not all craftsmans were meant to have stained wood and i love the look of all that wood painted white , it brightens up the rooms . I think it has a lot to do with your styletoo. This is a very attractive space with painted woodwork
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PRO
User
8 years ago
Restoration is neither time or budget friendly.
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geoffrey_b
8 years ago
I would not strip the wood. Besides taking a lot of time and muscle, it may not take the stain well and/or be uneven. Paint it.
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PRO
JAN MOYER
8 years ago
We do Not Aleays say Paint it. We consider whether a thing is worth paint or stain:) Cheap wood demands paint.
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mpikul9
Original Author
8 years ago
This is all very, very helpful. I hadn't realized that some Craftsman wood was meant to be painted. It seems to make more sense to paint. It's definitely more doable and either way, I'd be improving the home. So now the question is stock white or other white. Any thoughts?
geoffrey_b
8 years ago
I'm a lowly Computer Scientist... but my wife has a real talent for design. IMO don't ever use the 'stock white'. What ever paint, they have cards of white - about 50 whites at least. Figure out what you want the walls, and then pick a warm white, cool white, etc. Otherwise your home will look like a cheap apartment.
mpikul9 thanked geoffrey_b