What a lovely home! Whatever you do, please don't paint the woodwork white. The woodwork lends much beauty and character to your home.

Beautiful home. Please, replace your dining table. The best you can do based on this style - put there a wooden table, black or dark brown - but massive, wooden table.

I was thinking about getting a live edge table with black legs.. Not easy to find a nice one though..

we can create one for you if you'll be interested in. we create unique art furniture. Please, let me know if you want to have one, we'll be glad to help you. Couple examples of my artwork.

replace those recessed lights w/actual recessed lights, and not the eyeball ones. you could paint the wood trim on the ceiling white, if you prefer.

lose those horrible white mini blinds and do actual shades, cellulars, or woven wood blinds.

everything else looks good. lighten the walls up w/white, or black, and bring in some other decor. modern walnut table, sputnik, black walls

this one is actually painted a deep jewel tone green. looks great w/the oak

walls white, black doors,

I like your black fireplace. just finish off the sides of it. either do some built ins, some consoles, even built bench seating w/pillows. paint it or find some oak to match

both of these are period appropriate to the style of the home.

I used to live in a home with historic dark woodwork, and so I understand your instinct to lighten things up! But you can definitely do that without painting. We'll, actually I would paint the fireplace because it's really weighing the space down. So is your living room furniture -- get rid of one couch and reupholster those great antique chairs in a bright, fun color. My other major suggestion is to find some great wallpaper for the upper part of your dining room walls. Such a beautiful space - congrats!

Yes leave the lovely wood as is... and try painting the walls a nice warm white. I’m not in love with that moulding half way up the wall though - it makes that room very chopped up (but it may be original so if that’s the case, it’s probably best to leave it). I agree with other posters... a big wooden dining table. Your house is really charming with lots of potential!!

Stickley furniture would go wonderfully in this home. It is pricy, but will last more than a lifetime. Even a piece or two would be wonderful. Or you could just look at it for inspiration on craftsman furniture. I also would not paint any of the woodwork.

See “My Houzz: Bright 1924 Craftsman Beauty in Cincinnati.” Painted woodwork can look nice if done right. Might give you the brighter look you’re going for.

First things first. Right now, walk over and turn off those god-awful ceiling lights. Put a piece of tape over the switch to remind you to never turn them on again. Ever.

Then go to every light in the home and make sure it has warm-color bulbs. The blue-white are ghastly (I know you didn't choose them).

Leave the wood as it is. If you paint it, you will kiss thousands of dollars of value in your home goodbye. Many thousands. Paint it, and it might as well be cheap MDF trim, and nobody ever looks for that. Real wood trim in houses like yours is a real selling point.

There are lots of color combinations to choose from. Valspar worked with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to reproduce colors authentic to different periods and from historic houses. Start with them; it makes the choices easier.

IMHO, a nice celery green would look great with that wood. Valspar has one from the Lyndhurst mansion that might be nice. Take photos of each room and work with the color-replacer tool that every manufacturer has on their site to preview the colors.

Cool house

Love the wood trim and walls painted white or off white, though that grey wisp looks nice

I would remove the chair rail on the wall and paint the walls white.No two toned.

I have to add my plea to not paint the woodwork, it would be a tragedy. I also am not in favor of painting the fireplace white. It’s just not something that would have been done. I have a fireplace that was painted white by a previous owner and it’s totally out of character with the rest of the room, sticks out like s sore thumb. Even though your favorite style is Scandinavian there is a reason you were drawn to this beauty. You’ve had some great design suggestions from some pros here - good luck!!!

I have a home very like this. 1928 Tudor with dark wood and have been considering many of the same things. I want the architecture to be traditional and furniture to be transitional. So here are a few considerations
1: wood shutters on the windows. I already have them and love them! They amplify the wood
2: you already have the trim on the ceiling, I am going to add some to my 18’ barrel ceiling as it’s very traditional and our ceilings are a selling point. Also, I am going to skip canned lights but find a way to put tiny led rope lighting in the picture rail to show off the ceiling
3: I am thinking of transitioning a muted blue paint from the living room to a muted celery to the dining room open to it. Traditional colors that still provide demarcation between rooms. Warmer than white but not as common as wheat (current color)
4: I am looking for lighter colored furniture, with clean, transitional lines to update the feel. I think this will compliment the small collection of wood antiques.
5: I have a heavy Edwardian mahogany dining table but think sleeker, more modern, upholstered chairs will help the furniture style flow from the living to the kitchen
6: finally, if your house is like mine, lighting has always been a problem as overhead lighting in living room isn’t there or original. I’ve got some large sconces on the walls but they will come down. I’m toying with some overhead lighting since there is some ceiling height but the look of lighting between 3-6 foot heigh is more comfy. Working with a lighting designer because of this is a consideration

Love to hear what you actually do and see the results. Best wishes!!!

A few more thoughts on furniture arrangement. If you want the fireplace to be a focal point, which would look great painted, rearrange the furniture. If you keep with what you have right now, my suggestion is:

1: put the couch on the window wall that has a salt lamp on it so it faces the fireplace, even though it’s off center

2: take the upholstered chair and put it kitty corner to the couch in the corner where the couch is, to create a comfy conversation place.

3: take your two small occasional chairs and put them facing each other in front of the fireplace with maybe a small table in between that could hold a cup of tea or a small chess board. They are light enough to not block access to the dining room.

Just thoughts

Or...embrace the darkness!

If you’d like specific design advice, you will probably get a better response if you start one room at a time, with a diagram and measurements for the room. Enjoy your lovely home!

Thanks for all of your opinions! I totally agree about the lighting. It has to go!
Good idea about the blinds too. These white ones are cheap looking and don’t suit the character at all.
I might remove the chair rail. It’s at a weird height and I’m not sure if I love the two toned walls. Maybe I’ll keep it in the dining room. I can’t tell if it’s original, but my thought is no.

I would do a Saarinen table and some colorful chairs for the DR I am not a huge wood lover but I would wait to think about painting any of the wood . The lighting needs to be addressed before any thing is done including new furniture.A new fab modern chandeleir hung at the proper height and only pieces you NEED in the spaces if you want to go toward the Scandanavian look.I think the chair rail looks cheap next to the rest of the trim so I would remove that and the walls all need to be one soft coloror white.

In order to make the fireplace work in this room consider doing away with the sofa & loveseat and using a grouping of 4 chairs.

You have received many excellent suggestions from people with experience.
Live in your home for at least six months while you research homes of that era, collect pictures and ideas and work up a whole-house color scheme. Many good paint stores have folders showing color suggestions for various home styles. Take "screen shots" of photos in these comments from Houzzers...they will be saved in your pictures file for future reference. Search Houzz photos for color and furniture ideas and build your idea book.
Depending upon your budget, you can do one room at a time or more. Visually inspect the woodwork, and if it needs some work, you want to find a painter who specializes in wood restoration. Ask friends, family, or people who own the other special homes in your neighborhood. There may be a historic house support group in your area....and those people may be willing to share their contacts.

I guess I'll join the chorus saying not to paint the woodwork. Of course it's your house and you can do as you wish, but I would guess that the original woodwork was a highlight in the listing. And I would guess that the original woodwork helped to set the price point that you paid. You could easily be devaluing the house by painting.
Paint the walls. Buy new furniture. Live in it for a year. If you still don't like the woodwork, grab a for sale sign, not a paint brush. Good luck.

Another plan with chairs. You don't want to block doorways or the flow from one area to another. Lots of doorways are difficult for furniture placement.

Saarinen is an interesting idea. Very mid century modern. But you could make it work. I think you can mix and match looks, but it might look odd if you try to put all mid century and Scandinavian modern in a craftsman space. Maybe try some craftsman pieces to tie it back together. When I moved into my 1924 Spanish/Mission Revival house (which has a strong craftsman influence on the inside), I had mostly mid-century pieces from my loft (Noguchi table, Eames lounger, Wassily chairs by Breuer, Arco lamp, a semi-circular couch). I thought it would be a disaster but it somehow really works, once I mixed them with craftsman pieces (mostly Stickley).

I would also change the lighting. The dining room needs help, but so do those other lights. I guess you could go fully recessed on the other little guys, but those box beams scream for hanging lights (which would actually make them “make sense” and may solve what you don’t like about them). Check out Arroyo Craftsman. They have a website, but you have to buy from a dealer. Best to see in person, but they do have some styles sold on Wayfair if you can’t find a dealer near you.

I do love mid century modern! I think it would go better than Scandinavian.

I agree about the furniture as well. It’s weird not having anything in front of the fire place but there is another doorway across from it and the fireplace isn’t centred in the room! I’m stumped

Why don't you grab 4 medium sized chairs from your home and try the arrangement in front of the fireplace? Then show a picture, please.

That way you'd now if that would be a look to pursue.

This might be a good mixture for your style.

That’s a nice table. It would fit into the space perfectly!

google bauhaus interior design and/or danish modern for inspiration photos of "scandinavian" style. Shaker pieces instead of craftsman.

This thread from yesterday is so much like yours, that you might want to take a look at it, including many comments about the chair rail. (One great idea, for one room only, is to wallpaper the top.) You're getting great answers today--do not paint the wood at all, but make your changes in furnishings, lighting, rugs to make your beautiful home more contemporary.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/to-paint-or-not-to-paint-craftsman-woodwork-dsvw-vd~5415194

Don't paint the woodwork, please.

Always think of reverseability and stewardship in historic homes.

NO to painting the woodwork and NO to painting the fireplace. YES to repaint the walls and additional lighting.

If you get tired of the french doors being open all the time, you can pull them off the hinges and stash them in the attic. We found that removing a door between our kitchen and hallway made a huge difference for us. Even when we just left it open, it was in the way and restricted the traffic into the breakfast room.

My husband and I purchased a 1930 Tudor with a mostly craftsman interior nearly 2 years ago. We faced a dilemma similar to yours. Shaker is the way to go, the clean lines and natural wood colors that it uses are the parents (it's part of the Arts & Crafts movement) to the Scandinavian/Modern/Mid-Century movements. I highly recommend Chilton Furniture, here is the link to their Houzz page. I am not related but have purchased a lot of furniture from them.

I chose my "Modern" elements to be our collected artwork and my Mid-Century pieces with lamps and a few pieces of furniture (side chair, bookcase, etc.)

I absolutely hated the mid-century "bucket" chairs in my dining room (I tried), they looked so cheap (they weren't!) next to my table.

My intention was to honor the style of my home and be able to enjoy it and that was not going to happen with the style of furniture that was popular then (I mean popular, literally, not all styles available). My neighbors have a beautifully restored circa 1900 home that has the most hideous mix of Victorian and mid-century furniture I have ever seen.

Your home is beautiful! The wood is gorgeous! Have fun creating a beautiful living space.

I would change the flooring directly in front of the fireplace. I don’t think that’s original. If it is, someone stop me. Refinish your hardwood, perhaps in a lower sheen so it’s not as reflective. Light furnishings right through. You have a good home and you have good taste, but they’re very different so you need to get them working together! Also those mismatched lights in the living room are annoying me to no end! Replace that!

Here’s an update! I tried to incorporate the mid century look that I love, while still keeping the craftsman style look as well. So far happy with the way it is turning out. Need to find dining room chairs and a light still!

Love that table! Good find.

Interesting dilemma! You’re doing a great job!

Stacey, I’m glad this is the direction you chose! Can you show more?

Beautiful rooms -- what you've done looks really good.

Would not paint the wood; would leave it as is ... with one possible exception:

You have a narrow horizontal trim board about 4' high and different paint colors above and below it. (I suppose this was the builder's faux wainscoting look?) If you ever decide you want to paint your walls all one color, do see if those trim boards could be removed intact and saved, giving you (and/or the next owner) the option to reattach them.

If you moved in thinking you would paint the wood, you might not want to buy a live edge table or a designer table -- more wood competing for attention. At least take some time to see what other options you might have before doing that. As you shop you might want to keep in mind that in a relatively small room, any table or chairs with splayed legs are a potential stumble hazard.

Would not paint the fireplace but would look for fireplace screen -- perhaps something colors.

With miniblinds, you could add a swag valance that would cover the wood around the top and side of the window frame and the top of your blinds when they're pulled all the way up, leaving your windows open for the natural light to come in during the day but still giving you privacy as you close them at night.