More pictures…

It doesn’t work for me, but it’s your house (you plural). What would I do? Paint all the skimpy pine trim white since you already have white windows and patio doors. Paint the paneling white too especially the wainscot that chops up the rooms. Leave the kitchen cabinets and beams alone. Now you have a more neutral canvas and can start layering in better rugs, neutral curtains, etc.

To me, it looks like a lovely HOME, where people actually live. The traditional rooms don’t quite match the mcm rooms, but you are not trying to force them together, and it looks fine and comfortable.

Yeah, this house has a lot of paneling. Which I actually like…haha but it doesn’t quite come across right in the photos

Yeah, the pine window trim could use painting though! I agree. The dining room paneling is terrible though. It has full paneling on the ceiling and one wall and then a half wall of paneling and a plain wall. I have no idea what to do with it. I’m just looking at these photos though and it looks boring.

More angles

The dining room 😬

Thank you daki, I think the bedrooms are definitely needing some more help…and style

I would start sheetrocking the dining room entry and the dining room itself.

I would agree. The bedrooms need a bit of TLC… but the other spaces look great!!

The black and white living room is very high contrast, bold, cold, and stylized, whereas the rest of your home aside from the living room feels warm, cohesive, and lived in.

I'd paint the black ceiling beams white and the black outline of the stairs to white.

When was the railing added?

Your house itself is pretty big and dramatic…big fireplace, big staircase, tons of wood, big beams, high angled ceiling, etc. but then there’s a lot of tiny little pieces on the walls, little knickknacks, little shelves, quiet colors. Nothing that stands up to the room it’s in(except for maybe that one blue chair).

I think it looks nice. It is a lived-in house, not a showroom or setpiece. If husband criticizes its cohesion, maybe he should propose something.

I'm curious too. If he is saying it is not cohesive, have him explain it. Is it just a feeling, or there are things to point out, or perhaps a case of the lived in it too long blahs and wanting a refresh... or what?

It may be easy or not for us to point out things we like or not... but he is the one feeling it, he needs to talk about it. That would help you and us come up with some ideas.

It looks like a beautiful location, and I like your lighting and all the windows. I'd also want to know what your husband means by 'not cohesive.'

I really like your dark green door with the 5 horizontal windows. I see you have 2 plain white interior doors. It might be cool to replace those with 5-panel Shaker style doors, or depending on what's behind those doors and your need for privacy use 5-panel doors with obscured glass windows (to look more like the exterior door.) Maybe use the same color green.

Painting all the stained wood would be a nightmare...and pine with knots is the worst. It will cost you $$$$$ to have it done correctly. So, I would leave it as is. What I would do is paint all the trim black and paint all the sheet rock and ceilings white. Leave the beams black.

Any time you have a chance to add in a piece of furniture, do black. You could start with a new coffee table. No smalls on the mantel. Bigger art...anything you like, but have some black in the mix.

The interior doors...I would do black...that's your call, but don't have some black and some white.

Kendrah, we have lived in the house for 2 years and that’s when we did the black stair railing. The beams are actually brown, but in the photos they look black.

Yeah, my husband likes minimalist, Scandinavian, Japandi. I like that too, but I also like my mom and grandmothers antiques so that is probably where some of the style is mismatched… I also am really picky about art and not sure where to actually hang anything. The only thing that is black is the stair railing. The beams are a brown stain.

Chicagoans, yes! The location is really the reason why we bought the house! We are trying to make the house improved but we aren’t thinking that it is our “forever” home. We plan to replace interior doors, I was thinking a nice wood stain haha but maybe that’s too much woods.

Bees needs, would you like to see some of his inspiration pictures?

Personally, I LOVE elcieg’s black trim. I would definitely NOT paint the paneling from two standpoints - it looks to be in perfect condition and it’s really warm and pretty; also, you’ll forever have bleeding-through of the knots. Trust me - I have that problem with some knotty pine paneling and the headboard/footboard in my bedroom. The headboard is a vintage Ethan Allen piece, had a factory finish which we prepped with a dark primer and sprayed with a black enamel about 15 years ago; following that, about 10 years ago, I primed it with a white shellac primer (several coats), followed by two coats of white chaulk paint and two coats of clear wax. The knots are bleeding through ALL of that like crazy! I may have to strip it back entirely and let it just be natural knotty pine, since that’s obviously what it wants to be.

Did you have another thread awhile back about your dining room? I recall some good suggestions. The room is standalone so consider updating it by removing the wood wainscot, painting the wood ceiling a creamy white, etc.

Consider replacing the off-center bench under the frame TV with a floating wood console in black.

I like your house. I agree that painting the window trim on any windows that are not in the paneling would look better. The dining area is a little kooky, sort of reminds me of a boats cabin, a bigger window or even another sliding glass door would help. The one area that stands out as a little off is the living room's ceiling. If it had pine planks in between the beams it would fit in better but that is not an easy fix. As for decor, I personally would reduce the amount of items on display and would prefer larger pieces of art to the collection of small pieces but that is very much each to their own.

"We plan to replace interior doors, I was thinking a nice wood stain haha but maybe that’s too much woods." I do think that would be too much of a good thing. I like @elcieg's idea of black doors, and as mentioned I like the color of your 5-window exterior door. If you're going to replace the doors anyway, you could try painting one (or more) of them first to try out different colors. Also, friends of mine added some simple, flat trim to their plain doors before repainting and they turned out great. That's another thing you could try before or instead of replacing.