If the location works, buy it and live with the wood for a while. Hire a professional design expert. (I say this as someone who bought "not the dream houes" in the perfect location and never regretted it.)

I expected to see dark stained wood. This trim out is TO DIE FOR beautiful. I might describe it as heavy with wood but never dark. All wood can be stripped and sanded which would bring it down to a natural tone. It's just about how much you want to spend. Anyone can always remove all trim and retrim a home. Again it's just about money at that point. If you don't love wood, this is just not the home for you.

I love all the wood! What I don't love is some of the frou-frou fixtures and finishes and incongruent industrial grey kitchen cabinets and big white bookcase, but those things probably wouldn't dissuade me from buying the house, it's all fixable. But agree with arcy -- if you don't love wood, don't buy this house.

Whether it is 1, 5 or 1.6 , is a pimple on an elephant FANNY

Dark/ Poor design? You need more than that to fix this kitchen alone, and I mean layout upheaval........

What about this?

At a 600k deduction? , for you? Maybe a different story, but the wood trim elsewhere is beautiful...just maybe not the house for you, and I will not touch the conversations that follows and the RULES.

Other than to say White trim is not the answer here. None of it.calls for white.

Don't try.

EDIT - I was typing my comment - before Jan's was posted -

@JAN MOYER - the seller offered a $100k deduction - not quite $600k! 😂

I would leave the wood - at least for awhile. It's pretty! Maybe changing the wall color would be a better decision + you have the option to only change the paint in a single room vs. an open layout where you'd have to re-paint all of it.

However, this would be at the top of my list for updates:

1. I think the darker stained wood used on the cabinetry in the kitchen/primary bathroom (I didn't look at all of the photos) would be better if it was painted. I don't think the color of the stain is pretty + I feel like it would help "lighten" up the rooms vs. painting any of the custom millwork.

Also, there are currently four different colors of stained wood in the kitchen - not a great idea.

2. I would remove the little island in the kitchen + either lower the peninsula to counter height - or remove it also + replace with a rectangular island (you might be able to use the cabinets from the island + the peninsula in order to make a rectangular island - you also can easily order matching doors to the existing ones).

Obviously, I didn't change the wall color in the above rendering - I forgot to change it. However, I did change the countertop out for a real marble one (I love marble - that's the only reason why I selected it for you - LOL!)

HOWEVER - if an entire gut was possible - the cooktop in the corner doesn't make sense.

The tile in your primary bathroom looks like a cooler tone with some grays. I think painting your cabinets something like the color below would look nicer + work better with your floors. I'm not a "colorist" or pro designer = I'm sure that there are better options to use on the vanities in order to bring the floors and millwork together in the room.

"Whether it is 1, 5 or 1.6 , is a pimple on an elephant FANNY"

LOL!!

It's a builder's McMansion. Upon reviewing all the homes available in the area, they all look like this. None of them look like casual get away homes. They all look like full time, formal traditional homes.

A house more like these would be in keeping with the area.

2007 wood is not the same as 1920 wood! Even MtnRdRedux ended up painting some of the trim in her much older New England ocean front house, after living with the dark wood trim for a few years.

I would have no problem painting some of the wood or even removing some of the excess wood details.

When we bought our house in CA we bought a house that was a lower price than what we wanted to spend and then spent the difference remodeling and making it what we wanted. The location supported the "investment" and we actually got all that money back when we sold 10 years later.

Are you prepared to do that? Life is too short to live in a house you "hate".

Good points. We lost the house I
loved due to a guy going 100k over and all cash!

I might just pass on this house
But it has really good bones. Hard to find a 3 car on lake with private dock under 2M

While it’s not my style ( at all) , it’s too big, too formal , too MC M., etc., however, I love the lake view & the price is unbelievably low for what I see in my area ( I looked at a 1475 square foot condo in my town the other day, $2.3 million ! Yikes! is right. If I lived in your area I’d be tempted to buy it just for it’s location.

The location is amazing. My husband and I are both engineers we can easily fix just about everything. Yes, I don’t
mind the wood workmanship of the house but the double kitchen islands is weird and the dark cabinets everywhere is also weird.
And the first thing I’m going to do is t
Replace every single light fixture

It is beautiful and does not look dark to me…but if it was mine all the woodwork would be painted white.

100K price reduction is quite a drop. How long has the house been on the market?

You know what the style is and most folks are no longer interested in it. Add to that the dark history of the lake, and that does carry some weight. Think resale and pass.

”How long has the house been on the market?”
The link the OP posted from realtor.com shows 161 days. It also gives an extended price history if you scroll down and click on Property History. Looks like it’s been listed several times since 9/23 (for $2.6M at that time).

I love the woodwork. It’s beautiful but I would paint the crown molding white along with the walls. . To me wood crown molding always looks heavy. That might be tricky knowing what to paint though in the areas where the crown butts up to the woodwork around the doorways.

This house wouldn't be for me. Odd layout, strange disproportionate millwork, and just too big. There's a reason it's been on the market for over 5 months.

"Dark history of the lake"???

"My husband and I are both engineers we can easily fix just about everything."

All the designers bow out right there : ).............

I will tell you now, it is extremely difficult and expensive to get the over the top, out of a home such as this. I one doing one now. When listed , I told my client: Go in really low, nobody wants it, or anything like it. You need 700k to make it remotely "yours" without a "remuddle" ruin. It's 5000 sq feet of too much everything, and NOT well done.

Every detail is to find a sweet spot, Two panel doors to replace cheap builder 6 panel. Every scrap of Tuscan bath tile and over sized tub, dark and over done built ins to the dumpster. Granite ( builder 90's ) gone everywhere. Cherry floors, beat up, ripped put in total, and MURDER to find a 5 1/4 white oak, engineered that looked appropriate - and avoid sand on site. It's being drop shipped from Canada. Spell Kaching,

Don't buy it unless you love it and I said 600k for a reason., it wasn't a mistake a mis read, or a typo.

"Lake Lanier's "haunted" reputation stems from the tragic, forced submergence of a thriving Black community (Oscarville) in 1912 and its subsequent flooding by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s to create the reservoir. Today, it is also notoriously known as one of the deadliest lakes in the U.S., with over 700 drownings and fatal accidents since its creation. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The combination of the displaced underwater town, unmovable graves, and high mortality rate fuels dark, enduring folklore. The most famous ghost story, the "Lady of the Lake," centers on two women, Delia May Parker Young and Susie Roberts, who drove off Browns Bridge into the dark waters in 1958. While Roberts' car was recovered in 1990, the spirit of Young is said to be seen wandering the bridge wearing a blue dress, searching for her missing appendages. Additionally, swimmers and boaters frequently report feelings of unseen hands pulling them beneath the surface, attributing this to the restless spirits of Oscarville's descendants and unrecovered victims trapped in the debris"

BOOOOGA BOOOOGA!!!! Who knew? lol

You can selectively paint the wood. Some rooms the wainscoting is just too much - like the small bathrooms. The triple tray ceiling wood could all be painted out. The interior balcony could be painted out.

I don't find a lot of the upstairs doors to be attractive. I might color drench much of the upstairs, including the doors and door trim.

This wood is very attractive when used sparsely and selectively. Choose what of it to keep. Let that be the focal point.

And yes, a less yellow undertoned paint would help.

I’d skip it - seems over wrought, especially for a lake home.

for me the purpose of being on the lake is easy, casual living - sand, wet dogs, bathing suits, suntan lotion everywhere etc. We just built at the lake and went for a minimal/modern cottage - nothing formal or precious - very easy to live with

1. House has been on the market long
   because they started out way over priced- their realtor is a moron.
   2- I have four kids and need the bedrooms
   3- just because we are engineers doesn’t mean we don’t have style. Not sure what that comment is supposed to mean. What I AM saying is that we can do the electrical, plumbing, dry wall and wood work we own all the tools. I’m a damn good painter and I love expensive wallpaper and put it up
   Better than most professionals. Our current home went from boring 80’s to rustic modern with a bit of eclectic whimsy.
   I saw this house as a challenge and was planning on low balling the offer if I decided to go with this home.
   I was looking for ideas that I wouldn’t get if I just dropped this in AI.

But I’ll be sure not to let the designer we hire know we are engineers-thanks for the ‘tip’ Jan.

Sounds like the things one can't readily change; location and sq footage are there. A ton of people post here and they rarely have the forethought or experience you are now sharing you have. I would go for it. You sound up for the work and since no one seems to want it as is--why not strip it back and make it yours??? As far as the black cabinetry...do you think it was repainted at some point, to reduce the WOOD? Easy fix with white paint this time. Four kids, two careers you have a full plate already! DIY is time consuming and as we age not the first choice for how to spend time was our experience, but others never tire of the challenge. Much of the mill work can be reduced or eliminated which will 'lighten' things up. As far as the communities history--it's just that HISTORY--done and gone. America is pretty young, when you compare our past to that of many European countries we are preschoolers and would not compete up against the savagery of most nations pasts'. LET IT GO.

Location location location! As long as you feel you can make it your own it should be worth it. Good luck!

For me all that heavy wood work ideally would be changed but at least painted the same as the walls for sure . If all else suits your family trim can be done later .

Welp, good architecture should always respect local history, customs, and vernacular— so in this case, whitewashing everything seems perfect!

Agree - with HIWE - TOO dark.

Ghosts - RUN.