The Conservative Cave
Interests => Around the House & In the Garage => Topic started by: BEG on March 12, 2010, 04:36:25 PM
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Ok so, we have natural black walnut through out the whole house (except one bathroom has white painted trim with bead board wainscoting *VERY CUTE BATHROOM* and the computer room & kitchen have cherry). It is beautiful EXCEPT I LOVE large white painted baseboards. I really really really want to paint the trim in our bedroom....like really badly. I also want to add wainscoting, more than 1/2 way up the wall. Not the bead board type wainscoting. I also want an iron bed which I will show you below.
My husband told me when we moved in here that I couldn't paint any of the woodwork but I just mentioned to him what I want to do and he actually seemed receptive to the idea (just in our bedroom). We have a very odd shaped bedroom, it's shaped like an L. The bathroom doesn't have a door which is very weird to me, we want to close it in with a transom above the door. We are also going to retile the bathroom but the cabinets area really pretty so we will leave that. We will get new sinks, get a new toilet (we have a stupid bidet that is ugly and gross) but keep the bathtub as it looks brand new. Also get new fixtures. We aren't going to move any plumbing or anything, just purely cosmetic stuff. It's not ugly right now, just not our style and the tile on the floor makes a crunching sound when we walk on it. My husband will be doing all the work so we will save money on labor. We may have the guy who did the woodwork do the door with transom but we might offend him by taking out/painting his baseboards. My husband mentioned taking the baseboards off (saving them) and then doing the wainscoting as you see below.
This is kind of what I'm thinking (only more substantial). I think I would leave the doors the way they are like in the picture as they too are solid natural black walnut. Absolutely beautiful doors. Although in the bathroom (with the white trim and wainscoting) the door on the bathroom side is painted white and the door that when closed faces the kitchen is cherry.
(http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/sj/qb/paint-ideas-wainscoting-800X800.jpg)
Here is the metal bed that I want
(http://images.crateandbarrel.com/is/image/Crate/TribeccaBedQueenS8?$sharelarge$)
Here is another bed that I like
(http://www.potterybarn.com/pbimgs/rk/images/dp/products/201009/0094/img4l.jpg)
I would LOVE to do this to my stairs but that is out of the question as far as my husband is concerned.
(http://fabulousfinishes.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/diy-wainscoting-kit-elite-trimworks-corp.jpg)
So.....is it sacrilege to do what I'm seriously thinking of doing?
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I don't see anything wrong with doing it.
But its kind of like saying you aren't coming back to Texas any time soon.
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That is gorgeous, but painting black walnut is a little scary as that must be beautiful also.
I love those stairs --- definitely do the stairs!
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LOVE it BEG!!! I say go for it. It's a timeless look.
Here's our iron bed. I love it!! We got it at Bombay & Co. which is no longer in business I think.
I still have to paint the whole house. It's standard builder beige.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/kademan/DSCN2093.jpg)
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Don't paint the wood.
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LOVE it BEG!!! I say go for it. It's a timeless look.
Here's our iron bed. I love it!! We got it at Bombay & Co. which is no longer in business I think.
I still have to paint the whole house. It's standard builder beige.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/kademan/DSCN2093.jpg)
I love your bed. Damn the Bombay company for going out of business. Your bedroom looks great.
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Don't paint the wood.
But I wanna. I promise I won't paint the doors
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But I wanna. I promise I won't paint the doors
Then find some white vinyl contact paper.
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I love your bed. Damn the Bombay company for going out of business. Your bedroom looks great.
:-) Tee hee. Believe it or not, we've had that bed for about 8 years. I'm still not tired of it.
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Please don't paint such beautiful wood.
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Please don't paint such beautiful wood.
What if we take the baseboards off and save them, don't paint the doors and then do the wainscoting like what is pictured above? Then if we sell we can say we have the baseboards if they want to put them back on or in case I want to put them back on?!?
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What if we take the baseboards off and save them, don't paint the doors and then do the wainscoting like what is pictured above? Then if we sell we can say we have the baseboards if they want to put them back on or in case I want to put them back on?!?
That might be OK. I just love the look of natural wood vs. painted wood.
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You girls know that us guys call those "bondage beds"?
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Please don't paint such beautiful wood.
I'm with rich......if you absolutely HAVE to have painted woodwork, pull the hardwood off, and store it......put up crappy pine woodwork and then paint it.......
My daughter bought a condo in Chicago, where some idiot painted all of the beautiful TEAK woodwork from the building's construction in the 1920's white, and she has spent nearly $16,000 having it stripped and refinished to its original state.......it's georgeous now, but was an unnecessary waste of money.....
If it is fine wood don't do it!
doc
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You girls know that us guys call those "bondage beds"?
My husband asked if the bed came with handcuffs. :p
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I'm with rich......if you absolutely HAVE to have painted woodwork, pull the hardwood off, and store it......put up crappy pine woodwork and then paint it.......
My daughter bought a condo in Chicago, where some idiot painted all of the beautiful TEAK woodwork from the building's construction in the 1920's white, and she has spent nearly $16,000 having it stripped and refinished to its original state.......it's georgeous now, but was an unnecessary waste of money.....
If it is fine wood don't do it!
doc
It's natural black walnut. It is beautiful wood, the doors are solid black walnut. It almost looks like oil rubbed teak. It's just that it is everywhere. It's so dark. If we do it we will take the baseboards out and save them, we will not paint the doors either.
Here is what the wood looks like:
(http://forestshades.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/exotic_Collection_Black_Walnut.228135150_std.jpg)
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BEG it is gorgeous wood but I think if it's done right, the look you want can be so striking!!! I know most people are saying not to paint the wood, but I think you should do what you think you'll like. You have to live in the house....
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BEG it is gorgeous wood but I think if it's done right, the look you want can be so striking!!! I know most people are saying not to paint the wood, but I think you should do what you think you'll like. You have to live in the house....
Thats true.
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Here is what the wood looks like:
(http://forestshades.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/exotic_Collection_Black_Walnut.228135150_std.jpg)
That looks like my new floor.
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That looks like my new floor.
Well that is actually flooring. This black walnut looks very similar to the wood in our house except our doors and moulding are "beefier".
(http://www.kunkelandson.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc01108.jpg)
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Well that is actually flooring. This black walnut looks very similar to the wood in our house except our doors and moulding are "beefier".
Yeah, but I don't live in a sprawling million-dollar movie star mansion in L.A. with a see-ment pond and a wise old turtle.
I live in a 1500 sq. ft. bungalow in Texas. :-)
And my new floors are vinyl-to-look-like-wood, which don't look that similar after all....(http://i43.tinypic.com/osuxcw.jpg)
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Yeah, but I don't live in a sprawling million-dollar movie star mansion in L.A. with a see-ment pond and a wise old turtle.
I live in a 1500 sq. ft. bungalow in Texas. :-)
And my new floors are vinyl-to-look-like-wood, which don't look that similar after all....(http://i43.tinypic.com/osuxcw.jpg)
We are getting rid of the "wise old turtles", they are a PITA. When they lay eggs you have to incubate them and do all kinds of crap. We are giving them back to their previous owners when they get settled in their new place.
I'm ignoring the other comment you made.
Where did you put your new floors? Are they in yet? How do you like it?
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I'm ignoring the other comment you made.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to brag. I will NEVER make you feel bad about not living in Texas again.
Where did you put your new floors? Are they in yet? How do you like it?
EVERYWHERE! From the living room bay window to the guest room's alcove...except for our master suite....it's a done deal. NO MORE CARPET---EVER!!! (beat with carpet-covered wire hanger)....
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I'm sorry. I didn't mean to brag. I will NEVER make you feel bad about not living in Texas again.
EVERYWHERE! From the living room bay window to the guest room's alcove...except for our master suite....it's a done deal. NO MORE CARPET---EVER!!! (beat with carpet-covered wire hanger)....
Oh wow, I bet that is really nice. Are you going to put area rugs down anywhere?
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Consider me a hard surface flooring convert. Our new house only has carpeting upstairs. The entire bottom floor is hardwood. So much easier! Now to convince hubby that we should change the carpet LOL.
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There are many design ideas that you can use to "brighten up" rooms that have a lot of dark wood......creative use of modern lighting being the most effective, along with judicious use of bright area rugs, and light walls and ceilings.......I certainly realize that you have to live with it, but Mrs. Doc and I have owned or lived in sixteen different homes over the years, and we always looked at a house on the basis of what was necessary to RESELL it, not what we liked.....
And we never lost money on one.....
Never painting classic wood is one of the rules......
Remember that in a few years, you will be living somewhere else......
doc
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Oh wow, I bet that is really nice. Are you going to put area rugs down anywhere?
Just the ceiling around the mirrors.
:p
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BEG - are there any other homes in the area with the same type of finishes? I know you haven't lived there long but I'm curious because if this is a planned development, I'm guessing other homes also have the same wood? I wonder how they look? Do you know what your neighbors have done?
Maybe ask a local realtor? I know that re-sale is down the road and certainly should be on the back of your mind. What's in style changes so you never know. My gut would tell me to do what makes me happy. Paint can always be removed. Yes, it's costly and labor intensive, but as long as you aren't ripping out real hardwood, paint can be fixed down the road.
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BEG - are there any other homes in the area with the same type of finishes? I know you haven't lived there long but I'm curious because if this is a planned development, I'm guessing other homes also have the same wood? I wonder how they look? Do you know what your neighbors have done?
Maybe ask a local realtor? I know that re-sale is down the road and certainly should be on the back of your mind. What's in style changes so you never know. My gut would tell me to do what makes me happy. Paint can always be removed. Yes, it's costly and labor intensive, but as long as you aren't ripping out real hardwood, paint can be fixed down the road.
No two houses are the same Dixie. There are houses built in the early 20's up to the mid 70's, from Spanish style, mid century to mod 70's. Our street seems to be the 40's - late 50's. One street over seems to be the 20's. This neighborhood isn't the typical neighborhood that I am used to. In fact, it seemed like all the houses we looked at out here weren't the typlical neighborhood where houses in the same neighborhood were comparable. Take the house directly across the street, it has been remodeled and is totally cute. The house next door on the left (if facing the house) looks like it has had nothing done to it but the house on the right looks like it has been remodeled as well. We have absolutely BEAUTIFUL Spanish style houses from the 1920's in this neighborhood (in fact we looked at one right down the street) and I wonder what the neighborhood was like in the 20's. I think I would really love a spanish style house. The one we looked at had an amazing dinning room but the kitchen was so small and it had no closet space at all. The bathroom was original and very charming.
Our house was built in 1949 and the previous owners (they lived here 18 years) did an addition in 2001. The whole upstairs was added in the addition, they also added a porch and the garage when they did the addition (there was a garage originally but it was not attached to the house). The wood floors downstairs are the original wood floors (I believe they are oak and are lighter than the rest of the wood in the house) but all the baseboards, crown molding, wood around the fireplace and doors were done by the previous owner when he did the addition. He introduced the guy who did all the woodwork in the house to my husband in case we wanted him to do any other work. The wood in this house is not typical. The spanish style houses may have dark wood if not painted over already (the one we looked at had many many layers of paint on their wood).
They did the kitchen remodel in 2004. I think he said he did the doors a few at a time because they were so expensive, he said they spent $30k on the doors alone. He could have been BSing us but they are solid natural black walnut and I have no idea what even one of these doors would cost. One door in the computer room is 1/2 walnut and 1/2 cherry because the crown molding and baseboards (as well as the built in desk/cabinets) are cherry (not dark cherry but more of the natural cherry). You can see where the guy who made the door joined the two woods. I don't know why he did this room in different wood, it was probably cheaper...actually I have no idea which wood cost more.
The house style is kind of odd. The front door and the door to the computer room (the door that goes outside in the computer room) is kind of craftsman style, the fireplace is craftsman style, I guess the rest of the doors could go along with craftsman style (but they would go with other styles too) but the kitchen isn't. It's more contemporary. The bathroom off the kitchen has the white painted wainscoting with a pedestal sink, our bathroom is just plain odd but the cabinets are nice, my daughters bathroom in her room is very small and has TURTLE yes I said TURTLE accent tile that is about an inch and half high and goes around the whole shower at about 3/4th's of the way up the wall. At least the rest of the tile in her bathroom is plain white. The other bathroom that everyone who visits uses had a semi-redo in the early 90's with mauve "mist" floor tile and an accent tile that is mauve and grey/blue color. Kind of an art deco style. The rest of the tile is white (thank God). It has the original sink, cabinets and tub. That bathroom will be the first on our list to fix. The overall style of the house on the outside though is not craftsman and it makes me wonder what in the heck the original owners were thinking. They could have made the outside look craftsman when they did the remodel because they totally changed the style of the outside when they did it.
Don't get me wrong, obviously I liked the house when we bought it. It's just living in it brings out all the flaws that I either over looked or didn't notice when we looked at the house. It is a beautiful house but it just doesn't feel like it's MINE yet. It still feels like I'm visiting. Our bedroom/bathroom probably bothers me the most out of everything. Even more than the mauve "mist" bathroom. It's just an uncomfortable space. The bathroom has no door and it strangely configured. The bedroom like I said earlier, shaped like an "L", has no wall to put an armoire to hide a TV in. There is a short space between the entry to the bathroom and the _ space of an L in the bedroom across from the bed. My husband hung the TV on the wall because we couldn't put a piece of furniture on that wall. The TV takes up the whole width of the wall (it's not a huge TV). The bedroom is huge and has a ton of wasted space (I have my sewing machine and our armoire that we used to have the TV in in the other space in the room. You could probably use that area for a "sitting" room but we would never use that. The previous owners had two chairs and an armoire in that area but seriously, who wants to sit in their bedroom and watch tv? If I'm going to sit and watch tv I'll do it in my family room. I want to lay in bed if I'm in my bedroom. We are thinking of ways to reconfigure the area, even considering closing off the other "room" to give us more wall space and perhaps making the other area a small sewing room that when we sell someone could use it for another "study" or what ever they wanted to use it for. I think we would use pocket doors with an opaque glass in it. I think I would do the same door for the bathroom . Doing that would give us enough wall space across from our bed to put an armoire.
Something similar to the idea below:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c113/mom2reese2/house/library.jpg)
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Just so you know.... If you paint that fine wood, the wood fairies are going to come haunt you.
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Just so you know.... If you paint that fine wood, the wood fairies are going to come haunt you.
I'm not going to paint the wood, if we do anything we will take it off and save it. You all are mean, not letting me get my way and all.
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BEG - I thought that might be the case (unique house). And you're right about not feeling like it's "yours" yet. I can tell from the things you say. Maybe you could tackle some other project and come back to the wood vs. paint dilemma?
We debated about what to do to the extra den/family room in our new house. I finally had to just leave it and let my son camp out in there because his bedroom is smaller than in our last house. Turns out that was the perfect solution. It's now "man cave" and I did it in red/gray/black with a modern theme. Lot of geometric shapes and a black sofa. He's got music and car stuff in it but it's all in the colors of the room so it's neat.
I was going to make it another sitting room. Now I'm glad I didn't. He has a hang out and we have the living room.
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Consider me a hard surface flooring convert. Our new house only has carpeting upstairs. The entire bottom floor is hardwood. So much easier! Now to convince hubby that we should change the carpet LOL.
Let me know how that works for you(convincing hubby)....I've been trying to convince M that the upstairs would be so much better with hardwood instead of carpet.
I'm getting no where... :bawl:
I have really dark mahagony stained woodwork, and beamed ceilings in FR, kitchen, DR and LR. All my walls are a french vanilla. I gave the painter an invitation I had received and told him that was the color I wanted. It's the same everywhere. With the floors on the main level either the antique red brick or dark hardwood, I needed to have the light walls. Otherwise, when the trees are in full leaf, it's just too dark in here. Upstairs, the carpet is the color of sand...it's ok...but I'd rather have the hardwood with pretty rugs.
I have never really cared for stained wood trim, but this is so dark, and almost all the wood furniture is cherry....it works well together and I like it. Which is a good thing, because there is no way on God's little green earth, that M would ever let me change it. :-)
The rooms get their "color" from the rugs and furnishings. Lots of blues, reds and golds...with a bit of green and black. Kitchen and FR is one big room, and with the brick floors, darker cherry cabinets, black granite counters and the dark wood....I had to go with light and bright...and started with an Oriental rug that I liked.
I had 2 Orientals, and we bought 3 more before we moved in (there was a fabulous rug store going out of business and we waited until towards the end and got all 3 for less than the least's original price)....for downstairs, and I did each room with the rug as the start, and worked all my colors from the rug. Each rug is really different, but somehow it all flows together.
My house is a very, very traditional English Tudor, and for the most part, so are all the furnishing. About the only thing that isn't is my office. I have my daughter's old desk and chair that are painted a bright deep yellow, and the rest of the furniture is the white stuff that comes in a box and I put it together. Loveseat has a dark blue denin slip cover. All the books, and my teddy bear( :-) ) collection give it color.
You have to do what will make you and your family comfortable, BEG. I'm a firm believer that a house should reflect the occupants and what make them happy, comfortable and content and be furnished as such. If it works out that it goes with whatever the current fashionable thing is - well, terrific. If it doesn't, that's even better, because that means it's reflective of the people who live there.
My house is still a work in progress...not because I'm changing it, but because I'm taking my time (and as I can afford it) and finding stuff that I really want, not just something to fill a space. Hopefully, I will finish this year, as we have been here for 6 years... ::)
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Hmmmm. On the hardwood floor issue -- finally got tired of having to get the carpets cleaned in the living room and hallway (not to mention the MBR) due to the dogs. (I'm not sure, but I may have intercepted Lexie before she dragged the half-eaten muskrat into the house :lmao: .)
Mrs E called her nephew, who does flooring, and he agreed to come out and replace the LR and hallway carpeting with hardwood.
We have Australian cypress in the DR and kitchen areas and are looking to extend that into the LR and hallway (it's an open floor plan). Took a look at Bellawood, which is what is already on the floor.
Reviews are NOT good. One out of 10 was halfway complimentary and don't even think about Lumber Liquidators, the sole source of Bellawood.
We'll consult with the nephew who might have a better source, better price, and better quality along with less waste.
FWIW, I agree that to paint hardwood like that is sacrilegious, BEG. Gotta think about the day when you sell -- unless you really LOVE living in Commiefornia.....
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Send me the old trim COD and I'll send out brand spanking new generic primed trim as a replacement. :-)