Do I paint or leave the original color moldings?

amother

Tue, Jun 04 2019, 9:34 am

I have mahagoney colored moldings (ceiling, doors, base, banister etc) in living room and dining room. Can you just paint the moldings a different color or I would have to now repaint my banister, doors etc.?
I want to try to make a more modern look. When we built our house obviously a completely different look was in and I feel our house is dated.

BetsyTacy

Tue, Jun 04 2019, 9:48 am

When you say "mahagony colored" do you mean real wood with an nice grain stained a mahagony stain?
I love the look of real wood trim. It is much richer than painted wood. Once you paint, it is beyond time consuming if not near impossible to change your mind.

amother

Tue, Jun 04 2019, 9:51 am

BetsyTacy wrote:

Its real wood.
I know once I paint my doors and moldings I can’t go back.

Rappel

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 5:39 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Its real wood.
I know once I paint my doors and moldings I can’t go back.

Sounds like you'd be covering over some beautiful wood. Heck, if you don't want them, then rip them out and send them to me!

As far as a dated house - house fashions go in and out with the tide. At the moment, paint hides a lot of sins and cheap quality, so it's in. Similarly, metal is cheap, so industrial is in. I'd be surprised if real wood didn't come back around as a luxurious item within the next 10 years.

amother

Black

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:26 am

We spent a lot of time and effort stripping the paint off our oak moldings (after our painter refused because it’s so much work). They now look gorgeous, but it was a lot of work. I would never paint over wood, which has a rich, classical look. Paint goes in and out of style - as trends come and go - but real wood is timeless.

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:00 am

Any decorators out here that can give there input?
My husband still feels to paint the wood since no one is building custom home with stain moldings now and feels the look is so dated.

amother

Babypink

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:11 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Any decorators out here that can give there input?
My husband still feels to paint the wood since no one is building custom home with stain moldings now and feels the look is so dated.

No one is doing it because it’s more money.
I would leave. I love the look of real wood.

amother

Seashell

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 10:46 am

amother [ Babypink ] wrote:

No one is doing it because it’s more money.
I would leave. I love the look of real wood.

Real wood is less money. I have unusual shaped walls. Plastic was used on the curves. We used wood in the straight parts because it is cheaper. They join perfectly when painted.

Large ceilings moldings are styrofoam. Maybe that's what you are calling plastic. The hard firm plastic is expensive.

Rappel

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 11:21 am

What I'm reading:

"Everyone else has those plastic rings from the gumball machine, and I want one too! No one is wearing the silver and inlay turquoise ring that I have - it's too expensive, too classic. I think I'll paint it so it looks like plastic, and then I'll be like everybody else."

This is what it sounds like you're saying, OPA, and it's coloring everyone's responses.

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 11:30 am

Rappel wrote:

The truth is you are right. The neighborhood we are living in all the custom homes and homes that are being remodeled don’t have stained wood so our house even though it was new when we renovated it looks dated now.

BetsyTacy

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 12:04 pm

To me that is like saying that real brick, or even real wood siding, is dated because most new homes are put up with faux brick/stone and vinyl siding, because it is cheaper! Especially when new builds are usually massive compared to the houses built up until the 1980's.

Real wood is timeless. I am sure there are some decorating techniques/window treatments that are contemporary which while costlly, are at least reversible when trends change

amother

Seashell

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 12:20 pm

I wish I knew how to post pictures. I have stained oak next to black paint in my house in several places. The effect is stunning and updated. We just repainted an area last week using that scheme. My house gets copied a lot.

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:00 pm

amother [ Seashell ] wrote:

This sounds interesting

amother

Seashell

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:05 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

This sounds interesting

You could do something like this:
https://images.app.goo.gl/YjRcA9kWKYUQTPX29

Google black painted rooms with stained wood molding. You could paint the bottom half below a chair rail black and the top something different.

Amarante

Wed, Jul 31 2019, 3:25 pm

If you follow trends, you will always be behind.

Currently white kitchens are super trendy but the highest end cabinet companies like Christopher Peacock and Smallbones are doing wood or a mix of wood and other colors and not necessarily white or gray :-).

Similarly wood trim or painted goes in and out of style but beautiful stained wood is very classic. Really depends on what it looks like and the rest of the design of the home.

The cheap builder grade honey oak is generally not worth salvaging but what about beautiful woodwork in turn of the century homes that was painted over and now is being painstakingly restored.

Mahogany wood trim does NOT sound like it is cheap builder grade oak trim - it sounds as if it is a very high end look. Before committing to an irrevocable act, I would suggest you look at lots of pictures and see what exactly you (or your husband) is objecting to.

I would also add (and perhaps it's irrelevant) but painting stained wood WELL and PROPERLY is labor intensive and not cheap. You can't just hire a slug from a parking lot of the Big Box store and have him slap on a coat of paint :-).