Natural OR Painted - Doors, Skirting, Stairs.......

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Spicey

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I am just wondering what the general opinion is on the natural or painted look!

I am about to make the decision to go with cherry wood doors, skirting boards, architraves, window boards etc. with a cherry wood stairs in a new build!
However as cherry wood is so expensive I am debating whether or not I should use red deal and go for the painted look which is also very nice!
Also if I do go with the painted look would I have to do the same with the stairs or would the cherry stairs still match??

Anyone go with one particular look and regret it??
Is the maintenance of painted doors etc. worth it??

Spicey
 
If cherrywood is slightly out of your budget and you don't fancy red deal, white deal is nice or pine. Hate painting wood, think its beautiful so why hide it under a coat of paint! When we built 3 years ago had pine wood work throughout, (doors, skirting, architrave) haven't even varnished it - the wood has changed colour over this time - where sunlight comes in - I personally like the effect, no everyone's cup of tea tho! Bit of a wood freak on the quiet too!
 
Unpainted/ untreated wood (i.e. no painting or coating of any kind) wears badly, discolours and is degraded by ultra violet radiation. So it's just not possible to go completely "au naturel". also it's impossible to clean. Prefinished hardwood is very popular and looks well but the downside is that damage during construction is difficult to repair and with time the coatings will chip, abrade and flake exposing the bare wood. In a family home with young children or pets I would recommend a painted finish on softwood; when it gets "tired" looking you can easily freshen it up with conventional paints. I would also be wary of buying or using hardwood in joinery inless the timber was sourced from a FSC approved producer. I think varnished pine has had its day and too much of it (matching doors, trim, cladding and cabinetry) can look very "cheap". Timber has been painted or decorated with paints for centuries and this will never go out of fashion; it's also a chance to intorduce some colour...
 
we have varnished pine floors, skirting and doors and I tihnk it looks nice but would agree that come time for a "spruce up" it is a muc mor edifficult job than just applying a lick of paint!
 
I think it's very much a matter of taste - and you'll live with whatever you decide :)

I'd be inclined to agree with Carpenter, though: I think the painted look wears well and is easy to freshen. If, like many people, you're putting in wooden floors, I'd definitely go for painted, because otherwise you can be very confined in your other decorative choices (wooden furnishings like dining table and chairs, and floor and doors and skirtings... nightmare to have everything combining well, and can be a bit overpowering).
If you go for painted woodwork for doors, skirtings and sills, your stairs may also become more of a feature rather than one more section of a whole lot of wood.

But as you'll see from the diversity of opinion, it's very much a matter of personal choice and the style you want to have. And cherry wood is particularly nice!
 
I had the "natural" wood look on skirting, architraves & doors. Have now changed to painted [white] & to me it looks better - really brightens the place up. I was replacing skirting & architrave anyway so I pre-painted it before I installed, only left minor patching to do later & sure saves your back.
Building another house later this year & planning to paint all the wood again.
 
My opinion- it depends on the wood. We have different wood throughout our house and it has aged differently. For eg we had french oak flooring put in through out the house and I still love the colour- it's a beautiful dark honey. But we had some furniture here and there in pine- which I have pretty much now all painted because I hated the orangey colour it turned.
 
Natural timber for me clear satin finish varnish, once you paint you can't go back but at least if you varnish first you will have the option later to paint and maybe one day you might say to yourself I'm glad I didn't paint my timber when everybody else is replacing theirs for natural woods such as Red Deal, Oak and teak. I love the detail in the timber work.
 
Just to add to this- prefinished hardwood looks great and once it is installed in a dry environment it will stay that way. However softwood that is maybe a little "damp" (high MC) to begin with will move, shrink, warp and cup after fitting. Joints open up, gaps form at mitres and fillers pop. Trying to rectify this whilst using a varnish finish is difficult. For this reason I still think painting is the best option for softwood, at least you can use quality caulk and fillers to get a really good finish on your decoration...
 
I have to agree with Carpenter that painting softwood is probably the best idea. It makes interior design a lot easier and is easier to maintain. Hardwood is a different story and can really add to a well-thought-out design.
 
We have more or less decided on Shaker style white oak doors, however the chippy has advised not to use foil mdf oak finsh veneer frame and architrave. Solid oak would cost a fortune.
we then noticed on a lot of the tv property programmes that people are using white frames, architraves and skirting boards with oak doors and it looks fine. The chippy then advised to use white primed mdf architrave and skirting boards as it takes the paint better than white or red deal and will not have the knots and imperfections. We are going for solid oak cut string staircase. We have also decided to tile the hall entrance. Too many new builds go for pine stairs, doors, architrave, skirting and wooden floors. They all start to look the same, very woody. Just looking for something different.

Anyone do something similar ?? Any thoughts ??


Thanks
Secman
 
We've gone for the painted look - skirting, window boards, architraves and pine doors, then painted everything using Crown Aged White eggshell to give a smooth but matt finish in slightly off white colour. It's a lot of work, everything needing 3 coats but we're getting there, and it looks fab thankfully so will be worth it once completely finished. Put solid oak floors in 2 rooms and looks really well against the off white skirting/doors, would have been very hard to match up all the timber with the floors so i much prefer the off white look as a contrast.
 
I think painted always looks clean ,fresh and classic , Always a Satin finish not High gloss though. Use Off-white ,not pure white or use a delicate cream a tone or two lighter than your wall paint .If your furniture , flooring , or Blinds are going to be a wood painted will look the best for sure.
 
Hi secman, just wondered about your stairs. We are building at moment and trying to decide on wood or concrete stairs. Had thought concrete stairs finished with nice wood? Not sure if this is possible, most tile concrete stairs but with little ones I'd be nervous of cracked skulls. Anyhow concrete stairs installed, no turns, not finished is around 1800. Do you mind telling me how much solid oak stairs works out at? I agree about tiled hall though will make oak stairs stand out, too many different timbers can be confusing on eye.
 
Puffin!!

I am putting in a concrete stairs and there is no problem covering it with wood! Firstly I think it is better for fire safety & noisy kids tearing up & down the stairs but also it is definitely cheaper than doing it completely with timber! I am going for quite an elaborate stairs so to have it done completely in timber was going to cost an extra €7,500!!

Spicey
 
I have a quotation from a joinery shop for solid oak stairs for €4,340 plus VAT @13.5% cos it covers supply and fit. Working on a figure of €4,750 all in. Basically its 6 steps to a left hand turn and then 6 steps to landing. The first 6 steps and part of the turn will be a cut string, the rest will be enclosed so closed string there.

Secman
 
Cheers Spicey and secman. Think will look into concrete stairs covered in wood. Noisy kids too so thoughts of silent pounding on stairs is a dream come through. Spicey if you wouldn't mind sending me a pm about wood and how you are going to fix it? Who do you go to for that work, joiner , carpenter or stair maker???? All pretty new to me.

Thanks
 
puffin said:
wood and how you are going to fix it? Who do you go to for that work, joiner , carpenter or stair maker???? All pretty new to me.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I have no idea how the wood is fixed! I have a man doing the complete job from start to finish - concrete, timber, handrail etc.
I think maybe "Carpenter" is the man who might have the answer to that one! I had the option of getting one man to do the concrete side but I didn't fancy having to find a carpenter to do the timber side of it - you know how that would go - "........ah well if he had done the concrete right then..............! Much easier to get the whole job done by the one person I think!

If going for the painted look which seems to be the preferred option of previous posters - is red deal okay when painted?? Do the knots in the timber cause many problems??? What about shrinkage or expansion of the wood - will this affect the paint by leaving visual gaps etc.??

Has anyone gone down the road of painted architraves with a natural coloured door like Secman mentioned??
 
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