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Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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I don't want to get into the others, as they are very house-style specific. So I'm going to post pictures of my own house.
What about that wood? I guess you could call me a stained wood hugger, as I'm generally not a fan of painted wood. But I really dislike oak (kitchen cabinets!). And the orangy stain from the 60s annoys me. But the thought of stripping the wood in the entire house to restain is overwhelming. So I'm torn. I cry at the thought of painted stain-grade wood, but I don't want to strip and stain. And look how shiney those doors are! I couldn't even paint that surface if I wanted.
So WWYD with all the wood in this house? Leave it? Paint it? Strip it? FWIW, its a 1968 split-foyer tract-home, so not really any particular style or workmanship to embrace. BTW those are the original red oak floors, refinished two years ago with no stain at all
I think the house, and the trim/doors look great as they are, especially considering the age.
I think you'd lose a lot of nice contrast if you were to paint the doors. Depending on what is on them now, you could always put a tinted shellac or other transparent finish over the trim if you wanted to darken them or change the hue.
You could try a gel stain on them if you wanted a darker color. I'm not actually sure exactly how it works, but they say you can put it over metal surfaces, painted surfaces, whatever. The stuff I've seen is made by Minwax.
Looks great and I am a dedicated stained wood hugger.
One thing a lot of peeps do not appreciate is the stains are pretty crap these dazes too. You could strip those doors, restain them something else (that is what it would say on the can) and when you put the poly on, it would still look about like it does now. Particular types of wood tend to take particular hues. It will change as the doors age.
It is so bad, I never trust the stain charts. I rely on instinct and mixing of different cans of stain to get about what I think the final result will be. Can do it by dipping different cans and stroking it just so. Even with that, you can still get horrible surprises, especially with bigger things and certain hard woods. They do not take these new crap stains like in the old dazes. The new stains are very thin and have no real pigment body, even the makers like MinWax have the problem.
Leave sleeping dogs lie. Looks great as is. About like learning to love that girl you met in a bar drunk the next day. Even if she is missing a few teeth, can do the job if allowed. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder or something along that line. Probably will look great if you are drunk. Could that be the solution.
Whatever drunk or sober, never paint beautiful natural wood. Is a first class crime in all districts of the civil World.
You can get another look just by changing the amount of gloss. Those appear to be a high gloss finish. I don't also like high gloss. Going to a satin finish or semi-satin might be the trick. Very easy to do also. Get rid of the shinny look, stop at 3 beers.
I very, very rarely use high gloss anything. Paint, stain or finish, just looks to glarely in the wrong lights.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cosmic
You can get another look just by changing the amount of gloss. Those appear to be a high gloss finish. I don't also like high gloss. Going to a satin finish or semi-satin might be the trick. Very easy to do also. Get rid of the shinny look, stop at 3 beers.
Now THAT might be something that would make me more happy with it. Perhpas its the gloss, especially on those doors, that makes me dislike it. I love stained wood (except oak), but *this* stained wood has bugged me. What would I do to cut down the gloss? Light sand and repoly? As much as I like stained wood, I don't know how to do it right. I don't know what finish is currently on the doors. I know with our floors, we can just buff up the finish, then put a little new finish back down and get a nice, smooth coat again.
I'm not sure if there's a chemical that can be used to degloss...or maybe a liquid sander...I also seem to think you can get a clear coat in a matte finish.
Best to take a sheet of fine drywall sanding screen, used sheet works best for this application, give it a very, very lite sanding. NEVER use sand paper. The drywall sanding screen gives far better control. You just want to dull the surface, not remove a lot of material. Can use steel wool but I hate it, too much fibers all over the place. Can also do it chemically.
Then you refinish with a good quality poly.
For the larger surfaces, best to remove the doors and refinish them flat, I like to use a fine texture roller. Never get any runs or drips, better even thicker coat. Do one side a day, I use a pair of sawhorses with a padding to protect the down surface.
Start with something small and sort out of the way as the test case. I have all nautral woods all over the house. Wide old style trim, various finishes, old natural doors, some were refinished in this rehab as needed. There is the tough part, trying to match old looking stuff with new. Keeping the gloss way down helps.
Some of the factory finishes can be a giggle. Some are stain and finish in one. Must be extremely careful with those if you attempt to sand to dull the finish. You could try the back of a cabinet door for openers. See what it looks like.
they look in fine shape from the photos. what about painting the walls a color to warm it up, I think that is one reason why you notice the stain so much you have no color. you have a beautiful window, what about a tiled back splash? are the walls a beige now, what about a nice sage green?
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81
That is the particular style. And I think the wood is beautiful just the way it is.
True, true What I really meant is its not like I would ruin the charecter of a craftsman or victorian LOL Though I love my home, and its very functional, it doesn't have a lot of charecter to ruin OTOH, its nice b/c the inside can really be anything you want, too.
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Leave it alone.
What I really meant is its not like I would ruin the charecter of a craftsman or victorian LOL Though I love my home, and its very functional, it doesn't have a lot of charecter to ruin 
OTOH, its nice b/c the inside can really be anything you want, too.
