Oak Trim (condo, buying a house, buying)

[Astron1000]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Yuck. Might as well build stuff with plastic, IMO. You can paint that, too.

That's exactly what is happening in a lot of newer homes. Regarding oak, it was a fairly inexpensive wood 100 years ago, seeing as the Twin Cities were built in the eastern hardwood forest area of Minnesota. But there is "good" oak and "bad" oak. The crap sold at a lot of home improvement stores is fairly ugly because of the open, irregular and strong grain. It's usually red oak. Many century-old houses have tight, straight grain white oak, which is far more desirable, but quite expensive these days. About 10 years ago I needed 16 pieces of 8' white oak to match my existing woodwork in the house I was restoring. It cost me nearly $900 to have them milled.

[mntonv]

LOL - this is interesting. I know when I moved away from Minnesota the first time, I moved where homes either didn't have much trim (window) and all the baseboard trim was painted and I was thinking to myself, who does this? Why would anyone paint over a perfectly good piece of wood? LOL!

Since then, I've come to find out that different areas of the country are big on painting wood. Seems very strage to me, but hey, whatever you like! I definitely prefer nicely stained wood/oak trim over the paint, but it's probably because that's what I grew up with!

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by ceeb4

This is a legitimate inquiry and I sincerely do not mean or intend to offend anyone.

What is with all the oak trim, oak cabinets, doors in all the homes here? When we were looking at homes, there were very few homes that we looked at that did not have this. Now just to be clear, we did not look at new cookie cutter homes/mcmansion type neighborhoods. We only looked in established older neighborhoods as that is what we prefer because of the trees and from my experience better built homes. But even the older homes that had been considered updated, the oak was still there. The house we are renting & may end up purchasing has plain oak doors, cabinets & closet doors. Is there a problem with painting the oak white? Is it too much work to paint over the oak i.e. sanding, etc? I appreciate that the trim is solid oak and not some vinyl stuff, but everywhere? I just want to start looking at prices for updating some of this in our home and I'm thinking there is something I'm missing. I really hate to replace all the doors with new ones as they are nice doors and solid. Same with the cabinets, I would just like to update them without sacrificing quality.

I have not yet read all the responses. Do what you want; it's your house, and one of the benefits of owning is that you get to do things like that! But assuming you're talking about the nice older homes, you're potentially risking losing some value as a result. Many people HATE painted wood, especially if it's high-quality real oak.

ETA: just saw that your house if from the '80s. In that case, I think you're probably just fine painting it over. I doubt it's the quality stuff they were using in, say, 1910. Many of my relatives live in '80s houses with lots of oak trim, and while it's perfectly nice, I can see how it does look dated. A different stain option could preserve the wood while giving it an updated look. Once you've put paint on it it will take FOREVER to take it off. It's not a permanent change, but given the hassles of stripping and refinishing, it might as well be.

By the way, Rachel Ashwell of the Shabby Chic empire has a book out about redoing her older home; she preferred a light look and painted everything (LOTS of woodwork) white. I normally cringe at seeing painted quality wood, but will admit that her "after" did look quite nice.

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by ceeb4

Thanks for the pics! That is exactly what I'm looking to do. (tried to give you some rep points but its telling me to spread them around. )
I just have to figure out how to get that sort of look on regular & bi-fold closet doors as they have no dimension to them. That is going to be my biggest challenge. Thanks again!

Glad I could help

[BJB817]

Natural woodwork in general is a regional thing. In MN, it's the norm. Here in the sunbelt, it's almost always painted. Paint grade wood is cheaper and allows more margin for error in installs.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by BJB817

Natural woodwork in general is a regional thing. In MN, it's the norm. Here in the sunbelt, it's almost always painted. Paint grade wood is cheaper and allows more margin for error in installs.

Our house has natural wood trim, crown molding, window frames, etc., but I don't know how typical that is in Atlanta. I like the look, though.

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by mntonv

I know when I moved away from Minnesota the first time, I moved where homes either didn't have much trim (window) and all the baseboard trim was painted and I was thinking to myself, who does this? Why would anyone paint over a perfectly good piece of wood? LOL!

Since then, I've come to find out that different areas of the country are big on painting wood. Seems very strage to me, but hey, whatever you like! I definitely prefer nicely stained wood/oak trim over the paint, but it's probably because that's what I grew up with!

Originally Posted by BJB817

Natural woodwork in general is a regional thing. In MN, it's the norm. Here in the sunbelt, it's almost always painted. Paint grade wood is cheaper and allows more margin for error in installs.

What they said..... I thought the painted white trim in every house was odd when I first moved away to NC. I was used to always seeing stained wood trim in MN. Most places that I have seen in SC, GA, and FL have had white too.

I also noticed that this ceiling texture/pattern seemed common in GA, but I can't remember seeing elsewhere.....

[danielle_pal]

How to Paint Oak Trim | eHow.com

I agree with previous user saying if you have an older home you may want to keep it natural as it could be white oak and not this crap they have been using since the 80's. A darker stain may be nice but I am not sold.

[golfgal]

We have a lot of oak. It's nothing too exciting but it was "in" when our house was built. We are planning on restaining our cabinets once I get up the motivation to do so--there are a LOT of them. I plan on using a gel stain, which goes on pretty much like paint, it sits on the surface vs soaking in like a regular stain. It will cut down on some of the grain and give us a different color. I have painted cabinets in the past with great success. It's a lot of work and you need the right paint (we used an oil based paint) but it can be done.

[audadvnc]

I love those older houses. My 1906 home has oak everywhere; the house refurb contractors refinished all of it and it gleams. One of the big draws of this house was all the nice oak woodwork.

A tip for old house fans: There is plenty of old, prime first growth oak lumber out there if you're willing to put in some work to refinish it - and sometimes it comes in unfinished, NOS condition. But it's not cheap, as you'll be paying for salvage & storage fees at one of those architectural salvage places. I've bought door frame moulding for $12 a 6' board, so don't go hog wild - spend wisely.

As for the OP's request, why live in a house with real wood construction if you don't like it? You can live in one of those cardboard condos along the river, or some pasteup rambler or movie prop McMansion out in the burbs? Those snazztown developments drive me crazy, but I'm told some folks prefer them.