If you have beautiful wood built-ins in your house, why would you cover them up with paint and ugly brown plaster?

That's just what Taniya Nayak did the other day on Designed to Sell. The homeowners' living room had a wall with a fireplace surrounded by built-in shelves. The fireplace was painted white, and there was an ugly old mirror hanging over it, but the shelves were natural wood (in beautiful condition, though you couldn't see them very well because the owners had them so jam-packed with photos and junk). The shelves looked gorgeous once all the clutter had been cleared away.

When they took down the mirror, there was more beautiful wood in back of it.

Taniya decided all the woodwork had to be painted white, except for the area that had been covered by the mirror. That, she insisted, had to be covered up with MDF and then slathered with brown Venetian plaster that was the exact color of...well, you know.

You should have seen the homeowner couple's shock when they saw Taniya daubing white paint all over the wood. The wife was really upset. But Taniya ignored that and said, "Oh, you'll thank me when this house sells."

I admit, sometimes wood walls can look terribly outdated. But in this case, the wood was a nice honey color, had beautiful grain, and was in a classic pattern that would go with anybody's decorating style. What they should have done was strip the white paint off the wood on the mantel and restore it to match the rest of the shelves.

I can't stand that, either. I love wood, and have a very hard time painting over anything wooden myself. I also don't like it when they paint over nice brick homes, unless the brick is in bad condition. People pay a lot of money for brick, as well as lovely wood built-ins. If the future homeowner wants to paint over it, let them!

I agree, when I saw the ugly mirror come down and that gorgeous wood under it.........but of course they had to ruin it. I am so tired of this "you can't possibly sell if everything is out of date". Who decides what is out of date. Plus I hate venetian plaster. Aren't faux finishes out of date

I hate it when they paint beautiful oak cabinets in the kitchen that are really in
great shape because they are "dated". How long is that white paint going to last before it starts to chip and turn yellow?

quote:

Originally posted by KATIEANN:
How long is that white paint going to last before it starts to chip and turn yellow?

It only has to last until they close on the house.

DTS does a lot of stuff that will certainly fall apart within a year.

Yea, with you all on this one.

I love wood.

I hate it in any show where they paint over perfectly good, natural, wood moldings, build-in cabinetry, and wainscoting.

And it is not just Taniya. They all do it. Lisa does it too.

Even the infamous "Norm" from This Old House does it. I still remember they were restoring an old house, that had this wonderful oak wainscoting and moldings in the dining room. It survived for almost a 100 years with no one ever taking a paint brush to it. That was until Norm showed up, and slapped an ugly coat of white paint all over it!

Real wood is never "dated". Quality wood is as classic as one can get.

PS: However, I do agree the faux wood paneling from the 70's needs to go!

I personally didn't think it was bad to paint it in this case because I swear the bottom cabinets underneath the shelves were white to begin with? It would have looked really odd to have white painted cabinets next to a dark FP with the top in wood. LUCKILY, she had a way to remove the venician plaster piece above the fireplace for those of us who would not like it. You have to give her credit there, usually they do something that would take a little more work to remove.

If the bottom cabinets or the top was already painted white, and the other was natural wood, then that can be balanced with accessories or furniture.

Unless a homeowner wants wood painted white, it should be left as is or stained another wood tone, especially when selling a house because most people, imo, rather have the wood.

I remember one episode when Taniya took a beautiful antique oak headboard in perfect condition, painted it white, then put the crackle finish over it!! It looked like a piece of gray junk when she was through.

Why would anyone on DTS even TOUCH the HOs furniture? The furniture doesn't go with the house!!

That was the last episode of Taniya I ever watched.

I have mixed feelings about painting wood. I love beautiful wood, but I don't always like the way it looks in a room. I think if the house isn't a Craftsman or a Victorian where the woodwork is a major part of the craftmanship of the house that I would feel okay with painting out the wood.

I always cringe when i see them painting the wood paneling, trim or bricks or whatever - ugly as it may be. I'm already thinking ahead to the next style trend when they have to laboriously strip all that paint off for the clean wood look.

In a few years, all the shows will feature people stripping paint off cabinets, paneling, brick etc that previous owners painted to spruce up for sale.