Message Boards

My husband and I purchased a house 9 months ago with Oak trim throughout the basement and first floor. There is some nice paneling in the Living and Dining Rooms but the Oak looks so dated to me. So paint right? Well, the home has brand spanking new Anderson replacement windows in you guessed it, oak. Can I paint everything but the actual windows? Or will it just look awful? Thanks for any help, I am completely lost.

Use of the term "dated" says it all. It is disliked on this date but is unlikely to be disliked on another date. In other words, the dislike of oak is a fad and oak will be thought of as stylish once again some time in the future.

Yes, you can paint just the baseboard and it will look fine but consider how much work it will be to change it back to the original when your taste changes (and it will, you just don't know it )

The new windows sound nice and once you paint the frames, it is tougher to revert to the oak, if you want to later. I love fabric, personally. Have you thought about selecting some beautiful draperies/panels and good quality rods? Obviously, you won't have them closed constantly but the panels/drapes would divert attention away from the oak window frames.

WRT the panelling, if it's truly the old, yuchy stuff, I'd be more likely to paint that. Any reason you're hesitating? If you do adequate prep work (usually at least 50% of the total job time) and use the right products, etc., then I don't see why you'd have a problem.

Don't know how long you plan to stay in this home or how old it is (sounds older, if they replaced the windows) but painting trim and moldings tends to update homes and make them feel newer to potential buyers - currently, anyway. If this is your forever home and/or you don't plan on moving for many years, it's all about your personal preferences.

Since you've lived with it for 9 months and still hate the oak, it's probably time to paint at least part of it. Do think about the difficulty of reverting back, however.

JMHO.

Good Luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: blueday,

I'm 54 years old and I hate oak as much now as I did when I was a teenager. I understand that Oak is a quality commodity forested in the US and has many lovely characteristics and features.But I hate the grain. I say paint it.


I wish that people would keep in mind the fact that "country" and "rustic" are relatively new ways to decorate. Poor farmers in the 19th Century faux grained, stenciled, did anything to enliven their spaces to make them look better than they actually were.No one who was rustic wanted to be rustic, that's a romantic concept they wouldn't have had the leisure time to consider. I think country style is charming and homey, but our present idea of back to nature simplicity was a reaction to machine made mass produced furniture and only became a definitive style in the 1880's-1890's.It was originally embraced by the rich as a way to show off their wordly sophistication, and their appreciation for a glorified version of the past that never existed in the first place.

So unless you are doing an Arts and Crafts style,or Gothic Revival go ahead and paint.

What Charles D said. Paint away. I am 62 years old and have disliked oak finishes longer than Charles has :>)

You can paint the trim, if you don’t like the grainy oak texture. Many people find oak to be old-fashioned, so painting seems a good idea in such a case. You can know more about how to paint oak trim if you do a bit of research on the Internet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: markwright,