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



## Spicey (21 Mar 2007)

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


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## ACA (21 Mar 2007)

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!


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## Sue Ellen (21 Mar 2007)

Avoid painting at all costs!


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## Carpenter (21 Mar 2007)

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...


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## PGD1 (21 Mar 2007)

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!


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## Dreamerb (21 Mar 2007)

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!


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## LiamC (21 Mar 2007)

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.


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## Spicey (22 Mar 2007)

I think the "painted look" is winning so far!!

Spicey


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## Vanilla (22 Mar 2007)

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.


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## DOBBER22 (22 Mar 2007)

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.


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## Carpenter (22 Mar 2007)

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...


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## budapest (22 Mar 2007)

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.


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## secman (22 Mar 2007)

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


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## bcol1 (22 Mar 2007)

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.


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## granville (22 Mar 2007)

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.


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## puffin (22 Mar 2007)

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.


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## Spicey (23 Mar 2007)

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


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## secman (23 Mar 2007)

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


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## puffin (23 Mar 2007)

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


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## Spicey (24 Mar 2007)

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.


 
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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## Winnie (25 Mar 2007)

going for wood or not - depends on plans for flooring windows also.  if you have wood floors/windows/doors/architrave/skirting/stairs/furniture ..........mayb a bit of overkill on the wood front.  

I think a wooden stairs is lovely though.
We are thinking of going for the off white painted architrave & skirting with oak doors - not just becuase of the price but also becuase we are afraid of overkill & it also brightens the place up.  
Think cherry doors could be quite dark?


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## poppy1 (31 May 2007)

Hi All

We are planning on buying oak doors and window boards, but getting red deal skirting and architrave and painting it creamy white!!

The window boards are costing €750!!

My question is - do we also need to get red deal door frames?
Can you see the knots from the red deal through the paint?

Thanks


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## eroe (31 May 2007)

You will have too much timber - paint the skirtings and architrave, properly done it will look well. Make sure the knots are sealed properly before painting - You may see some knots but the overall loole will be great. Believe me - I have seen it hundreds of times!


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## poppy1 (31 May 2007)

thanks
another question?
we have dark woodgrain pvc windows what type of window boards should we use (i dont like the dark pvc ones)
oak at a cost of €750 or
red deal painted white?


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## eroe (31 May 2007)

red deal painted white - 2 reasons - the contrast between PVC and timber can be jarring and the white this will bounce a lot more light into the rooms.


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## davfran (31 May 2007)

My newish house of five years has all painted doors, makes the place very fresh looking. I also tiled the hall, I think houses can be overdone with wood. Strangly enough all my skirting, architraves are wood. I was in a quandary whether to paint them or not, but it looks ok to me, might'nt be everyones cupa tea.


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## ennisjim (31 May 2007)

We also have wood-effect PVC windows (light oak) and are trying to decide on varished vs. painted for window boards. We are planning wood floors and white painted skirting, architrave, doors (to avoid the 'too much wood' effect). 'eroe' your points are very good - has anyone else got wood-colour windows and painted window boards, and if so how does it look ?


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## dble8 (31 May 2007)

why not stain it, use oil or waxes or other colour paints that would go with your stairs, there's lots to choose and think about outside the circle...


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## secman (1 Jun 2007)

Hi there,

We got the golden oak effect pvc windows , and we have ordered an oak stair case and oak shaker style doors. We are definitely painting the window boards, skirting and architrave white. We are also definitely tiling the hall, kitchen, dinning room and sunroom. Sitting  room and downstairs bedroom will be solid wood floors. We too wanted to get away from the too much wood effect that you tend to see now. Upstairs, apart from bathrooms & on suites which will be tiled, we are using a good laminate board.

Hopefully it will all come out fine in the wash !

Secman


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## corkcuu (1 Jun 2007)

any recommendations of a specific colour to use on architrave & skirting etc. Think white be too bright? So thinking of a slightly off white colour? Anyone use a particular colour that looked great????


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## Leo (1 Jun 2007)

I used a pretty light brown colour with my oak doors, think it looks good.
Leo


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## eroe (1 Jun 2007)

corkcuu -Colourtrend 'Almost White' & Colourtrend 'French White' are two colours I have used extensively - Almost white is very contemporary, and French White is a gentle colour very suited to a more classic interior.


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## huskerdu (1 Jun 2007)

THere is a very nice off-white called gardenia. It is one of the trade colours. You will not see it on any colour cards, but every sinlge paint shop in the country will mix it for you. 
Looks very good, as was said before pure white can be too bright.


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## masterK (5 Jun 2007)

Quick question.  I've just installed solid oak doors, architraves and skirting and don't really what to lose the effect by varnishing or painting, is it possible to get some sort of treatment that will protect the wood from sunlight etc. but will still maintain it's original colour?


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## eroe (5 Jun 2007)

You could consider beeswax or similar - I don't know a lot about it, but it is a very environmentally friendly traditional method.


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## Red (5 Jun 2007)

Moved into a house with really cheap looking white doors.
Would like to replace them with a better quality door in white.Can anyone recommend a good retailer ? Looked at the 2 white doors on offer in Brooks & not impressed.....


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## eroe (5 Jun 2007)

Hi Red,
[broken link removed] have a look at these prefinished white doors - make sure your check the doors out in person. I have never used them but they have an 'unbeatable factory smooth paint finish' which may look a little plastic. There is also a list of retailers on their site.


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## Brave Inca (15 Aug 2008)

Hi Spicey

I'm curious as to how your concrete stairs turned out? was the wood covering a success?

Rgds
Brave Inca


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## heyhey (26 Aug 2008)

hey spicey ,

any chance of contact for guy who did the concrete stairs and cladding for you,

stuck in a new build atm in co cork


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## lockster (25 Feb 2009)

Hi Spicey,  

Any chance of finding out who did your concrete stairs and woodwork. Just coming up to that stage of a new build in Kildare.
Thanks...


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## Shei (25 Feb 2009)

Hurrah! Just having this same debate about doors and arcitraves (over and over in my head).  One question remains unanswered: is it a good idea to have doors, skirts etc. pre-sprayed by a man who sprays kitchen door fronts?  I am thinking it would give a hard-wearing and easy clean finish, but would it mean it's not possible to do small touch ups with regular paint?


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## Leo (25 Feb 2009)

You could PM Spicey, not sure if they're still following this as it was quite a while ago...


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