# red deal skirting boards, do they look better white or varnished?



## sineado (21 Mar 2008)

Hi all.

Our house has red deal skirting boards and doors which just have a clear varnish on them at the moment. 

I'm thinking of painting the skirtings white but I am afraid I will regret it.

So my question is which do ye think looks better-white or pine skirting boards?

Also does anyone know if we need to put anything on the skirting boards before we paint them if we do decide to paint them

Thanks in advance
Sinead


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## eamonn123456 (21 Mar 2008)

What colour are the door frames / architraves?

Have you got wooden / laminate floors?

I must admit, I think the whole piney overkill look so common (or is it popular) recently is not a good one.  Gonna look very dated one of these days very soon.  

Particularly if there is a mix and match of any combination of white paint / varnished pine / oak / beech / you name it, on the doors / frames / skirtings / flooring - what a dog's dinner!

Personally, I think it's hard to beat classic white (eggshell preferably) for skirtings, doors and frames, matched with a plain white coving on the ceiling.

It's down to personal taste - but please, don't do the mix and match thing, IMO it's horrible.


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## Lulu123 (21 Mar 2008)

Have to agree with eamonn123456, the piney look is a bit cheap looking. I much prefer painted doors, skirting etc. It is much easier to match colours to white doors and skirting's. But its all up to each persons taste.


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## Sue Ellen (21 Mar 2008)

Different strokes for different folks but I hate our white skirtings and doors and would love to change to plain wood, though not pine.  It is a pain having to paint skirtings especially if you have carpet.  Around the stairs is the worst of all.


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## johnnyg (23 Mar 2008)

i hate white skirting and matching doors, its cheap to me...properly varnished pine can be beautiful, especially if it has a lovely grain. 2-4 coats of a satin varnish brings out the true colour and natural beauty of wood, some pine can be very cheap looking but good quality pine doors and skirting cam look lovely


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## TillyD (23 Mar 2008)

Hate Pine doors. I think off white with looks so much better.


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## Tizzy (24 Mar 2008)

I will be going with the painted, off white look.  Agree with what some of the other posters said, I think trying to match wooden floors, doors, furniture, architrave, skirting can be way too much.  Have done the varnishing in the past, and it takes a lot of coats, and is tedious too!  Good luck whatever you decide!


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## Diziet (24 Mar 2008)

I think off white is a good choice and will always look classier than varnished pine. Red deal is really the cheapest wood going and has little to recommend it in terms of looks. Bright white looks too stark IMO but cream or off white looks good and really lifts a room.


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## rebel16 (25 Mar 2008)

Its all a matter of taste. I think it is gas to here that pine is cheap looking. Where if done properly its not - 2-3 coats with alot of sanding before hand. 
Painting with white is the cheaper option as 2 coats will definitely do and very little sanding needed if any.
Also if you go with another type of wood, don't pick a dark colour wood as it makes a small room very dark and dingy.


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## Diziet (25 Mar 2008)

I did not say red deal was cheap looking, I said it was cheap. The low price is the reason it is so extensively used. Good preparation can improve it but not much.


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## mickman (1 Apr 2008)

i have pine skirting and am really confused as to whether i will use white / cream or re do the pine effect. to be honest i think id prefer some kind of off white. what kind of paint needs to be used, is it gloss or something?? i have oak doors , do the door saddles have to be done white then as well as the door frame etc???


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## Diziet (1 Apr 2008)

I would not paint the door saddles white!

What are the door frames made of? 

You should use a gloss or satinwood paint. The oil based ones (the ones where you clean the bushes with white spirit, not water) are longer lasting. In my mind an off-white is gentler on the eye than a bright white.


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## mickman (1 Apr 2008)

the doors downstairs are oak, the ones upstairs are white. so here is my plan - 

get colourtrend off white satin wood - use this for skirting, and architraves. (they are red deal varnished at moment). 

use this paint for the stairs too and then dark walnut stain for the stair handle (is that the rite name for the bit you put you hand on )

what should i do with the saddles?? make them the same as the stair handle


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## sineado (1 Apr 2008)

thanks for all the replys. I have decided to get them painted.
What should I do to prepare them? they have been sanded and varnished already. Can I just go ahead and paint them or shuld they be sanded again or anything.
Thanks


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## mickman (2 Apr 2008)

sineado - you should sand them lightly with fine sandpaper - it wont take long at all. give one coat of paint then rub lightly with 000 steel wool and apply second coat.

what colours have you decided on? im going doing the same job. i have been told that dulux jasmine white is nice. are you doing the stairs also??


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## sineado (3 Apr 2008)

mickman I think I will go for the pure brilliant white. Dont know wether to go with gloss or satin. My head is wrecked thinking about it. I'm afraid to take the plunge incase they end up lookin bad and I regret it. Dont think I will do the stairs yet. Maybe just wait and see how skirting boards turn out. Good luck


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## jeananne (3 Jan 2010)

Picking up this old thread : I'm considering painting our interior doors and skirting a nice off white - as the varnished pine that looked ok 7 years ago is now a nasty orange and doesn't go with anything.
Has anyone done this ? Is it an expensive job ? Any any tips re. necessary wood prep. - or do I have to sand off the old varnish, prime, paint wood knots AND then paint ( seems like an awful lot of work !!! )
Wishing I had chosen the painted not varnished doors when the house was being built...


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## webbs (5 Jan 2010)

We are painting our skirting boards and around the doors bit by bit, we are glad we left them as varnished when we moved into magnoliatastic new build as has given us a chance to decide on what our tastes are, paint colours etc. Its a lot easier to paint them than the other way round. Mind you most of our doors were white when we moved in, except double doors in living room which is going to be fun to paint!.

Anyway in answer to your question we are probably going over the top in that we give a quick rub down with sandpaper then a coat of Dulux supergrip primer (white colour) followed by satinwood paint (we got ours made up as close to the Farrow and Ball colour 'pointing'). I think one coat is fine in some parts of the house (low traffic ) but in other areas am putting on 2 coats for toughness.


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## jeananne (6 Jan 2010)

Thanks webbs for your reply - I might look into doing it myself afterall !!!
Will wait 'till spring when we can get kids and dogs outside...
If it goes well I think I may start sanding and painting a bit of our pine furniture too, when the orange doors are gone the beds and lockers are next !


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## genevievexx (23 Jan 2010)

Its definitely a job you could do yourself - I've done it over a good few nights after the kids went to bed, very theraputic! Same procedure as webbs - sand down, then primer then satinwood paint. It's addictive - and with new knobs the piney lockers are banished forever!


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