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Wood, wood and more wood!

17 years ago

Hello,

We are currently "freshening" up our home for sale, and need some input on what to do with all the wood.

This home was obviously last decorated in the 80s by the previous owner. It is close to the ocean, and I think they were originally going for a cottage feel when they put wood everywhere.

In the kitchen, paneling completely covers two walls and the ceiling. This is high quality solid wood plank paneling, so I am hesitant about just ripping it all out.

My question is: Can the wood be covered (reversibly) with drywall and painted to make the room look bigger/brighter/contemporary? Does anyone have any other ideas to make it look better (like a light-colored stain?).

Pics below, thanks for your input!

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

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Comments (10)

marge727
17 years ago
Instead of spending money on it, consider leaving it as is--and offer to fund them drywalling or removing. Offer the amount you would spend. Realtors always seem to think they are dandy decorators and suggest making \everything look bland. Unless you have hated it since the day you moved in.
snoonyb
17 years ago
Leave it, you'll find a buyer.
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It is pretty easy to get a decent match on older wood - if you are willing to pay! There are numerous companies that specialize in reclaimed lumber. They would be able to match you up with some planks from the same time period and mill them to match yours. We just did that with heart pine in a 1912 house. It is not cheap though. Lumber, milling, installation/weaving, sanding and finishing came in over $25/sq ft. Fortunately it was just a few small patches. If you are just trying to make a new board look "old" - good luck. Modern lumber just isn't going to have the same look as the old growth trees they were logging 100 years ago. If you can swap out some boards from a closet for "free" that is a better option. As for the costs, ripping up 2 sections and repairing them obviously will cost more than just 1 section. For the urine damaged areas - whose idea was it to just sand? If you asked him to do it to save some money on repairs and now don't like the look, expect to pay to have it fixed. If you left it up to the contractor as to which boards to replace and which to salvage and he just did a poor job, then he should stand by his work and fix it.
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Don't know where you live, but I think you will greatly improve the energy efficiency of your house if you only focus on the attic and windows. We don't have insulation in most of our walls and when we improved the weather stripping around windows and doors last year, we cut our winter heating bills alot. We're in the Midwest. I wouldn't worry about the walls. Please don't say you live near the Arctic Circle!
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Take a look at Pirula's kitchen in the Finished Kitchen Blog--link below. She has slab cherry counters and wood floors, and her kitchen is gorgeous! Her counters and floor don't match exactly, but they look great together. (Dianalo is right about tones needing to match, I think.) Her counters were the inspiration for ours, although ours are oak. Do you have samples of the floor and counter you're thinking about? If the samples look good together, then I think you're OK. Oak counters with hickory floor: Here is a link that might be useful: Pirula's kitchen in the FKB
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drywall_diy_guy
17 years ago
I agree with the last post. There are some buyers out there that will probably love this look.

If you go over the top, you will add 1/2" thickness everywhere. Where edges are currently flush, you will have 1/2" of drywall sticking up. This could result in a lot of extra finish work and an end result not looking so good. Ripping everything out would be a major job and probably not worth the time and money.
western_pa_luann
17 years ago
I'd update the light fixtures and leave the wood alone.
mahatmacat1
17 years ago
Leave that wood! There are folks who will go for it. Maybe focus on some of the other 80s-specific issues. Good wood is timeless, IMO.
clg7067
17 years ago
I love the California look with wood on the ceiling! Wish I could afford to do it in my house.
western_pa_luann
17 years ago
Curious...
"I love the California look with wood on the ceiling! "

Why is a wood ceiling a California look to you??? Plenty of old old houses here in the NE have wood ceilings, and I never thought of them as a Massachusetts look, or a Pennsylvania look.

Just curious, not criticizing.... :)
spanky_md
17 years ago
My daughter and her husband just bought a house with knotty pine beadboard ceilings. They were very yellow in tone and had a high gloss clear finish.

They had a yard sale right after taking possession of the house and EVERYONE commented on how gorgeous the ceilings were. I mean everyone. So based on that, I'd say they are a selling point.

My daughter and son-in-law didn't like them and painted them a lovely off-white in an eggshell sheen and they look beautiful. I didn't like the natural wood either---at least not that particular type. A lighter non-yellowy, non-knotty wood might work if the ceilings are high.

Anyway, leave 'em if you can stand it.
mahatmacat1
17 years ago
Just noticed the light fixtures in your pics and, ahem, that might be a place to start your cosmetic updates... :)
eastkoast
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for all the replies! We're going to keep the wood.

As for the light fixtures, we love them! They are definitely coming back into style and I'm sure the discerning buyer will appreciate the original 70s touch.

:-)

NOT

they are definitely being replaced, as well as the countertops, appliances and paint. Thanks again!

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