IMO Keeping them in place is the best option. Pocket doors are wonderful for the fact they take no space from a room to open and close. You never know when you might want to close off the rooms for some reason. Plus the doors are part of the original building and add to the charm and value being original architectural detail.

Option 1: Even tho the trim is painted I would take the doors out, sand them and stain them to match the floor at the same time the floors are done.
Option 2: Find pocket doors with glass panels or modify original doors to mimic French doors allowing light to pass through and give the illusion of greater space.

Option 3: Paint the doors to match the trim. I wouldn't do this simply because in the future the look of painted doors may not be wanted and paint is hard and messy to remove.

CT

I really would want to know if they are going to use them at all to shut off the rooms. It seems like most people just don't bother to pull them shut all that often.

If the woodwork is white, I would paint them to match.

Oh I HATE the idea of painting them, please consider leaving them natural even if the other trim is painted. If he is REALLY energetic, he could return the beautiful trim back to it's unpainted, natural state.

DH (Professional painter) would not paint them. He says if they work he would suggest varnishing in place. Can't quite tell the condition from the photo. I think they look great. Always wished I had them between my living and dining rooms. Good luck!

Oh my, that does bring back memories. I grew up in a house with pocket doors between the front hall & front living room and the dining room & the back living room.. Envision coming in the front door to the hall and to your right is the front living room with pocket door... you pass through the hallway [there was a regular door there also] to the dining room with the back living room [with fireplace]with a pocket door there too. Made Christmas special with the folks closing the pocket doors so we couldn't peek in and see before all the adults had their morning coffee and breakfast roll! That house had more doors and nooks and crannies than the Hurst Castle... Big old midwestern 4 square house... front staircase and back one also. Full basement and boy it was a full basement by the time all the grandparents downsized...

How nice to have such a useful & personality-adding feature! I surely would encourage your DS to keep the doors. People are adding them to newer houses. I don't see any disadvantage to keeing them, do you?

Keep the doors, since you would not be able to replace them unless you have megabucks to spend.
Wash them with Murphy's Oil Soap, and if the finish needs touching up, give them a coat of satin varnish. The doors do not need to match the trim.

Old pocket doors are really nice...much better than the ones you can get now a days. I would keep them just like they are...I wouldn't paint or remove them.

What a lucky guy! The doors are beautiful and I'd leave them as is, too. I have the same memories as Cate52. No peeking at Christmas. I'd love to have an old house like that! They're so charming.

Leave them in. They don't take up any space. Don't paint them. Wash and revarnish if needed. They're handy to have.

What's he considering doing with them? It'd be helpful to know what the debate is about, for instance, is the question to rip them out and replace, rip em and leave it open, leave and paint, leave and stain, leave and do nothing or what? Although I side with people who would not paint nice wood, if it's a moot point, what's the difference?

Well, he was first asking if he should leave them on, and I said he should. Then he wondered if they should be painted or refinished- only because the rest of the trim is painted. I'm thinking the wood should be left for now- whether just cleaned up, or refinished somehow. I wanted to see what everyone else though.

I am with the "leave them in and don't paint them" vote. I think they add character and charm to the house. He is a lucky guy to have such a COOL house!!

I'd leave them there and leave them as they are. I'm normally a "paint it" kind of person, but I really like the color wood on those.

I have always wondered why people paint over wooden items. Those doors are beautiful as they are.

Also they are good for keeing rooms heated if you shut off the room you want to be in and heat that one.

I wouldn't get rid of them as they would be a great selling view point I am sure if he ever sells the house in the future.

I echo what barb in pa said. I think she has the right solution, at least that is what I would do.

Keep the pocket doors. Those do not take any space away from a room and can be very handy. It is possible that those will need a bit of work to 'roll' smoothly again. Settling and wood shrinkage may have affected fits and these doors may be binding, but a good handyman can fix that.

Pocket doors had another use in old houses other than creating private spaces. Those were used to close off rooms the owner did not want to heat.

My vote keep them and don't paint them. Don't strip or stain them they look really good from here. Someone is probably drooling over those doors, I am. If they need to be cleaned up a bit, probably had a natural old kind of varnish. can't remember exactly what, I think, mineral spirits, I this a number of years ago. You take a cloth and gently with the grain wipe back and forth. If its natural varnish it will slightly disolve the top layer of varnish and renew the finish. Be careful not to wipe to hard or too much to keep the well aged look. People pay alot for something that has original finish/aging rather than refinished stuff.

You can also find out if it has natural varnish rather than polyurathane by doing this, poly won't disolve.

Those doors are wonderful! Do not paint them. Izzie's reference to the original finish is to "shellac". You can test if the finish is shellac by wiping a small amount of denatured alcohol on it in an out of the way place. If it softens/gets sticky, it's shellac.

I'd wipe down the doors with mineral spirits for cleaning (please do not use Murphy's Oil Soap) on them. Then if you need a new finish coat, use either more shellac or poly.

That is one great find!

Another vote for "please don't paint them"!
They look great with the wood floors.
What a fun find!

I have pocket doors like that in my house. One upstairs between two bedrooms and one down between living and dining rooms. Mine are large single doors that fit in as large a space as those in your picture. The downstairs one dosen't work real well, it takes some effort to pull it closed. We hardly ever close it but I would never consider taking it out as it is not in the way or anything.

Well, I just got back from there. The doors need a little sprucing up, but aren't in all that bad shape! They open and close very nicely, and they do look very nice with the floors. What I'm going to do, is clean them up, and then see if the man who is refinishing the floors has any other suggestions.

Crikey, those are gorgeous! I'd be stripping the paint off the wood trim to see if I could make it match those doors. Did you know Easy Off Oven Cleaner makes a great stripper of paint? I haven't used it myself, but a friend stripped her kitchen cabinets in like no time flat! I would test that in an inconspicuous place, though, in that house!

I did not know that, Flamingo, but Im going to try it!

we have 2 single pocket doors and use them all the time (location is perfect for them)..top of the stairs and one of entry into the kitchen...

it would be a shame to do anything other than restore what possibly is "good wood"...(ie oak) i'd use them as a "fashion" statement, lol...

I love them just the way they are...I think they would add to a sell value...

When we were kids, my cousin had them (I think she still has them) We used to play "elevator" with them...pretending we were going up and down in an elevator.
What a good memory...thanks for reminding me.

patti

We love our pocket doors, too. We have 5 of them and they're great in spots where a swinging door would interfere with traffic flow or furniture placement. I just hate, though, that the one we use the least is the one that went bad on us and now it's hard to close and open. It's to our bedroom and we only pull it to keep a kitten in there, but it's a struggle now. The hardware is a little hard to find to fix it.