NEED ADVICE on updating 1990s wood trim, floors, doors, etc.

6 years ago

Our late-1960s house was remodeled in the 1990s. We moved in about 10 years ago. The entire house has wooden (now orange-y) baseboards, window/door trim, 6-panel doors, closet doors, pocket doors, bathroom/kitchen cabinets, etc. The kitchen, dining room, and living room have red oak floors that are now orange-y and not in the best condition. The rest of the house is carpeted. We've decided to replace the carpeting in an upstairs hallway, stairs/landing, and large office/multi-purpose room. We also plan to replace three old windows in the large office/multi-purpose room and guest bedroom.

After meeting with flooring and window contractors, we realize that we have some very big decisions ahead of us. (1) Do we put in new red oak floors and stain them to match our existing orange-y floors? Or do we choose a stain we really like and then refinish the existing floors to match? (2) Do we begin the process of replacing the orange-y trim with white trim throughout the house for a more updated look? Or do we live with our orange-y trim (which really limits our hardwood floor stain options). (3) Do we install white (vinyl?) windows to begin the process of transitioning all the window trim to white? Or do we install wood windows with orange-y trim to match the existing windows?

I guess the big question is do we (over the next few years) replace or paint all the orange-y wood throughout the house? [Note that this would include 12 (!!) nice quality wooden doors.] Or do we live with what we have and paint the walls to make the best of the orange-y wood throughout the house? Several photos are included below.

We want to replace carpeting with red oak hardwood in this hallway. Note the very narrow (and very 1990s) baseboards.

We want to replace carpeting with red oak hardwood in this room. Do we pick the hardwood stain we like and then paint/refinish all the doors and trim? Or do we match the new floor with the existing doors and trim? (We're definitely open to painting the walls - but paint color will depend on whether or not we keep the orange-y wood ...)

We want to replace the carpeting on the stairs with red oak hardwood. Do we try to match the pocket door stain and trim? Or do we paint the door, trim, railing?

All bathroom doors and cabinets are also orange-y wood. A dated look, but fairly nice quality wood. We're looking to update the bathrooms by either picking the 'right' wall color (to go with the wood trim and doors) or painting the cabinets, door, and trim white (and then painting the walls).

All of the windows in the house (except the three we want to replace) look like this: fairly nice quality wood but very orange! Should we re-stain or paint white? Or keep as is and find the 'perfect' paint color to go with the orange-y (and very 1990s) wood trim?

The photo below shows the reason why we really need to refinish the existing floors ... but which stain color do we pick? We would like the color to match the new floors we're putting in the hallway, stairs, and office/multi-purpose room. Do we choose a stain that goes with the orange-y kitchen cabinets? Or do we come up with a long-term plan to redo the orange-y kitchen (and bathroom) cabinets, doors, and trim throughout the house? Big decisions ahead!

Featured Answer

jhmarie

6 years ago

First, be careful not to get caught on the remodeling merry go round and be careful of you budget. Things have a way of one thing leading to another, and occasionally a big budget item, like new roof or furnace will hit you out of the blue - so be careful with your money.

I moved into a 1970's home with dark stained pine I did not like. it was also dinged up. I slowly painted it white - I am very happy I did. The dark stained, hollow core doors were replaced with paneled doors in natural oak. The paneled style is timeless, but the "in" color of wood has changed a few times since then. No one can keep up with what is the "on trend" wood tone unless very rich:)

I had painted the windows white which were dark stained pine, but we also eventually replaced them with new windows that were wood inside, but pre-painted white.

We installed natural site finished oak throughout the main level - not trendy, but more timeless as it is in homes over a hundred years old. Recently installed oak flooring upstairs - it is a tad darker but still works with the doors. I had to go a tad darker to work with the refinished stairs.

I refinished - stripped and stained- the large vanity in the kids bathroom - did it at least 15 years ago and it still looks good - especially as it is now 40 years old. The house was warm toned when we moved in and it still is. Trying to change the overall tone of the home can get expensive.

White trim with wood doors (not my home):

Be careful of going from a house you feel is "dated" now to a house that will be "dated" again in 10 years by going too much with trends.

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Comments (16)

PRO
Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
6 years ago
Here is what I would do

-Paint all the trim white. There is nothing valuable or attractive about that orange wood

-For cost purposes right now, keep the windows and doors wood. People have white trim with wood doors all the time. It will look fine.

-Put in red oak, refinish old orange flooring, and find a stain that compliments the wood that is staying. Don't try to match that orange stain you hate, just find a stain that works with it.
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@CE thanks for ALL of the advice! The cabinet boxes are in good condition, but the owner may just say to replace them or leave them be for now. He wants to hear my ideas. & It wasn't set up for a multi person unit, so the only reason I can think of that they designed it that way is because the house is a square. There's not really room to have more than one bedroom on any level unless they made the upstairs a full level. The cathedral ceilings are only over the living and dining area and the bills apparently aren't too bad. Where I'm currently living, it has high ceilings- but it's not as big. My bills are pretty low. anyway, the original builders were just a mid-aged couple not planning to have a family. Their parents lived down the road so they probably didn't plan to have many guests. IDK! & the current owner bought it because all of his kids are in their 30s now. and to your second comment- in a perfect world my husband said we would rip out the staircase and tuck a normal one against a wall somewhere. Then we would close the master and get rid of the empty ceiling space by adding two bedrooms and a bath upstairs. That's probably pretty costly though, and we might as well stick to not buying this house. But it's perfect for us now and we want to do some home projects. @llucy- there is a door to outside from the basement so all of the furniture that goes down there won't be hard to get down there, since we can back up to the door. It will be hard to get things into the master- like our king size bed- but that's the extent of our big furniture. We don't have a big headboard or anything for our bed (yet). And no it's not in a resort area! It's just in mid-southern Kentucky. Out of city limits! There are two creeks in the backyard but not a resort area! @nosoccermom I love those glass boxes on top!! I believe that same size would fit above our cabinets.
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Demetra Heigher
6 years ago
I also have too much orange but I'm doing a color wash over it with acrylic paint (you can get a good sized tube of it at michaels) in raw umber mixed with water, then add a top coat. the color will be a medium walnut. Google 'chris hill houzz color wash' to pull up the article for instructions. So much easier than staining!
PRO
JudyG Designs
6 years ago
You know what they say about putting on makeup…highlight your best feature. In your case, the doors are the best feature. So, leave them as is. Trim? You are right…nothing great, so paint white.

Stain colors: I am not qualified to answer that part of your dilemma, except that I would choose the new floor color you love and have the existing floors refinished in that.

Carpet: this is where I would spend some money. I would replace all with one and the same.

I keep touting this product, (not because I have stock in Stanton carpet). There is a line called “Anywhere”. It is an indoor/outdoor product which comes in multiple patterns and multiple tones…all wood tones. It comes off the bolt at 13’, so, it should fit all bedrooms, hallway, staircase with no seams.

It is indestrutable. And if I had been introduced to it before I had done wool wall to wall, I would have used it all through the house.

I bet you realize your house needs some color?
PRO
Beth H. :
6 years ago
agree w/painting all the trim white (nothing special about that wood). doors are nice, you can leave them or paint them. they turned orange because of the oil top coat that has now yellowed over time. only way to redo them is to strip/sand them to raw wood and re-stain them. or paint.

Forget those baseboards, take them all out. since you're redoing the flooring, now is good time to change them to the taller, simple white baseboards. they come w/a coat of primer on them so all you have to do is have them painted and installed after the new floor goes in.

if you get new oak floors, have all the others sanded and finished at the same time, with your new stain color.

paint the doors black w/white trim for something different. this would look nice w/your new carpet or your new oak flooring stained in a medium walnut shade.
Jessica G.
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for all the excellent advice!!!! So here’s our current plan ... 1. Keep the doors and kitchen cabinets as is. 2. Put in red oak floors in the hallway, stairs, and big office / multipurpose room. 3. In the areas with new floors, replace the baseboards with something taller (maybe 5”). 4. In the areas with new floors, paint the baseboards and door/window trim white. 5. Install new windows (in the office / multipurpose room) that are wood, already primed, and ready to paint white to match the new baseboards. 6. Paint the walls in the hallway, office, etc. to complement the hardwood floors and existing wood doors. 7. A year or so later (when we have the funds!) refinish the hardwood floors in the kitchen, dining room, and living room (and match the new hardwood floors). 8. Eventually work on baseboards and trim in other parts of the house with the ultimate goal of transitioning all trim to white (as well as replacing the extremely short/cheap baseboards).

Assuming we stick with the above plan, here are our next decisions. Advice is most welcome!!

1. Do we stain or paint the stair risers? The staircase is enclosed - that is, no bannister or spindles (rather just a handrail - see photo in my original post). The staircase has a nice sized landing (with pocket door to our family room), then steps down one step, has another landing, and then turns with two more steps into the large office area. Seems like a lot of wood if we don’t paint the risers!

2. Given that we plan to keep the orange-y doors as is, what is a good stain option for our red oak floors? Special walnut? Early American? Natural? What would complement the doors, as well as go with our kitchen cabinets (see above photos)?

Thank you all so much! This is my first time using Houzz and I’m super impressed with all the helpful advice. :-)

Jessica
PRO
Beth H. :
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
jessica,,doors are much easier to change than the floors, so get a darker tone like the walnut. on the doors that face the wood floor, maybe you could have the flooring guy strip the doors and apply the same stain/finish to them?

you may be able to do it yourself. if you give the doors a light sanding, 120-150 grit, you may be able to go over them w/a gel stain in the special walnut. (try varathane or General Finishes, no Minwax!) they look like Doug Fir. it will take away the orange tone and add a bit more depth to them. maybe try it on a door you plan on painting? like the inside of a room or something? if you can, remove it from the hinges, lay it on a sawhorse, do the sanding to remove the top coat, wipe w/a mineral spirits to clean, let dry a bit, then wipe on the gel stain, working it in and wiping off the excess. dries in a few hours. you should see a change.

you are removing the carpet on the stairs? do we know what's underneath them? are the treads oak? are you putting in a runner?

what color are you doing the walls? if doing a light color, you could redo the handrail in the same tone as the floor or the treads/risers. All depends where you're going w/that.
dough71
6 years ago
Demetra, can you post a link to the Chris Hill instructions? I'm unable to find them. Thanks!
Demetra Heigher
6 years ago
dough71, I'll try to post the link, I tried to on another thread and it didn't work. In the meantime you can Google the keywords 'chris)s hill cool tip mimic stained' and you should find it easily. I need to learn to copy links onto Houzz, though, so I'll keep trying :)
Demetra Heigher
6 years ago
ugh, it's Chris , not chri)s
PRO
Beth H. :
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
dough71,,,,here. I really don't understand the deal w/this technique. what exactly is the look he's going for? you're washing wood w/paint so it looks like stain??? he's doing it on bare wood so why not use actual stain?

If you tried to do this over wood that already has a stain and a top coat, it's going to look cheesy.

[https://www.houzz.com/magazine/cool-tip-mimic-stain-with-a-diy-color-wash-stsetivw-vs~11086814[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/cool-tip-mimic-stain-with-a-diy-color-wash-stsetivw-vs~11086814)
Elaine & Glen Hester
4 years ago
I know it's been a couple years since this post, but one more thing I would add to your list of To Do's is to change out your cabinet hardware. I discovered that Hobby Lobby has some nice looking hardware for very reasonable—add to it their 40% discount, or better yet, wait until it goes on sale at 50% off which happens several times a year and you can make a big impact for the bare minimum. Would you mind sharing your "After" photos of what you've done so far?
ibtisamaltayeh
3 years ago
My house resembles yours and been struggling with the same issues. I’d love to see some after photos as well to get ideas. Thanks!
HU-806120704
3 years ago
Ditto - would love to see updated pics! We’re looking at lighter floors to compliment the wood trim - our whole house is in that oak - we love it but def want to update a little
HU-477562887
last year
Not that anyone’s going to see this now but when people update a staircase, do you ever leave the sideboards the stained color? Or if you’re going white with baseboards and door frames you have to match? It’s just going to be very difficult painting.
dough71
last year
HU-477562887: Paint the sideboards the color of the trim!