I'll leave this to some of the pros here but I have to say this is an amazing home! It doesn't look like crappy paneling, and the entry way is gorgeous! Perhaps find a happy medium of painting some of the paneling in family room. Good luck, it's actually a really beautiful home!

Is that even real wood? It looks like the plastic-y paneling we had in one of the houses from my youth, which isn’t meant to imply that your new home is in any way cheaply built; it was touted as being a quite on-trend, fashionable product...but plastic nonetheless. ;)

It is real. My contractor said that it‘s a particularly valuable variety - Douglas Fir, I think? I don’t remember for sure. But it’s defintiely real, and quite lovely up close. Just not necessarily my taste right now.

I love the flooring! Especially on the second floor. And your entry looks grand - I'd be curious to see the view coming in the house. Since MCM is new to you, my advice is to hire a designer with experience respecting mid-century design. You have many renovating and decorating options before you and it would be a shame to do something that would permanently mar this house's original beauty.

ETA: The original Douglas Fir panelling is exactly the kind of reason I'd hire an expert. If it's not to your taste, perhaps there is a way to use it that would preserve its value?

Put me in the paint it or pull it down column. The stain isn't even a nice color and it just makes the place look dark and uninviting.

Not sure any of that is mid century modern at all? Your talking a LOT of money to remove that paneling I'm hoping you took that into account with pricing? It looks like that house has gone through a couple renos or updates if it was mid century modern.

Hire a designer they are cheaper and more cost effective then you think. I have learned that redos and buying additional materials out ways just hiring someone to do it for me.

Found the listing for this wonderful house. It needs an excellent designer to bring it back to life, starting with choosing how to refinish the floors and then using a coordinated paint color rather than the new light gray in some rooms. One room looks like it's already had its wood panelling painted over in the light gray, and it looks just like a cookie cutter builder house's room. This is a special house, don't paint it in 2005-2010's fading color trends.

If you remove a light switch cover from one of the panelled rooms, the color of the wood behind it may be closer to the original 1958 finish. The type of oil based varnish commonly used back then will have yellowed, and the wood underneath may have changed tone, too. I recommend hiring a designer with experience at restoration and who will have the professional contacts needed.

Love the entry (including the slate) -- wouldn't touch a thing. Not wild about the upstairs hall floor. Not liking the dark paneling in the family room at all, but rather than paint it I would look into covering most of the walls w/ 1/4-inch drywall and paint that instead. I could live w/ the original wooden cupboards. What a great house!

I love your house! I would love to see more photos from the front entrance. My instinct says keep the wood. Especially where the slate floors are. The yellow gold floors sort of take away from the glorious wood paneling. There are lots of clever ideas that will be pouring in. I look forward to seeing what you do with the space. I have seen some paneling painted and it can be nice too. I just think that you have valuable pieces of wood that should not be destroyed. Rather find a way to sell it.

I would not have bought this house if I had disliked the paneling. It is a MAJOR part of the design of the house.

@wannabath maybe I’m using the wrong terminology? It may not be MCM, but except for the kitchen, it’s definitely original to 1964. We had the lovely good fortune of walking through the property with the grandson of the original owner/builder, who said virtually nothing had changed. He told us some incredible stories about the house - parties with Frank Sinatra and JFK Jr, and a pet tiger that lived in the pool cabana, until it tried to bite someone (because, Tiger ). He went to live at the Cleveland zoo after that....

@apple_pie_order what tremendously helpful ideas, re: original coloring. I probably will end up hiring a designer, but I’m intimidated at the process of finding the right person. So much of the professional design I see out there seems like it was done for someone of another generation, or someone without kids, or someone with a lot more money than I have.... At least in my market, designers seem to cater to socialites and multi-millionaires-turned-politicians. But I’m going to shake the tree to see if I can find someone who seems to understand me and my life.

@boxerpal and @probookie thank you! I think it’s a wonderful house, too, and feel really lucky to have found it! I’m a little overwhelmed at the prospect of putting it together in a way that works well for the space and for my family, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out. I’ll post more pictures, I’m sure!

@anglophilia what an unhelpful comment! I love the floor plan, the neighborhood, the giant closets, the square footage, the pool, the local schools, the easy commute and access to public transit, and lots of design details in the rooms I didn’t mention here. I feel like a lucky bandit to have found all that at a price I can afford (including a generous 6 figure reno budget) in one of the most expensive markets in the country. It‘s true that if I had unlimited funds, I might have been more particular about design things. But in my real world? I feel like I won the lottery! I’m excited to tackle the fun challenges this special house presents, and I’m perfectly confident that once I do make some choices and some changes, I am going to love the aesthetics as much as I love all the other aspects of the home. But you do you ;-)

It's possible to use the "find a pro" section of Houzz to look at some online portfolios of designers in your area by following the links to their websites. While the photos usually showcase expensive jobs, you can get an idea of who can work in a variety of styles. Putting together a Houzz ideabook with a couple dozen photos will help a designer see what you like. Look at Marimekko prints if you like vibrant colors- they'll stand up to the wood panelling. Ikea has some Marimekko-inspired prints. https://www.houzz.com/photos/query/marimekko/

https://www.marimekko.com/us_en/fabric

If you're excited about it, live in it for a year while you and your equally excited designer put your heads together to design an overall plan.

That entry is absolutely exquisite! Whatever you do, keep that space the way it is. I do enjoy seeing well preserved specimens of high end mid century interiors.

I agree with others about living in the house for a while before you do anything. We bought a mostly unadulterated Victorian, and we had fantasies of getting a bunch of stuff done before moving in (5 months from close to move in), but ended up only refinishing some floors (low impact change). Now I'm super glad we didn't try to do anything - we're getting a sense of how we live in this house (it turns out we use the butler stairs A LOT, and my husband had wanted to tear them out!) and a sense of the small things that wouldn't have even occurred to us before we'd spent time living here, like the fact that we need to add a second ceiling light at the far end of the hall, that we need some more electrical outlets in the dining room, etc.

Congrats on your new-to-u home! As others have mentioned, I would definitely live in it for a while before making any changes (minus the 90s kitchen). I think once you add furnishings, then that will help ground the areas (as seen in the attached photo).

My husband and I owned a mid century home 7-8 years ago that we renovated. We left a lot of the enduring qualities -- metal railings, thick wood paneling in the office and even the bright blue and avocado plaid carpet in the basement. I almost cried when the woman who purchased it from us said that she was drywalling the office and recarpeting the basement!

Definitely think through your design choices and make careful decisions. Most of all, enjoy that beautiful home!

29 Ardmore Rd.- Kensington · More Info

It is for me a lot of wood but I also see those MCM bones hiding in there maybe just stripping the wood and havint it the natural color would be the answer, those shaker style front doors need to go for sure. I am with the comments about living in it for a while before doing anything drastic.Is there that pannelling in a smaller space you could maybe test color on if you want lighter wood?My biggest issue is the walls and the wood floors do not work together

Congratulations on your new home. It will be beautiful. For now, I would clean the paneling, and clean the floors, and totally agree, live in it as is, for 6 months to a year, and by then, you may know exactly what you want. The paneling seems to fit your house, and once you are in it for a while, you will know if you want to keep it like it is. Better to know for sure, than to wish you had left it, once it is coated with paint, and its too late. Right now, you are excited and just want things done right away. Living with it, will change your mind on some things. Just enjoy it the way it is for now.

I'm not gonna lie. I really like all that wood!!!

HI -- This looks all original and good quality . You should tread carefully here with what is done . All that wood is actually back in for that style house . I would leave the wood the way it is and the floors also . Accent with black for the trim moldings and the stair hand railing and the ceiling and the front doors . Then add lots of white in the furnishings and drapes and rugs and adding textures in light rugs and drapes etc. Add some modern but mid century style lighting . What I am saying is , work with the wood paneling ... I think it is stunning . If the wood paneling was that cheap panel board , then I would say .... rip it all out !!