Help with us with our 1950’s knotty pine paneling! (Please...)
So, for a bit of a twist, it’s my husband that wants the knotted pine walls painted, in our 1954 cottage. I thought men were supposed to love wood, haha...!
Below is the east facing knotty pine room in question:
I actually like it, however everyone else that has seen it HATES it; and are very vocal about it. Comments are usually as follows: dark, depressing, tear it out, paint over it.
Poor little ’50’s home, still in his awkward stage of life; I guess you could say he’s still in his teenage years. Not young enough to be fashionable, not old enough to be considered historic or worth saving.
I have decorated around it with lots of white ( trying to work with it) but after living with it for almost a year, hubby still doesn’t care for it. The paneling was poorly glazed years ago, so it probably needs to be stripped anyway. I could fill in the knots and paint over it, pretending it’s vertical shiplap ;)
I change my mind everyday. But I’m afraid it will look like lipstick on a pig if I straight up paint it.
I want whatever I do to still feel true to a 1950 cottage, and not like I’m trying to hide the fact that it’s 1950’s paneling. I did find historic proof that paneling was not always this honey brown that we are use to (very interesting...)
https://archive.org/details/WeyerhaeuserPortraitsinPaneling0001
https://archive.org/details/Sherwin-williamsHomeDecoratorAndHow-to-paintBook1958
and it was painted in some cases (but I don’t think it was knotty pine?...)
My current idea is to wash with paint. A balance between knotted pine and painted paneling...does it still feel appropriate to the 1950’s?
In Benjamin Moores...Quiet Moments, or Healing Aloe
Or I could go white...
What do you think? Thoughts?
Thank you!
Comments (17)
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Comments (12)Thanks, mjsee! Unfortunately the nearest Ikea is over a hundred miles away from us so I'm not exactly sure we'll go that route cabinet-wise. As for the walls, I tend to agree even if my first reaction when I saw this room was "Oh, eff my life, we need to paint this ASAP." It's grown on me and I definitely don't like the idea that once I paint it we can't really go back. I could see one day taking it down and drywalling it (the insulation is non-existent as we're in a warm part of California so I'd put some in at that point), but we're not there yet. Nicole--I love that look, I just don't think it'll work in my space. :\ Stacey--thanks! WRT the living space, it's set up fairly similarly to the scene shown: two green microfiber couches instead of a sectional, a black/glass coffee table, and from Overstock. We have a black/dark brown TV table, a desk hidden behind the TV, and generally dark-colored wood or pine bookshelves dotted around the room. Oh, and a massive cat tree. :) I took the shelves down from the windows. The fans we brought in are amazing--dark wood blades with these Steampunk-like brushed nickel bodies. The rug:...See MoreOld Knotty Pine Paneling
Comments (4)So, this post is an older one, and stripping products have come a long way. I recently started stripping our 72 year old knotty pine kitchen cabinets. Over the years, they had been varnished/shellacked many times; very orange, very hard to strip. I resorted to using Easy-Off oven cleaner. You need to work in small areas at a time; don't let it sit for long or it will darken the wood. Easy-Off is cheaper and faster than the stripper I tried. I strongly suggest you try a test area to see how the Easy-Off will react to your finish and wood. Nothing is guaranteed, but maybe this will help someone else....See MoreCan I stain knotty pine paneling?
Comments (6)What I would do to update old knotty pine paneling is a little different than what most people would do. I would get cream colored milk paint and wipe the boards down with milk paint making the boards an antique white. You'll have to do a few tests with the milk paint mixture to see how thick you want it and what type of effects you can get. As I was wiping down each board with the paint, I would have someone follow up behind me with another cloth and rub out each knot leaving an antiqued cream white board with the grain showing through and the knots visible. Another option would be to get a cream latex paint with latex glazing medium and do the same type of process. The difference is that the milk paint gets pushed into the grain of the wood and becomes part of the wood where the paint/glaze mixture will sit on top. I have done this with knotty alder to make a distressed antique faux barn wood look by first staining the wood with Minwax Ebony (2718) stain applied heavily and then immediately rubbed off as much as possible so that the wood was mostly grey with the knots and crevices totally black. The milk paint was then put on in two coats. The first mixture was extremely thick and used to color streak the wood, and then a thinner mixture was put on and wiped into the wood over the thicker highlights until the wood looked like grey, aged barn wood. The knots were rubbed out so that they were revealed through the finish. As the wood was going into a bathroom, it was sprayed with a dead flat varnish so that the wood looked like it was totally unfinished - but, in reality was totally sealed on all sides from moisture. In your case, since it is paneling in a room, you could leave it unfinished in the final milk paint as it really doesn't need a sealer. In a paneled room, I would go for more of an aged white look and apply the milk paint fairly thick and heavy and then gently wipe it off with the knots wiped back to reveal them,...See MoreKnotty Pine Den Ideas PLEASE
Comments (53)Great improvement so far! I would leave the fireplace hearth as is since it blends into your hardwood floors. For pillows, you can either remove the bolster pillows to use two large pillows on each end of the sofa, or just have covers made for the bolster pillows in another fabric. I would use navy blue or fluffy white for pillows. I like the teak chairs in the room, but an armchair could also work. Try to find a simple, short enclosed shelf to use under your window to block the outlet, cords, and equipment rather than the tall end table that is there currently. If you have to keep the tv there, you can get white cord concealers to run the cords down the side of the fireplace so they aren't so noticeable....See More
PRONorwood Architects
5 years ago
I'm rather liking this photo that was posted. I like the shabby chic quality although maybe it could be painted to be a little less shabby and a little more chic. This room certainly is bright and cherry and isn't out of character for a 1950's house. Whatever you choose please post some after photos. Good luck!
Lucy thanked Norwood ArchitectsLucy
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoPtreckel, I just looked at Sarah Richardson’s cottage, and it’s adorable! Her website gave me to a new idea, and I’m curious if anyone else has tried it?
http://www.sarahrichardsondesign.com/get-inspired/tips/2017/06/02/paint-it-whitewashShe mentiond how she used a solid color stain for her paneling.
User
5 years agoPainted over paneling can look fine for something like a cottage / shabby chic room. I like it! Maybe do a small section just to see how the process goes or if there's bleed through.
Personally, I wish our own paneling wasn't painted over, but I like super kitch. I don't think it looks so bad painted (it's the rumpus room so I'm not really willing to put in the work to drywall or replace the paneling).
Lucy thanked UserKendrah
5 years agoI wonder if you can show us more pictures. Perhaps there are other tricks you can think of that will allow you to keep the walls as they are and have it not look so heavy and dark. I think that white washing it makes it look pretty 1990s shabby chic.
Here are some inspiration photos:
Beach Cottage Living Room · More Info
Is your ceiling paneling too?
Mid Century Master Bedroom · More InfoLucy thanked KendrahLucy
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoOh, I’m definitely not doing whitwashing then if it looks like the 90’s- we are trying to take that out of the house. Thank you!
( I would show pictures of our room, but we are finishing our floors in our living room, so everything is in here right now...) not much room for you to see.
No our ceilings are popcorned, that’s next to go. We have a fireplace, and a large floor to ceiling window opposite of it.
I’ve have found probably every picture out there with paneling, and a lot of them are beautiful. I think if it was a room were weren’t in everyday I could win this battle, but it’s our bedroom.
That leaves us to painting then (he does live here too...haha...)
I actually think paneling looks stunning when painted navy.
I may even let the knots show through and not make it perfect with that color...hmmm?
Beth H. :