These Are Not Your Grandfather’s Pine Walls
The knotty look went from popular to pariah in years past, but today’s designers are finding new and stylish ways to embrace it
Pine is an unpretentious wood that has been a fixture in interiors since Colonial days, popular for its warm look, durability and relative low cost. After the Depression, as people renovated attics or basements to gain more living space, installing wood paneling was easier and less expensive than hanging drywall. Lining living rooms or finishing a renovated space with boards of knotty pine became a popular DIY project of the time. Pine-covered walls began to fall out of favor sometime around the 1980s, but the wood is finding its way back into well-designed interiors, either freshly installed or embraced during renovation as homeowners and designers find new ways to incorporate existing knotty pine walls into their remodels.
During the renovation of this 1938 Austin, Texas, home, the removal of drywall exposed the original pine walls in the kitchen and adjoining dining room. The decision to retain the natural pine in the kitchen while painting it in the dining room proved a successful use of existing materials, creating both a dramatic and fresh look in the two spaces.
Rooms that effectively feature pine walls today tend to mix them with lighter surfaces. In this New England beach cottage, the designer didn’t do anything to the existing paneling except clean it up a bit, with no refinishing required. The fireplace was updated with paint in Benjamin Moore’s Palace White, and the walls, doors and trim are in Benjamin Moore White. Cream sofas complete the transformation, helping the pine walls look fresh.
Pine walls can look contemporary even while retaining their original details (right down to the scalloped edge) by simply updating adjacent surfaces and decor. Such was the approach in this contemporary Los Angeles home.
Durable pine is perfect for a hardworking mudroom and looks great combined with cool-toned slate floors.
In this Austin, Texas, home, the pine has been pickled for a lighter, limed effect. This was done by applying a wood conditioner, brushing on a pickling stain that was rubbed in and wiped off, then finishing with a coat of clear sealant.
Another Austin home also has pickled walls. Staining pine walls light while leaving pine ceilings in their natural state goes a long way toward ensuring the wood doesn’t overwhelm the room.
The same approach was taken in this cabin, with the pine walls stained and the ceiling left natural.
In this newly constructed East Coast retreat, the white pine wall boards are stained and the exposed structural beams retain their natural warmth. Blue cabinets and Marmoleum flooring introduce a contrasting color, providing visual relief from all the wood tones.
The terms pickled and whitewashed are often used to mean the same thing. But whereas pickling adds a white tint with the wood grain showing through —accomplished using a stain — whitewashing traditionally means lime and chalk have been added to a binder to both lighten and cover wood grain and stains. Today whitewashing is achieved using a ready-made “whitewash” stain or by painting wood with a diluted paint mixture. The designer of this bathroom refers to the walls as whitewashed, though one could easily refer to them as pickled, as the grain remains distinctive.
The walls in this newly built beach house were treated with a whitewash stain, while the narrower boards lining the ceiling were left slightly darker for a subtle contrast.
Judging by these projects involving both old and new pine walls, it’s a good bet we’ll continue to see creative ways of embracing this old but worthy classic.
Do you think knotty is nice? Please show us your pine walls in the Comments.
More: Get more ideas for using pine in the Houzz Photos section
Judging by these projects involving both old and new pine walls, it’s a good bet we’ll continue to see creative ways of embracing this old but worthy classic.
Do you think knotty is nice? Please show us your pine walls in the Comments.
More: Get more ideas for using pine in the Houzz Photos section