Refinishing skirting and architraves

[Parry]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on refinishing what I think is mahogany skirting boards and architraves, which I think have been originally finished with clear varnish (please let me know what you think from the pictures?). Some pieces have been temporarily removed due to fixing parts of walls etc and I'm planning on putting laminate flooring throughout so plan to lift the rest of the skirting boards and put them back on afterwards. The wood is mostly in good condition apart from around 2 of the windows which have some water damage. The windows have paneling with ply wood and it's the ply wood that's in the worst shape.

Some of the options I have considered...

1. Sand everything down and stain a darker colour. My thinking is that this would disguise the water damage areas and also that I like the look of a darker wood and would like to tone down the orange tones of this natural wood.

2. Paint everything.

3. Paint only the windows that are damaged and clear varnish the rest. --- with this option would I need to sand all the wood right down the same as I would for option 1?

What do you think would be my best option? What are the pros and cons and any issues you see with these options? Any other ideas?

I know probably the right thing to do would be to remove the damaged panelling but I'd really rather not have to do that. Both windows have been replaced so there should be no further damage.

Thanks in advance!

[dewaltdisney]

Dark wood is old hat now, it would look better white (as you were Grendel) My link in blue below tells you how to do it, the trickiest bit is the doors as masking is a bit of a job. When done it will be a lighter brighter room and have a much more modern look and not stuck in the 80s. You may of course like that, but the BIN approach is what I would do

DWD

[Grendel]

Dark wood is old hat now, it would look better white (as you were Grendel)
DWD

Ha ha , I did think as I started to read that you’d be along to say paint it all white…
To be fair the darker ply and the lighter timber does make it look as if it is made for painting. I would probably go down the paint route , the colour is up to you of course but if it were me I’d go for something of a pale brown or magnolia in an eggshell finish . The eggshell would be better than anything with a sheen as being so close to the window the light will pick out imperfections.

[fin]

i always seem to be fitting mdf skirts and architraves

obviously they get painted dwd white.

got a job to start in the next week or so. skirtings and architraves throughout a downstairs of a house. already fitted the door linings which were 6x1 pse i think.... was a few weeks back. my mates been in and laid ply and then screeded thoroughout and laid lvt flooring.

going for oak doors which will be osmo oiled for a change (usually get a decorator to danish oil them. )

[Grendel]

Yeah I’ve fitted a fair few mdf skirtings and arch’s . It does seem to be the norm nowadays . I wouldn’t say it’s the most exciting Orr interesting stuff in the world but then we have to make everything look like modern boxes. The last skirting job I had was last week where I was swopping Taurus for square edged which seems the other modern trend , going away from mouldings . In this case the customer did the painting and they weren’t white , she painted skirtings and wall all in the same colour which to me looked like a sort of pinky brown plaster colour…

[dewaltdisney]

The trouble is that looks like someone hasn't heard of masking tape

DWD

[Grendel]

It’s something else that seems to be in vogue these days to , painting walls and woodwork and sometimes ceilings too all in the same colour. A while ago I painted a couple of rooms for a customer, smart pale grey for walls and ceiling and the same colour but in satin for the woodwork. I mentioned it to the pinky brown skirtings customer saying I didn’t really think it worked and she said “ would have been better all in Matt” whereas I was thinking that the room was lacking in contrast . Still what do I know, she’s a designer and I’m just a bloke that nails and paints stuff…

[dewaltdisney]

To think I used to gulp at people using emulsion as an undercoat. I always think smart contrasting trim to wall works well. Designer falls into the same bracket as influencer in my book.

DWD

[Grendel]

Agreed with the contrasting. And to be honest when I see designers on programmes like grand designs I also agree. To be fair though my designer customer is actually quite a talented lass . She’s also an illustrator and has recently gotten a contract for kids books along with all the other stuff she does…

[dewaltdisney]

I try to stay on trend but I may be slipping as I find some styles to be quite alarming. I remember when minimalism came in and I could see the logic of departing from the mini stately home image of overstuffed, overcluttered, and dull. I think that most folk now have gone to a halfway style of clean, bright, and manageable. I rather feel the current grey trend is coming to a close. But whatever floats your boat, you make your space how you want it. Whether it adds value or detracts is another issue.

DWD