Should I paint oak paneling

[Ratkinson]

We have just moved into a late Victorian wing of a mill house, it has been changed a lot, but in the lounge (which I believe was the dining room) there is oak paneling to just above waist height and also above the fireplace. The room is very very dark and I have been debating weather to paint it. I ask people's opinion and some think it is a great idea and some think I shouldn't touch it at all- I just want a great house to live in, but I don't want to make a big mistake. Any views?

 

[PeterI]

Personally I'd probably leave it alone (although without a picture it's difficult to have an honest opinion).

That being said how long have you been in the property? For a feature like that I'd wait until after a full cycle of summer and winter before deciding.

PS a picture would help and PPUK likes pictures

 

[MatthewC]

On an old property, never do anything in a hurry which is irreversible - and this would be pretty difficult to reverse, I guess.

Yes to pictures!

 

[angrybird]

I agree with Matthew don't be in a hurry to change anything, you may regret it!
I had original painted paneling in my first floor lounge I was hoping if I stripped it it would be oak but unfortunately it was pine! so I repainted it and i'm very happy with the finish.
At the end of the day its your home so it should be your choice what you do x

 

[Lime]

Should I paint oak panelling?

I wouldn't.
Oak is a nice wood to look at and is spoilt by paint.
Painted wood can look very rough after a while and become an eyesore.
There must be plenty of better ways to lighten up the room.

 

[Moo]

But surely the Victorians didn't leave oak in its natural state? Didn't they stain it a dark colour?

 

[88v8]

Paint?
Noooooo !!

Treat it as a warm room, a cosy room. Play to its strengths. Don't try to make the room what it's not.
William Morris paper, velvet curtains, wall lights.
If the panelling is dull and matte, get a French polisher to, errrm, polish it, to restore its glow.

Any idiot can have painted oak panelling, and most do. Shouldn't say that, but having once spent perhaps a hundred hours stripping paint from the deep carving of a lovely Victorian fireplace, and an oak window, using stripper, carving tools, and needles to get the paint out of the deep grain, I am very touchy about the idea.

Another option would be to get a French polisher to bleach the panelling a light colour... silly thing to say, he could hardly bleach it darker... anyway, this could lighten the room while still retaining the beautiful grain. By the Edwardian era, oak panelling was typically a golden colour, and perhaps even more attractive than the darker shades of yore. Also bear in mind that the panelling may have decades of muck adhering to it, the original colour might have been much lighter than you see now.

Hmmm, there was a long thread on this theme a while ago, can't find it.

Ivor

 

[Toby Newell]

omg.

I need a lie down. Blasting. Now this. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so, do what pleases your eye.

It is possible however to strip oak panels with a DCM based solvent stripper and wire wool, clean with hot soda water followed by oxalic acid which will lighten the wood greatly but still leave a wonderful, amazing beautiful colour like that of a cross between a digestive / ginger nut biscuit. One of the most beautiful colours of wood there is, in my opinion. I have done this job many dozens of times, hundreds probably, including at The Palace of Westminister, I have photos of a 1720 cottage in Wiggington which we totally stripped, most of it was elm with oak doors but the staircase was oak, my colleague Mark and I just sat down and stared at this one hand adzed quarter grain oak panel, beautiful.

You can lighten oak by the stripping and using oxalic acid and soda bleach. DO NOT BLAST it or you will lose the patination and DO NOT APPLY A MODERN A and B PEROXIDE BLEACH as this will also destroy the patination.

The picture, if it loads is an after picture after finishing with shellac and wax (after stripping and oxalic bleaching) it was taken, out of focus on a ten year old 1.2MP Sony point and squirt and in no way demonstrates the overall amazingness of the piece of timber. Just look at the growth rings, what size of tree was that timber cut from??? The stairs were made by hand around 1720, how old was the tree when it was felled??? A few hundred years old to be sure. So how old is that piece of wood? 500? 600? 700? years old.

Paint if you want.

 

[Toby Newell]

And as far as historical accuracy is involved, if that is important to you, although most pine (apart from some nice pitch pine) panelling and most doors etc would have been stained or painted and indeed many oak and elm beams may have been stained and lime washed, in the main the vast majority of paneling that was executed in oak was designed to be shown off and would have been clear finished, with or without a stain to tone it down, but very rarely painted, at least when installed.

Late Victorian? Sometimes you love the Victorians, well, in the main you do, but sometimes you don't... you know, apart from sensible gentlemen like Mr William Morris and Mr John Ruskin (both of whom I admire greatly) who preferred their oak naturally finished to age naturally and develop its own patina (like as in Morris' own home, The Red House whose staircase is shown here bearing an uncanny resemblance to the colour of my restored oak staircase...) there was a fashion, at various times during the period, where the gothic was repeatedly revived and many oak panels were stained dark. This was much more prevalent in large towns and indeed most late Victorian London properties suffer from this affliction, in the country however this was not always the case as thankfully they were not such dedicated followers of fashion so your mil house may have been more likely to have naturally clear finished oak.

Even if the panels were stained dark, they would have been clear stained with dyes, the misty almost painted effect coming after years of lazy French polishers/decorators could not be asked to clean or strip the wood and so added layers and layers of pigmented shellac/varnish to hide the damage/dirt etc. I may often use a walnut crystal with vegtable black, a little soda and some iron filings, in my water stain and then put a little clear spirit bismark and spirit black into my first coat of shellac, if you do that the beauty of the wood shines through and it does not appear as dark, flat or lifeless.

White paint will give you slightly more reflected light than a satin finished, oxalic acid bleached shellac and waxed panel but it will be flat and lifeless, the chatoyancy, lustre and warmth of a restored oak panel finished in this way will add a depth and warmth that will give the same if not greater psychological effect of the feeling of space that the paint gives. It's very hard to explain.

It may, of course, also be incomparably more beautiful and become one of your most favourite parts of the house.

I do not have a hundred year old oak panels in my house, but if I did, they would never see a lick of paint.

Toby

 

[88v8]

I do not have a hundred year old oak panels in my house, but if I did, they would never see a lick of paint.

Toby

That's a jolly interesting post, I shall save it, thankyou.

I recall a line in a poem by Spike Milligan, a sensitive man as well as a comedian, lamenting the vandalism visited on a once fine house, here it is ...
'Polished doors lie Dulux deep'....
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ugueTGhs_qsC&pg=PT221&lpg=PT221&dq=polished+doors+lie+dulux+deep&source=bl&ots=dPy5EtlI3o&sig=MpoRgclI40xtvQG7M7dH5Ac3Fdg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kkviUZXTNJKYhQeuuYH4Cw&redir_esc=y

Ivor

 

[Lime]

I met Spike's daughter and her son last year @
http://www.octaviahill.org/
I think she was quite relieved that I didn't talk to her about Spike. I got the impression he was a hard man to live with.

I agree with what Spike wrote in his book regarding the "Tell them they are dying brigade".

 

[Toby Newell]

Bless him.

I've read many of his books he, like Richard Pryor whom I also adore did seem to be deeply troubled but full of humanity, I saw Spike live on the Clive James Show where I was in the audience, the best bits were edited out as they mostly consisted of Spike swearing and laughing so much he cried and everyone else on the show and the audience in fits of laughter. I believe at one time he used to live in Woodside Park, like I did and then moved to Hadley wood into one of the ridiculously large houses next to one of my customers, so, whatever Spike says, even if he is a little unsubtle.

 

[Ratkinson]

Wow thank you everyone, so glad I came across this site. It will stay as it is for the moment, I think I shall do as suggested and play to its plus points and make it a really cosy room . I must try and get some photos uploaded as it has this weird alcove / partitioned area up by the fire place ,that I am not sure if it is original or not or what it was for.
On a different note, any idea how I source good joiners/ carpenters used to working on old buildings.

 

[Moo]

On a different note, any idea how I source good joiners/ carpenters used to working on old buildings.

A good start would be to change your profile so that we know roughly where you live.

 

[tobydog]

Still one of the best one-liners ever :lol:

http://someshitisaid.tumblr.com/post/21042050145/spike-milligans-epitaph-translated-from-gaelic-i

 

[88v8]

.....try and get some photos uploaded......

Use Photobucket and copy/paste the IMG code.

Oh, and welcome to the Forum.

Ivor