<p>So we are finally going to replace all the doors in our house. The doors we have are practically cardboard but the frames are lovely oak frames. However, our house is oak-heavy and we are considering trying to lighten the oak look of the house. The door contractor suggested we go with painted fir – he says we could leave the oak frames as is as a “look” or paint them – or we could stain the fir doors to try to match but that is dicey. Also, we could replace with oak doors but that is unbelievably expensive and we have a lot of doors. Has anyone ever seen painted, paneled doors with wood door frames? How did it look? Also, we are going to replace carpet that should have been replaced 20 years ago. After two years of the wood-carpet debate that sunk us into paralysis, we are leaning towards carpet just to get it over with and to save money and because minimizing noise matters to me – and also because it’s less complicated as we already have wood in the kitchen that makes matching an issue. However, it’s not a done deal and I’d appreciate any feedback there as well. Thanks.</p>
<p>I’ve seen sort of the opposite of what you describe where the jams are painted but the doors left unpainted. You could always try changing the door of one and if you don’t like the look just paint the jam. It’s far easier to paint a jam than to unpaint it. </p>
<p>I dislike painted wood and would like to replace my interior doors (cheap painted pressboard) with some nice unpainted solid wood ones. </p>
<p>For the normal living area I like carpet. Carpet feels better on bare feet and I’m always barefoot in the house. It’s also warmer in the winter (not a big deal around here) and deadens any sounds. We have a 20 y/o berber carpet that has done very well regarding wear. The only issue is a small section by a large sliding glass door that’s pretty much vaporized due to sun damage. When we redo it I might some tile around the perimeter (like a 1 foot tile) with carpet in the middle. Some neighbors just did that and it looks nice. They also redid their interior doors with solid wood and it looks very nice.</p>
<p>We have wood in the kitchen, family room and halls, I like it very much, but we do have carpet in the bedrooms and area rugs on the other wood areas.</p>
<p>I have no clue about the wood & paint doors- we have either had all painted or currently we have natural fir, so no paint. I think the wood is very lovely</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of wall to wall carpet, but it’s a perfectly reasonable choice. We had it in our bedrooms in our old house because the upstairs floors weren’t really worth refinishing. Fir really doesn’t take a stain too well. If I were you I’d paint the doors, leave the door frames unpainted and see if you like the look or not. I don’t think I would, but it’s easy to paint the frames if they look weird to you.</p>
<p>Wood floors do look pretty, but you are right there can be noise issues. My friend had wood floors put in parts of her house including her bedroom (recommended by her asthma doctor). She has 2 little dachshunds and every time they run around in the hall it makes an incredible racket and i am looking round wondering what on earth the noise is. Also if you have pets take into account that some wood marks easily. When she first had the quite expensive wood floor (can’t remember what it was - a dark reddish color) put in it ended up really badly pitted within a few months from those little dogs. It looked really bad. She had a flood because of faulty plumbing done at the same time as the new floor (make sure you pick a good contractor) and had to have the floors replaced again so went with a different wood which does not pit.</p>
<p>Thanks – we waited on the floors until our dog died last year and we are done with big pets so that’s not a problem but I have very acute hearing and am a very light sleeper which is one reason I tend to want to avoid the wood floors – plus my husband isn’t a very quiet guy – either with his voice or his habits of moving around the house. Good to know that fir doesn’t stain well. Oak – to match the molding - is just insanely expensive so I guess we’ll paint fir with nice hardware and then we can paint the molding if it looks weird. Re the floor – part of my concern that we are making a mistake re carpet is that every remodeled home I see has wood floors put in - and it seems to up the value of the home. Now that the kids are older, I think we need to envision what we do to our house in terms of what we might get back if and when we decide to sell. I’m worried carpet isn’t worth as much in terms of resale because people seem to desire wood – but it is less expensive to put in. Also, we are in CA and do have a pool and in the summer, people are in and out with chlorinated water and I think that’s bad for wood – the carpet near the entrance to the yard held up just fine but I was always yelling at everyone to stay out of the kitchen when they were wet.</p>
<p>We found a painter that specializes in faux finishes who was able to paint the pine door surround to match the grain on the door</p>
<p>In CA with a pool, ceramic tile is great!!</p>
<p>07Dad is right, some of those faux finishers can do amazing work. Not sure how their prices compare to the real thing though!</p>
<p>It was much cheaper than attempting to apply veneers or using the same hardwood on the door surround.</p>
<p>Interesting about the finish. But, as the door contractor said, we need to make a decision re how much of a wood look we want. We have a LOT of oak in our house – stair railings, built in shelves and desk and entertainment center, bar in living room, oak all through the kitchen, etc. It might lighten and soften the house to get rid of wood doors and replace with painted doors. Believe it or not, we are probably going to replace our carpeting with a very similar type (obviously we are the adventurous types) as we were happy with what we had but it’s finally just disintegrating. If we replace the doors with the same look, we’ll have spent a lot of money to be living with essentially the same look which seems, even to dull-as-dishwater me, a little silly.</p>
<p>take a look at the pre-finished hardwood flooring. it’s very nice ! you could actually use several different finishes combined for a very interesting look…3 boards of one finish, then 4, then 3 etc. (using the various finishes). i like the look of the light maple finish. there are some other very pretty lighter finishes out there too. i hate carpet…when you take up your old carpet…look underneath ! </p>
<p>painting the trim and doors to a creamy white color will update the house, making it look more like new construction…or maybe just paint the trim creamy white…and darken the doors…to a dark mahogany.</p>
<p>i like the ceramic tile for floors too…use the bigger tiles.</p>
<p>My father was a painter as a second trade, and he was amazing at matching/faux finishing virtually any existing wood or stain color. A couple of caveats: it is expensive, and it can also be an easily damaged finish, virtually impossible to touch up in high use or areas prone to zealous use (think kids, dogs, cats, banging vacuums, etc.).</p>
<p>On the same token, I’ve been in houses he did 20 years ago, and the work looks like he did it yesterday. It’s a function of the user.</p>
<p>If you are of the careful, neat type, have no sloppy cleaning staff, pets, “rough” kids or grandkids, you should be ok. The trick is finding the right painter/faux finisher. Most will be glad to let you see reference work in person and talk to satisfied clients.</p>
<p>See if your carpenter can get solid core oak veneer as opposed to solid oak doors. A bit hard to locate these slabs, but there are quality ones out there and they will save you some money over the solid oak.</p>
<p>Can you just test the painted look? If you are going to replace the doors you have in place - just paint one of the ones due for demo, put it back and see how it looks in the oak surround. It obviously doesn’t have to be a professional job - just adequate for a test run.</p>
<p>Painting a test door is a great idea. And Violadad, thanks for the feedback. I’m not sure we are delicate enough folk for anything easily damaged. Even though our four kids are almost all grown, we tend to have large groups of kids in the house, etc.</p>
<p>Wow, another CC thread where every post is based on solid experience. I love it! But back to the topic …</p>
<p>I replaced the carpeted floors in our 1970 home with prefinished solid wood flooring. The biggest part of this job was leveling the old floors before installing the wood flooring. Really. If you’re thinking of doing wood, you might want to pull up the existing carpet and check the floor for flatness before making your final decision. JMHO.</p>
<p>Doors at our local recycling Habitat Store are very cheap. You may want to buy and test.
I almost always find something at the Habitat that I can use immediately or in the near future project.</p>
<p>Painted doors and trim will be a more up-to-date look. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what the age of your home is and/or whether you’re trying to preserve a craftsman era or Victorian era home. If not, and maybe even if so, the oak look is unlikely to be a plus. The oak frame/painted door combination is likely to be just plain, well, odd.</p>
<p>Wood floors add to a home’s value in almost every market in this country. Wall-to-wall carpet in living areas are usually a negative. If you can afford to, I think you should do wood floors and put room-size carpets where you need them for sound control. Adding wood floors is an investment. Replacing carpet is an expense.</p>
<p>We have both floors, the original varnished and waxed wood, and WW carpeting (on top of the wood). Both need replacing (or refinishing) after 20 years of wear! I was surprised at how well the carpet endured. Some areas have a very low pile solution dyed nylon, and it is only now beginning to show wear. Other areas have a level loop commercial carpeting and it still looks great (although dated). The wood floors we left exposed looked beautiful to start, but also need refinishing after 20 years of pets, children, general wear, etc. We like both types, and will probably keep both. I LOVE the look of wood, but they are a pain to keep looking clean. Newer finishes help the maintenance, but the wood floors still quickly show every dust bunny – especially with animals that shed. The carpet (a medium “earthy” color) was much easier to maintain (in my opinion). It was also nice with young children, felt “warmer” in winter, and kept things a little quieter.</p>
<p>Friends of ours wanted the wood look, but didn’t have the budget. They “cheated” by installing a wood border, and inset carpet with a good padding. At first glance, it looks like an area rug on a full wood floor.</p>
<p>Why don’t you take a digital picture of your doors and rooms, then use Photoshop to change the colors and finishes? I have done this for people and they love it.</p>
<p>You should think carefully about a wall color to counteract all the oak. If you go with something bland, the oak grain becomes too dominant, and, frankly, it is out of style right now.</p>