# A little rant: How much wood is too much wood?



## BentheViking (May 19, 2011)

I've been thinking a lot about wooden trim and finish work lately as I spend my days selling wood floors and accessories and then come home and talk with my wife about buying a house. I have always thought I loved wood a lot, but I have come to realize that maybe not as much as I thought. I've realized that I just am not a fan of wood finished (clear or stained) on things like trim, windows, door frames, even many (though not all) kitchen cabinets. And as much as my boss might kill me if he heard me say this I can't stand the look of wood stained quarter round/shoe mold and baseboard. Its on the wall make it wall colored or white!!!

I'm sure many of you won't agree and I don't mean to offend anyone's tastes, but its just my personal opnion. What do ya'll think is too much wood?

PS Furniture is mostly another story. Why make something beautiful and then cover it up with paint?

PPS Am I a hypocrite?


----------



## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

There's no such thing as too much wood


----------



## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

Haha, no, I tend to agree with you. I don't like baseboards, mouldings, wainscoting etc to be natural wood. I generally prefer to paint them white. Sometimes I'll see exquisite work that becomes the exception, but like you I think that if it's on the wall it looks better painted.


----------



## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

I dont like stained oak or pine trim myself. Nothing says 80's like golden oak…however, if it is craftsman style home, or we are talking about cherry, then I like it. But basically I prefer white trim. But different strokes for different folks.


----------



## BentheViking (May 19, 2011)

ewww to golden oak, but dark stain in a country or craftsman could work as long as its not too overdone. Also exposed beams can look pretty awesome in the right setting. I think everyone can probably agree that "wood" paneling was a horrible invention.

I also do not like interior doors stained….exterior can be hit or miss


----------



## longgone (May 5, 2009)

I personally believe it is sacrilege to paint wood but their are some woods that don't particularly look good with a stain or clear finish. I have alot of old growth cypress that I used in my house and finished it with a clear water based poly. Looks very nice and I would never paint anything I made.


----------



## Viking (Aug 26, 2009)

Chubbs;

The vast majority of the trim, baseboards, crown moldings, doors, windows, etc. and all cabinets, bar, fireplace mantles, at our house at the ranch are wood and look like wood. Knotty alder or red oak, stained and many coats of poly.

I don't care for painted trim, etc.

If it's made from wood …....... It ought to look like wood.

Qobviously it all subjective and personal taste?


----------



## KOVA (Nov 21, 2011)

*YOUR WORK CAN GIVE YOU AN END TO THE CUSTOMER LIKE YOU, IN YOUR WORKSHOP, DO SOMETHING ELSE WITH WOOD you crave AND THEN YOU DO WAXING WAX CLEAR TO SEE IF YOU LIKE ;-)*


----------



## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

There can be too much wood. I do like window trim, baseboard and door trim to be wood but preferably something other then pine and oak. I envision my dining room with the bottom of the wall wood panels separated by wood dividers and a piece of wood trim stopping the whole effect at 4' high with all the wall above done in wall paper or paint.


----------



## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

i prefer painted trim in a painted house. it's a matter of decor.
your second point about the base shoe, looks like an add on, or second rate; unbecomming of a woodworker. pull the base and run to 7/16 to the wall,and reuse the base. or buy an up grade style baseboard, that is thick enough to cover gap of wood flooring


----------



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

Do what you think is best. I love lots of natural finish oak trim. It is 1930's but in my mind, like brick, never goes out of style. I grew up in old houses with thick layers of oil paint on old trim. People who grew up in old houses with lots of oak trim paint their wood, as they think lots of wood trim is for antique houses with old people living in them. Other people (don't get me going) take nice wood trim, distress it, and faux paint it to look like bamboo. It ends up looking like oak trim that has been beat up and fake bamboo. Others buy a nice piece of furniture, paint it with pea green porch and deck paint then chip the paint off and burn the edges and put it as a center point of their living room. I grew up with this crappy makeshift farm furniture and today the old oil paint on it makes it burn good.

So, do what you like as everyone else does. Look at the replies here… what's that term "shabby sheik?" that's so popular today? I don't get it. I just don't get it. But that doesn't matter these days.


----------



## Nighthawk (Dec 13, 2011)

My sisters place has to much natrual wood (especially in the kitchen dinning room). Natrual wooden floors, wooden wall panels, wooden cupboards, wooden window frames and sashes, wood finish on the scotia and beeding, you can see the rafters and then add in wooden table chairs and cabnets… it does become too much.

But only in that area of the house, the rest of the house is fine, example the lounge is broken by the carpet and ceiling is lowered, has a brick surround around the fireplace, as is the rest of the house. Hence why she wanted to paint her table in the dinning room.

I love the look of natrual wwol, and even stained wood… but you can go overboard with it.


----------



## tenontim (Feb 24, 2008)

You would hate my house. Paint belongs on cars and ships.


----------



## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

I agree that its personal preference. Im in the process of painting all the trim in my house from stained pine to crisp bright white. All that stained pine made the house look so old and dark especially because it doesnt get a ton of natural sunlight.


----------



## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

Fun topic, Ben. But it really does come down to individual taste.

When my wife and I built our first house in 1986, painted trim had pretty much become the norm. In the 70's and further back, of course, stained woodwork was used almost exclusively. Nevertheless, we both liked the natural wood look, and we had all our interior doors and trim stained to match our light oak kitchen. I have to say, people visiting our home for the first time frequently offered totally unsolicited comments about how good it looked. Even the contractor, who had originally wanted to paint our trim, admitted that we had made the right choice.

When we moved to a 70's vintage home in 2003, it had mostly stained trim. After Katrina flooded the first floor in 2005, though, we went back with painted trim for the sake of simplicity. We both regret the decision. Not only do we like the look of wood trim better, but it also shows dirt much less.

Having said all that, I do think you can overdo it, as in the scenario Nighthawk described above.


----------



## Jeff28078 (Aug 27, 2009)

I like painted baseboard but natural or stained quarter round next to my hardwood floors. The problem is I have to remove the quarter round when I paint the walls.


----------



## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

It's partly a matter of style. In years passed it was more popular to have more stained wood on moulding and paneling but today it is more popular to have it painted. I say let the customers speak because they are the ones who are paying the bills. We're in the architectural molding business and we'll make it however the customer wants it and out of whatever wood they want. We will also base coat it off white if they want it that way. We have a lot of overhead and the customers are the source of all the money that we pay it with. The customers are king.

helluvawreck

https://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


----------



## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I guess I am at the opposite end of the spectrum from BentheVIking. Our home is rich with lot's of wood and almost everything is cherry. We have wide baseboards, big crown moldings, a beautiful banister on the staircase. All windows and doors are solid cherry and the window frames and door frames are thick with fluted cherry.

On a related subject, we don't like carpet. Our master bedroom has a solid walnut floor. The kitchen, 3 bathrooms and laundry room are tiled and the all the rest is bamboo.

To each his own - but for me, you cannot have too much wood.


----------



## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

*What do ya'll think is too much wood?*

when you open the door to a blimp hangar
and there isn't any room for more wood
you may have enough

as soon as you make something 
then there is a need for more


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Stick with mdf then. More real wood for the rest of us that way…


----------



## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I have painted baseboards w/quarter-round and I have hardwood floors (in a house I bought, NOT built). What a PAIN when it comes to floor re-finishing! Wish I had stained baseboards because it would be MUCH easier to hide the slop from floor finish splashing up and onto the baseboards… My 2-cents.


----------



## rob2 (Nov 27, 2007)

Hey Patron, What if yoiu have Hanger A for Domestic and Hanger B for Exotic?


----------



## jerkylips (May 13, 2011)

responding to your subject line, the commercials say if it's more than 4 hours you should call your doctor.. 

When we built our house 2 years ago, we did white painted trim. I really like the look, for one thing, but also we did a relatively dark stained hardwood throughout the house & the cabinets are kind of a similar color. The white breaks it up. In OUR house, stained trim would have been too much. Along those lines, if you have painted cabinets in your kitchen, light-colored ceramic tile, etc., I think that painted trim could be "too much". I like both painted & stained trim, but it has to look good with everything else around it.


----------



## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

As Charlie pointed out, it comes down to personal preference. Do what YOU and your wife like and don't worry about it. YOU have to look at it every day. As for when it comes time to sell, that could contribute, but that can be accomodated before the sale. Enjoy whatever you choose and don't worry about what we(I) think.


----------

