We’ve been talking about beadboard this week and the Nester has been talking about board and batten. It’s made me think about and appreciate all of the wood walls in my own home, neither beadboard nor board and batten, mine are all either good ol’ deep v-groove or bare wood walls that I’ve painted like shown in the photo above of the upstairs guest room. Some of the walls downstairs were dark stained knotty pine and I committed the wood sin and painted it all! It is all so durable and perfect for life with little boys..especially in this narrow hallway between our bedrooms. Just imagine the toy cars that go through this space! Also notice how the wood flooring changes from oak to pine..funny I think, doesn’t bother me a bit!
I painted it all Sherwin-Williams extra white and I have loved it..I did semi-gloss OIL based..does anyone even use oil anymore?? This was 10 years ago thus the knicks and love.
It is also in my kitchen, around the mini penisula, breakfast area, and as backsplash…
And up my stairwell..these stairs had green shag carpet and yes I refinished them and removed all of the carpet glue..they are not shiny and perfect but I love them just the way they are…I think these risers are screaming to be “numbered” like those shown here from HGTV’s Sarah’s house.
Once you get to the stop of the stairs you see the bedroom in the very top photo and then turn left into a small bath which is right next (and I do mean CLOSE proximity..this upstairs is tiny) to my office.
The entire house, built in 1941 before the war, was originally clad in cheesecloth and wallpaper. Downstairs we simply covered over that with 1/4″ sheetrock…the historian in me LOVES knowing that cheesecloth and wallpaper are still under there BUT upstairs we ripped the wallpaper off of the walls and slathered in GALLONS of white paint, that old wood drank the paint! It was a MESS to remove the old paper and cheesecloth, a zillion strings to clip but I love the look. This shot is looking from my office into the guest room (again, very top shot is of that room, no longer pink and shabby chic but its in its shabby glory in that first photo;).
The tiny “attic crawl space” door is even cut from the v-groove.
I’m not showing you the funky 1970s rough wainscot in the dining room that is a little weird so don’t be too jealous. Bottom line, I am thankful for the wood in this house. That sounds like an odd statement but if you are reading this blog I think you can relate. When you live in an older home (really any home for that matter) it is easy to get bogged down in the things you want to do or wish were remodeled or “nicer.” The truth is, I painted every inch of this house and it’s not perfect and is showing wear from living here ten years and enduring a little boy but I am still so thankful for the character and durability of these features. Thanks for letting me share.
What do you love about your house?
RSS Feed
Mail
16 Comments
Comment by Katie — May 14, 2010 @ 8:52 am
Love the wood! Love your stairs! LOOOOOOOVE your floors…gracious…. And in my fantasy land in my head….I buy old homes and completely redo them (based on the period of that home, of course) like Sarah does….ohhhh, it would be fun to not really have a budget. They can be so limiting… ;o)
Comment by emily — May 14, 2010 @ 8:59 am
While I love living in a new house where everything is in great condition, I sure miss the character of an older home. Wish we had all that woodwork!
Comment by Trish @TheOldPostRoad — May 14, 2010 @ 10:42 am
Love your walls! So beautiful. I painted our knotty pine, too – here is one photo http://theoldpostroadblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/vintage-sunday-school-posters.html – It is yellow, now, but I need to head towards white, soon. Our house is from the 1850′s but this one room was added in the early 70′s (can you tell!??!!)
Thanks for the tour!
-Trish
Comment by susan — May 14, 2010 @ 11:35 am
It’s awesome!
Comment by Morning T — May 14, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
I love all of your wood! Your home is beautiful Holly and it’s refreshing to hear that you’ve grown to love all of the fabulous quirks. It’s obviously a well-loved and happy home.
Have a great weekend.
T
Comment by Erin from Skoots and Cuddles — May 14, 2010 @ 2:55 pm
i love, love, love all the painted wood. the more worn the better in my opinion!
Comment by Kristi @ The Thrifty Gypsy — May 14, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
I love all of the wood in your home! I have saved two magazines with your home in it because I love your style! So glad to have found your blog again! Such an inspiration
Kristi
Comment by Rita Larson — May 15, 2010 @ 6:45 am
Love your home and all its great character. Mine is just a tad newer than yours. My little cottage was built around the end of the 40′s, but it has lots of the Old house flaws and goodies. My floors had all been covered with carpet when I bought it and after several years I took the carpet up, stripped the floors and stained them. They are like Rice Crispies, they snap, crackle and pop, but I love them. I wasn’t sure I could handle a belt sander, so I stripped the floors with furniture stripper before staining and vinishing. Not an easy task when you are 60+. I love my floors.
Always enjoy your post, lots of inspiration.
Thanks
Comment by Jean — May 15, 2010 @ 8:42 am
I love all the wood in your house, Holly. And I love, love, love the wood floors.
Right now I’m luvin’ the freshly painted vintage green walls in my MBR
Comment by Dianne Ewin — May 16, 2010 @ 4:20 pm
How do I start. So it’s okay to paint my knotty pine woodwork, white? I mean, we built this house in 1990 when Country was King, I mean Queen. So I stained all the knotty pine woodwork trim and doors. And varnished each piece. By myself. Now I love the white. Which of course probably went into “style” the year after I stained all our knotty pine trim. But, is it crazy to paint everything that I stained? And do I need to sand it all first?
By the way, I have ordered the beadboard wallpaper so I am taking baby steps.
Comment by Camille — May 16, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
Thanks for the peek into your beautiful home, Holly. AND thanks for the reminder to look for things in my home that I love (mine is my fold down ironing board). I don’t do that often enough. Contentment is great gain!
Comment by Camille — May 16, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
Dianne, PAINT THAT KNOTTY PINE, BABY!!! You will be so glad you did! Just make sure you rough up the surface a little so the paint will stick. You’ll love it and never look back!!
Comment by Kate (Little Beach Bum) — May 17, 2010 @ 11:09 am
I am totally loving this series on wood – particularly the segment on beadboard. I didn’t even know what that was called – I just thought it was all molding, to be honest – but I loved the look of it – you have given me so many great ideas!
Comment by rae — May 18, 2010 @ 11:55 pm
drooling over the wood! what a beautiful home. thank you for sharing.
what i love about our home is that it is a starter home…. all of our finishings are cheap so there is a lot of freedom to try new things {like cutting a hole in our family room wall or tearing out the built in desk and replacing it with a cozy love seat}. there is a lot of potential for a daydreamer like me!
Comment by Di Word — May 19, 2010 @ 8:04 am
Loved the “tour”. It is wonderful.
Comment by Chris — October 30, 2010 @ 8:55 am
We have the same wood walls in the upstairs of our 1920′s cape cod. When my wife and I moved in the walls were covered with awful paneling from the seventies. When we removed the paneling we found the old tattered wallpaper and cheesecloth and then below that the wood. We haven’t been sure what to do with it, but your blog has inspired us. What paint did you use on the walls (color and finish)?
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment