Updating house and color

We are updating our house and going with a contemporary look which means painting our woodwork. We have chosen a nice white trim color that a famous designer in New York uses. Anyway my question is about the door color for our rooms. Our front and back door will have a dark mahogany color but am wondering if that would be a good design choice for our other doors in the house or do you believe the trim color would be the best to use with those? I know sometimes it is personal choice but any designers out there would you give some input? Thanks.

 

I'm not a designer, so this is my opinion only. I like the doors to match the trim. I once had wood stained doors along with white trim and didn't care for it all all. They kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. I now have the doors match the trim and it looks so much more attractive. JMO tho.

 

Does your woodwork currently have a stain/poly finish? If so, it's very important to sand and coat the woodwork with a solvent based primer. This will insure adhesion of your top coat. You can use oil base, waterborne or latex enamel over the primer. Waterborne enamel is my preference, it dries quick, almost as hard as oil base enamel but won't yellow like the oil does and cleans up with soap and water

 

The Bayer Company (the people that make Aspirin) actually patented the first polyurethane in 1956. So, if the house was built before 1956, then any stained woodwork original to the house will have varnish on it, as opposed to polyurethane.

If it's varnish, you can dull the gloss of the varnish in preparation for painting by simply cleaning it with a strong solution of TSP.

That's actually why TSP is sold in the painting aisle of home centers. TSP will dull the gloss of the old linseed oil based paints. And, because of the similar chemistry between oil based paint and real varnish, TSP will dull the gloss of varnish as well.

However, there's a common misconception that TSP dulls the gloss of all paints, and that's not true. TSP doesn't do anything to latex paints, so if you're cleaning latex paint in preparation for repainting, it's advisable to use a better cleaner, like Mr. Clean.

Also, people should be aware that the yellowing that occurs on oil based paints is entirely reversible. By exposing any old yellowed oil based paint to direct (or even indirect) sunlight, the yellowing will disappear. This is a common problem for museums who often have much of their collection in storage. When museums bring old paintings out of storage, they'll expose them to indirect sunlight for several days prior to putting them on display to remove the yellowing of the paint that occured in storage. Also, any oil based paint that's exposed to direct or indirect sunlight in a house won't yellow. If you paint window sills, for example, with oil based paint, the sunlight will remove the yellowing faster than it occurs, and so oil based paint on a window sill will never yellow. Similarly, any oil based paint used outdoors will never yellow either.

 

When you say a solvent primer what do you mean? I have woodwork that has magnalac on it. I have sanded it down right now with some course paper. I am planning on using BM Aura for the trim.

 

The best I can remember, I've never used any magnalac or applied any coating over it

I would suspect a solvent based primer [that includes both oil base and pigmented shellac] would be best but anytime I have questions about unfamiliar coatings, I always ask the paint rep at the store. They should be able to recommend which of their primers will work best for you.


btw - while I know lack of sunlight will make white oil enamel yellow worse, I'm not convinced that it can be totally eliminated on interior woodwork although some brands of oil enamel are worse/better than others.

 

What will happen if I don't sand it well enough or use a good enough primer?

 

Sooner or later the paint will chip and peel

 

I was told this works very well for this situation. I have used this so it better be good. BEHR 1 gal. Premium Plus Interior Enamel Undercoater Primer & Sealer - 07501 at The Home Depot

 

I'd buy my paint from a paint store (not the paint department in a bigger store) and ask them what would be the best primer to use

 

I am doing an accent wall in my living room...my furniture is brown, gold , tan, I have a stone fireplace...and am using Dusty bronze as 1st layer and then sponging with Cowboy suede. Does that sound right?

 

Welcome to the forums Brandy! I don't do much faux painting and without seeing your exact colors I wouldn't even attempt to comment........ but if the finish product looks good to you - that's all that matters!

wendans, I wouldn't trust a latex primer over a solvent based glossy finish. I know that an oil base primer or pigmented shellac will do a good job! as Mitch said, you'll find better coatings [advice too] at your local paint store [not a paint dept]