How common is trim that was originally painted?

[JacquieJet]

Interesting!!
I don't have any pine here (other than some new stuff from a PO), but the original stuff seems like fir. All raw underneath the paint. Doors too! I know that the original owner never lived here himself (it was tenanted), so I'm guessing it was to save money then? Strange, because we have a ton of windows and some fancy leaded glass that letting go of I would have thought would be a money saver first. I'll never know.
As always, you guys have been more than helpful! Thanks for the education!

[JacquieJet]

The Hill-Stead museum, not far from me in Farmington, (1901; Theodate Pope, architect) is a wonderful example of colonial revival style (Washington's Mount Vernon provided some inspiration).

(Pope, at left, during her Miss Porter's years)


Interestingly (I thought) to this topic, is that the woodwork in the house is painted a faux woodgrain.

It's worth a look, or a visit if you're nearby. The art collection is impressive, especially when you consider that the artists, household names today, were unknown at the time the Popes purchased their works.

https://www.hillstead.org/about-us/architecture/

Very neat. I'm not near there, but it's an interesting read!

[Manalto]

Designing her family home was clearly a labor of love. Its interior spaces are surprisingly comfortable and inviting for such a large house. I'd move in in a heartbeat - still waiting for the invitation. She really cranked up the 1920s 'storybook' charm, however, for her later commission, the nearby boys' school, Avon Old Farms, and heavily drew from the architecture of the Cotswolds (which is appropriate considering the original Avon's location). There's a virtual tour on the school's web site but my computer doesn't want to load it for some reason. Maybe you'll have better luck.

[phil]

maybe the invention of paint cans had an effect on availability , looks like prior to 1820 maybe you couldn't get paint in cans. does that mean the milk paints were not available prior as off the shelf mixes?

"By 1820, tin canisters or cans were being used for gunpowder, seeds, and turpentine. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can

once canned paint was on the shelves it would have been a personal preference because they did have beautiful paneled walls prior to.

use of plaster meant it was indeed painted with something.
In my house which is craftsman I don't think any woodwork was painted over. I don't see it as destructive to strip if you like seeing the wood because repainting is easy. If you do strip and repaint I'd still use some shellac so you can take it off if you ever wanted to. It helps seal if not more. If you had blueprints and things with such detail that might prove something. Its hard to compare to other homes because it changes vastly. Maybe if there is a historic society they could give you info more specific to your area. In the end your house, your choice of course.

I have a feeling fir wasn't likely to be stained as it isn't really a wood that accepts stain so readily. I don't use it myself nor did I find any evidence that stain was ever used around my house. some woods have a open grain that accepts stain more evenly. maple is also a wood that doesn't really take stain well, it causes a blotchy effect. maybe it has a lot to do with the pattern of the grain. If it's wavy grain the pores will vary from one area to the next. stain is even harder to remove than paint because of the penetration.

back 100 years ago seeing wood was just normal. If you said you had wood floors people would think of course they are what else would the be? now it's different and showing the wood might be looked upon more like oh wow! you used real wood not just MDF or fake wood like all the other houses. I compare it to chrome on cars. once common but now it's special and the more chrome the more luxurious the car.. but then that's more about opinion than what you were really asking. people local to you might have more knowledge of the trends of the area. Ive seen plaster ceiling details locally but before my house that were of course painted from the get go but there wasn't so much here other than fir trees over 150 years ago. many here live in east coast areas that were developed much sooner.

[JacquieJet]

Thanks Phil.
I'm not really thinking of stripping the paint off, more just wondering about it from a knowledge standpoint. Weirdly enough, my house is one of the only houses in my area that was done in this Colonial Revival style (it's us and a house across the street, and that's it), so looking at other people's homes (which I have done) doesn't really provide much insight in this particular case. Because it was originally painted, I'm likely going to leave it that way. Too much has already been altered around here, no need to add to that list!

[phil]

Aside from building style, it always was really up to the owner's preference. I doubt they all agreed at any point in history that one way was right or wrong or the best. I suspect opinions will continue to vary until everyone sees it my way

[GinaC]

How common was it to paint just the crown molding in a room and leave the baseboard and window trim stained wood? This is the case in many of my rooms, and I'm wondering if it's the original crown molding or not.

I'm thinking I'd like to have stained crown molding to match the rest of the trim to give it more of a Tudory feel. Should I try to strip the existing stuff, or just install new in the same shape?

[phil]

depends on the shape and what wood it is. I'd pull a short piece and try stripping, if it's tough going ( tough milk paint) you can always put it back and stop or continue stripping or if it's junk wood sure just put new ones that are of the wood type that you like. mine had a painted crown someone stuck up there in the living room. not original. I pulled it out.
if the wood is ok you can strip most of the paint and re-cut the molding with the same shape of router bit or a shaper. that saves going crazy picking the tiny bits of paint out. let the blades do the work. If you have a molding cutter or router bit the right shape then you can run the molding shape again, taking about 1/16" or so off to get to fresh wood.
you may find the molding is made up of more than one piece of wood and looks like 1 piece.
if you re-cut the molding like that it's important you have a good edge to guide the router bit if you use a bit with a guide bearing otherwise if you can use a fence then that can guide it but you need one straight edge to use as a guide. if it's a small molding it might not be worth saving but if it is a big bulky old one then maybe it[s worth the work to strip it.
you can just let the router bit eat all the paint but paint dulls the blade and covers you with paint chips, so I'd take most of it off with a quick chemical strip first just enough to rid the thing of most of the paint to make it easier on my blades.

if it has shellac and then someone painted it then it was probably shellac to begin with and that will come off easy with a heat gun.

maybe just take a pic of your shortest run of molding, experiment before you go tearing it all down. If you dont like the way it's going then you can put it back and leave it alone.

You can buy new fir or probably oak or pine moldings if you like, or cut your own if you have access to equipment. you really have to weigh up the practicality, the time it takes to save it, cost of new. If you have a shop nearby that makes molding take them a sample or a pic or take a pattern off what you have to show them. get a price per foot then weigh up the cost vs time.

things like 1/4 round or the strips near windows are often not worth stripping since there isn't much wood there. my house is all fir so I can replace with new fir and it blends in , if your house has some special species or if the molding is bulky it might influence your decisions on method.

I strip my casings and baseboards by removing the bulk of the paint then I just touch the edges to clean and flatten up the very edges on the tablesaw. then use a sander to get down through the paint damaged area. then run a router over the rounded corners and re-cut them to the original corner radius. This removes the outer skin of the wood and then I refinish. I don't like stain but if I want it a wee bit darker I put just a touch of stain in my second or third coat of danish oil to mimic the natural darkening. heavy use of dark stains hides the grain and beauty of wood but then there are different types of stain. some is ugly and like paint , some is more like a tint and accentuates grain. then there are wood dies. how the wood reacts to stain depends a great deal on the wood type and type of stain. If you have some already done then your aim will be to match that so it conforms. experimenting with scraps of similar wood type is time well spent.

you can scrape and sand without using cutters and things. the time is a factor though. If something is taking a really long time I usually begin thinking there must be a faster way and then start experimenting. you have to make sure your method makes sense for the amount you need to do. I find that sanding is often the fastest way to clean my wood up to fresh areas and then refinish but the contour affects it. so something flat llike my casings and baseboards are a matter of running a belt sander over or laying them on my table sander. stuff with profiles and detail can't e cleaned this way. sometimes you can grind a scraper tot he shape you want so for example it may be worth the time if you had lots of a certain profile of molding to take the time to grind a scraper blade to that profile. fit the blade to your shape then you can scrape along quickly and efficiently.

some feel they need to save every scrap and strip it because it is the original part. I'm of the thinking that if you use the right species and use old lumber if it's reclaimed from other old lumber and milled to the exact same specs then that's fine with me. baseboards and casings I would definitely save. the quarter round is often not worth the labor to strip. I just replace that with new stuff. You can cut your own or buy it.
something like a handrail I'd want to save. Your methods may reflect things like cost and your time and the tools you have access to. that will vary from one person to another.

some would attempt to strip the molding in place , for me that would be an exercise in frustration and a big waste of time. In my opinion ergonomically unfeasible. I'd also be concerned with looking up and dripping stuff in my eyes so puling it , stripping , some basic refinishing then replacement and final finishing would be my method.

you might consider doing your own faux painting. If you can sand it nice and flat and refinish in place you could just paint it wood color particularly if the rest is a dark stain that hides the wood grain. You could do that in place and save pulling it down at all.

if yiu do pull it out you are faced with refitting it, youll probaly end up painting the whole room if you do that. up for that?

anyway see what others think, consider your options before you go ripping your moldings out. we can suggest ideas but you have to decide what you think is best for your particular situation. I'm just offering some ideas and what might be my approach and I can't visualize what your molding profile looks like.
phil

[GinaC]

Thank you, Phil. Upon further inspection, the crown molding appears original, since it's the same in every room that has not had a renovation, and it matches the baseboards in the way that it curves.

That having been said, I'm sure it's got thick lead-based paint on it. Is this another issue I have to worry about if I choose to strip it?

The grain on the baseboards and window surrounds have very visible thick graining, so am I correct to guess that it's probably oak? Also, this town has never been a wealthy one, so they would not have used luxury materials when they built this house. (Though splurging on 30 windows in a 1300 sq foot house I would consider a luxury.)

[Gothichome]

Gina, might be faux graining. Not uncommon.