Hallway

Reply to: it's one of those ideas that's lovely in theory but far from it in practice. If you strip the doors by having them tanked, the glue tends to disintegrate and the grain is raised, so you'll spend a lot of time sanding, smoothing and pinning the mouldings back into place. If you use a heat gun or chemical stripper, you'll spend a l-o-n-g time on it, and likely end up with heat or chemical burns as paint chips fly around. Plus, you'll almost certainly end up with gaps that need filling, as the new handle holes and the lock fittings won't correspond. It's a job for the dedicated, and as jonathandb says, if your house is of typical Victorian / Edwardian housing stock and the doors are pine, they were always intended to be heavily stained or painted.

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Reply to: A quick update after this weekends DIY :) I got a couple of doors completely sanded back and undercoated - used zinsser b.i.n (been recommended that by a painter - expensive, but holy schmoley, if you're looking for a good undercoat this is the baby). Picked up a tin of F&B 'worsted' and popped a couple of coats on. I just grabbed a small tin from HomeBase and if I'm being honest I didn't check the paint finish - ended up with 'Estate Eggshell' - I love the colour but I'm not keen on the finish, it's a bit to Matt for my liking I think. As the doors will be a 'statement' then I'm looking at something a lot more glossy - I may go modern eggshell. I assume that the general consensus is gloss for door yeah ?

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Reply to: Judging from the photos I would say the problem with the final look is the uniform finish caused by the varnish which has given an unnatural finish and sheen. The floor boards in Victorian/Edwardian houses were never intended to be seen in their natural state, they were usually stained with a very dark brown/black concoction to imitate dark oak of a more prestigious house and usually only around the edges and the centre filled with a large rug, fitted carpets not available. Dependant on your style I would place runners and carpets around the main traffic areas and in rooms. Again dependant on your style I have seen a mix of persian style rugs spread around to give a certain look. In my house of a similar age, I started with stripped back floors whilst retaining some of the marks to give character, another room whilst removing the original stain with meths in preparation for sanding it made an interesting stain, then I spread the solution out across all the the floor turning the pine into a poor mans dark oak floor. On another level painted the floors with 'Buttermilk paint' by a company called Colourman, finishing with a couple of coats of water based varnish, this gives a slightly uneven finish but very pleasing if you like the look. Whatever you think now it will grow on you and will wear in given time as you adapt from what is just the base finish of bare boards.

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