I'm stealing this from somewhere else:

If the wood is in good shape, stain!

If not, paint.

Paint it!

No shame in painting.

Paint will show nice details. Paint.

We have a 1920's foursquare as well - we opted to paint and are happy with the results. Our wood too wasn't in great shape - we did manage to save the wood floors though! Good luck!

We are absolute nuts for historically accurate renovation that is respectful of the home's period (check out our blog to see how neurotic we can be about it), but sometimes it's ok to do things a little different than what it would have been. Nowadays, people go crazy over exposed brick. Do you think you'd ever see a house 100+ years ago with exposed brick? Nope. It would make the owners look poor, like they couldn't afford plaster. Same with heart pine. People love the rich character it gives now, but a home with money would have covered it with oak if they had the means.

Really, it's based on personal preference and taste. Our 125 year old mantles were not painted, but in bad shape when we moved in. Even though we are restoring the house, stained mantles just wouldn't have looked right with what we were doing, so we painted them white. We're happy we did.

Sometimes, you run into situations where it is better to leave it alone. A nearby house in our area in Old Town Alexandria was built over 200 years ago. When George Washington died in 1799, many homes, including the one I'm thinking of, painted their typically stained mantles flat black to mourn the nation's loss. In this house's case, the mantle stayed painted black for about 200 years until an owner didn't like the way it looked, so they stripped it. In this case, I think the paint was probably best left in place.

Do what you like, what you feel looks good, just don't destroy an element of the fabric of our nation in the process. But I think you're safe to paint :-)

If it was painted in the past, the patina worth saving was already sanded away. Paint without guilt.

there are a lot of original 4 squares where I live in MI that have always been painted...not stained. Not all wood is good. Like yours. Paint it and enjoy!

Patina, schmatina. Paint that wood white, and the red stained wood as well. Not only is it waaay less work, it will look crisp and classic. It's not Brazilian hardwood; don't feel guilty about painting it.

I vote stain the flooring, but paint the trim white...that way you can save some of the charm of the original wood floors and you can get rid of the stain color you don't like without having to sand down and go through all the work of refinishing. Plus white trim always looks so fresh and clean. :)

We have the same issue with our house it has alot of woodwork and yes its nice but its ugly and the wood is very banged up, upstairs it was all been painted and looks so much nicer and clean, so when I get to it I will be painting and also (gasp) be taking out the hardwood inlay flooring from the dining room, just too much work to keep it nice.

Paint it...by why does it have to be white???? The beauty of paint is that there are so many colors and nothing is permanent.

I am currently in the process of stripping off the layers of paint off of old trim in our "new" 1880 house. It looks to be in similar shape to your wood after the first round of stripping, but I have no doubt that it will look beautiful when I am done with it! (And it's a whole lot easier to finish it as it is now that to start stripping a new layer of paint.)

That said, it's obviously your choice about what you like in your own house.

I have a 1902 house that all the wood has been stained back to its original beauty. My hubby loves it. But if it would not cause a huge problem with my hubby, I would paint it ALL white! Most people in my hood think I am crazy. They are all in the process of restoring their wood. But I love white painted wood. So I would paint.

If I remember right from an episode of "Antique Roadshow", softwoods in that era were painted, hardwoods were not. From the even grain of that wood, my guess is that it is a softwood (pine, probably good pine though). So paint.

There's at least one elegant compromise we're all forgetting about here as yet another option - cerusing the wood. It's sort of a milky glaze that lightens and evens everything out, but stays in the grain to add a really nice effect.

I don't see it terribly often (I usually associate cerused wood with Hollywood Regency style in the 1940's) and I'm not sure that it can be effectively done to all species. It might not even be a DIY process, as I imagine it takes an experienced, artistic eye.

But I sure would recommend investigating it a bit before making your decision - it can be a very sophisticated effect, and much more unique than paint and stain. Good luck!

There's a great example photo here:
http://www.autuncontractors.com/uploads/homepage/ash24.jpg

Paint. I have a suggestion for a paint brand - Ralph Lauren. I've used many paints to do woodwork, and I love this in semi-gloss. The paint goes on fantastic. It looks like a pro did it. I also use Kilz as a base coat. I've been extremely happy with the results.

Apartment Therapy posters and commenters have enlightened me to the fact that there are many different shades of white. Who knew? I didn't. If you decide to paint, you might get some tips by searching AT for "shades of white" or something like that. Maybe other commenters will know which posts to recommend?

Do not paint IF you want to respect the house. I grew up in a house where the downstairs was painted but the upstairs was not. In the summer as the wood warmed up you could smell it's subtle scent, it was wonderful.

Sounds like someone went to a lot of trouble to strip the original wood. Depending on the mix of old and new, you may wish to paint the new and perhaps color (white) stain the old letting the old paint bits show through. The floors might be clear coated or stained a light shade of wood tone or even white. I've always liked lighter floors, especially that whitewashed look that shows the grain of the wood.

To that end, on my own house I'm looking at using a white stain on the wood trim. Somewhere on one of these posts I found Rubio Monocoat, an awesome, no VOC, green wood finish. They sell sample bottles of their product for $9. You might wish to try this in a discreet corner before taking the plunge of painting. Also stain can be a little easier to work with than paint, usually just one coat. If you do decide to paint, force yourself to get several brands of paint to test. There is a huge variability between the brands, esp. in the low/no VOC range. I think Benjamin Moore has a new alkyd based paint with no VOC--but--you'll still need to prime. I've had good luck with the Home Depot primer/paint in one and the odor is pretty low. The Sherwin Williams no VOC has *not* done a great job for me in the past.

I have to echo a lot of the sentiments already expressed here. I have a house from the 1880s and we're restoring the trim - but we've been very lucky that the wear and tear on it looks delightfully weathered instead of seedy and worn, so we can get away with stain. If the wood is badly damaged enough and you love the white look - just paint it!!

Also, I don't think one's tastes should always be subservient to the historical authenticity of the house. When my house was built, the air in my neighborhood (near a glass & steel manufacturing hub in Pittsburgh) was so full of soot and coal dust that some families repainted trim and doors frequently, rather than attempt to clean off the soot that had settled into the paint. Windows were very small to keep out dirty air. People entered the house via the basement to shower off before going inside. Now we have the luxury of putting in larger windows, restoring the natural wood, and having bathrooms in the house. :) It's really important that you know what you like and what will make your house actually feel like your home.

As someone noted above, one of the hard things to remember is that what we think looks cool (i.e. exposed brick or unpainted woodwork), may not have been intended to look that way. Four squares may have had painted woodwork originally, much like many Victorians that were intended to have painted woodwork (which is why, often, after stripping you find the woodwork quality is not very nice). So even though I agree it is important to respect old houses (and I live in a house where the original woodwork has never been painted and still carries the original finish--needless to say, we will not be painting it), this looks like a case where painting is a viable option. And if I did it, I would paint all the woodwork.

paint

This is Carrie who asked the question - thanks for all the comments and thoughts you've shared. I've learned a lot! I think we're definitely swaying in the direction of painting. The fact that the wood on the second and third floors of our house is all new replacement wood especially makes me think it's not super important to worry about the historical elements of keeping the wood color on the first floor. We definitely plan on refinishing the floors and I would never dream of replacing those or painting them. We're also planning on keeping the original windows that remain (I love the wavy glass and the rope pulls), so there will certainly be some old historical home elements remaining.

I never even considered the idea that the wood might have originally been painted. I live in Madison, WI, and it seems that most (not all, but most) older houses I've seen in this area are stained not painted. I wonder how much this might be a regional variation. But the more I think about it and really look at the quality of the wood that has been uncovered, the more I think it might have actually been originally painted. I wish I had some old photos or house plans!

I'll definitely come back and share some before and afters no matter which way we go with this.

Carrie, glad you're feeling better about your decision. I wanted to point out one other thing about what we've seen in our house.

It seems all of the molding and baseboards in our house have all been painted since the house was built. The wood is all simple pine. We've been stripping everything because of a few horrible paint jobs. What we've seen in a few rooms is kind of cool. Once you get down to the first layer of paint in the master bedroom and our front parlor, the paint appears to be a faux mahogany finish. Older homes with less expensive or exotic materials used to have the wood painted to resemble more high class options.

I think you are probably making the right choice to paint your wood, and an even better choice to keep your original windows intact. If you feel like they are too drafty, just work on weather stripping with some spring bronze and make sure you have your storm windows in place in the winter. A properly maintained older window with exterior storm will beat a new energy efficient window every time. Most of the studies they've done that show compelling reasons why you should replace your windows look at deteriorating windows without storms versus new windows.

Have fun and enjoy your home.

Hi Carrie--I'm in Milwaukee and you are right it IS a regional variation. Around here you are more likely to see original finish wood but once the wood has been messed with, you really should follow your own preferences. I personally am a sucker for white woodwork--so crisp and clean looking.

Good on you for keeping the windows; we have our original windows as well and because part of them are leaded glass there is no way we would replace them. As Old Town Home said, caulk and weather strip and make sure you have good storms. When we moved in to our place, we had the drafty, ugly aluminum storms replaced and it made a HUGE difference--well worth the $$.

Have fun!

I actually like the wood, but I guess I'm an odd ball... you would have to embrace an old-school french feel. Or a rustic mountain loge feel.

But if you paint white, go to martha stewart's website and look at her turkey hill home.

Painting is going to be your best option. Staining wood that has been through so much already is going to get you some pretty spotty results.

A blog that I frequent for ideas is http://www.younghouselove.com/. This couple has renovated two old homes and document everything they do with beautiful results. I especially love seeing what they do with dark paneled rooms.

I highly recommend checking it out.

As a new old home owner I have recently been asking myself a similar question...to paint or not to paint. I want to avoid the peeling cracking and chipping that can happen with acrylic paint on wood. In my research I came across lindseed oil paint. It might be something that could work for you. http://www.solventfreepaint.com/

I would do some more sleuthing in your city to find out whether it would have originally been painted. It may be that more expensive houses were stained, and that ones that used cheaper grades of wood were painted. So look at houses similar to yours.

As to the wood, I'm betting that a foursquare used decent wood that wasn't originally painted - as that seems like it would have been in the style of the foursquare. So I am guessing it is not pine or other cheaper builder-grade meant to be painted. I would get opinions to figure out what the wood is before I decided. (It looks like it is not pine and has nice grain to me.)

If it is good stainable wood, I would stain it if you like stained wood. It seems to me that whether old stripped wood ends up looking blah or good when refinished depends on the quality of the work done. So I would only do it if I had the time and skill (and patience) to do a DIY super-perfectionist job, or the funds to pay someone to do something close to that sort of job. If you like stained wood, doing it right would be a great thing for your house. If you don't want to spend the time or money to do it really well, then painted would look better than poorly done refinishing. From your picture, I think it would be possible to make this wood look great.

As to the replacement woodwork, you say you don't like the stain, but you don't say whether you like the actual woodwork itself, and whether it clashes, or not, with the original stuff you have left. (Some replacement woodwork looks really terrible, and is often out of scale with the old stuff left and/or the house.)

If you like the replacement woodwork, it would be worth it to have it refinished to match whatever lovely shade you use for the old stuff if you refinish. If the replacement woodwork isn't that nice, and not worth it to you to restain, then by all means paint it. Whatever you do, do not stain the old stuff in a red color you don't like just to match the new stuff. Better to stain the old stuff a color you like (or paint it, but as you can see I'm not terribly in favor of that, as it looks quite nice in your pic), and to paint over the red-stained stuff you don't like. Why live with red-stained new woodwork if you don't like the color? (I also don't like red woodwork, even the old mahoghany in some NYC brownstones - I prefer brown tones in woodwork.)

Depending on how long I was planning to stay in the house, and how much $ I was willing to put into it, I would lean toward restoring the old woodwork. If the new woodwork didn't fit the house, I'd paint over the red now, and consider possibly replacing the new stuff later with reclaimed woodwork from similar old homes (if such stuff becomes available) if I ever got around to it.

Or, if the new wood is fine in quality and style, but just not color, do the old stuff up nice in the color of your choice (whether that choice is stain or paint), and then think about whether to restain or paint the new stuff. But I'd do the old stuff up nice first, as the contrasting colors might not be that hard on the eyes.

Whether you stain or paint the old stuff, I wouldn't hesitate to paint the new stuff, as you don't like the color and I doubt it is gorgeous-grained wood. (If it is gorgeous wood, I'd restain it rather than paint. But in that case, I'd also definitely restain the old stuff.)

I think there's a lot of value added (both in terms of $ and enjoyment) of well-refinished old wood on the main floor, but very little value added (in terms of value added to the house) in having stained new woodwork over painted new woodwork in the upstairs bedrooms.

Also, I talked about value added to the house, rather than respecting the house, because many people don't get the concept of respecting the house. But they do often get the concept of value addded when the house is sold or appraised. And the two - restoration of features such as old woodwork, and increased value of the house - ARE definitely totally related.

If you aren't used to living in old houses, it may take some years of living in one before you start to appreciate the value (aesthetic, as well as monetary) of keeping and restoring well the old stuff. As you get used to living in your home, and in a community of old homes being restored well (go to house tours, read restoration blogs and magazines), your views may change.

Many a homeowner later comes to regret early decisions to not restore, but to instead cover up or replace, in later years. There's no hurry. You can make your decisions slowly and thoughtfully over time, and even restore your home slowly over years if funds to do so quickly are not now available. For instance, I'd live with the woodwork bare in your house for years and not paint it at all if I didn't have the time, energy, or funds to do it well now. Once you paint it, you will never strip it again for staining, so think long and hard before you paint it. Take the long view.

Also, your comment about maintaining the unpainted woodwork not being necessary because the upstairs woodwork had been replaced makes absolutely no sense. The old woodwork on the first floor is still there, and needs to be considered independently of the upstairs replacement woodwork. And even that replacement is not irreversible. Many have restored homes by using similar salvaged elements from other homes being renovated or demolished to replace elements taken from their homes by earlier renovators. There are many businesses involved in the reclamation and sale of these architectural elements, and they are in business because the reclaimed items they sell are quite valuable, both standing alone, and once they are purchased and installed in homes.

You may now not highly value restoring elements in your home like your bare woodwork, but expose yourself to the world of home restorers before you decide that you will never become someone who values restoration. You will certainly reap more gains in your home's value if you do later adopt a restoration mindset than if you don't.

Over time, you may come to value the beauty in the old more than you do now. I know this has happened to many over the decades.

Carrie --

My background is in architectural conservation/heritage preservation. From the picture you posted, you can clearly see the remnants of a painted finish. (the bits of white in joints and grooves) So if you are trying to respect the heritage of your home, paint is the answer.

Old Town Home has provided you with an excellent explanation of why paint -- and a strong rationale on why you should keep your original windows.

To that, I would add that windows are a key character-defining element. Change them, and you may have radically altered the house. Wood windows require some maintenance, but not as much as vinyl window sales people would have you believe.

One of the key things you can do to preserve your house is to have your wood windows replicated in order to replace the ones which have been changed.

Also, before you paint, make sure that the trim on all floors has the same profile, matching it to the originals. After you have it painted, it will bring the whole house together.

Good luck!

Carrie again. I just wanted to mention we're not even considering replacing the original windows... I just kind of threw that into my response as an example of the older elements of the home that would remain. They do have the storms and overall aren't too drafty. And they are beautiful, so they stay.

Our house is a simple foursquare -- I looked up the history, and it was built for a ticket taker for the railroad. It's in a neighborhood with some very fancy homes built for college professors and presidents, but it's not particularly fancy. So it is possible that the wood might have been painted originally. I'm not positive about the history of the home, but I'm guessing it also maybe have been a college rental home at one time (we live very close to the University of Wisconsin). The people we bought it from had lived here for almost 30 years. They were the ones who stripped the wood, and the ones who installed all the replacement wood on the top floors. I must say, other than the stain color, they did a very good job with the wood. The details really replicate the wood on the first floor. I'm guessing that they stripped the wood on the first floor and were going to stain it that same red. But then the husband died in an accident, so it didn't get done. I'm also guessing the wood has been in its current semi-bare state for about 8 years.

I really do love old homes -- I love all their quirks and their history. I have absolutely no desire to rip out the old stuff in here and replace it with the current fads. Any renovations will do will be as period sensitive as we can afford. I am an architecture and history buff as well as an old soul, so I do my very best to respect the home and do right by it. Heck, I'm even considering throwing a 100th birthday party for it in a few years (sort of as a joke, but I think it would be hilarious and actually sort of meaningful too). I love this house. I hope to live here for a long time. And that's why we've lived here with very ugly partly-stripped wood for about a year and a half now. :)

I'm going to go against the current here and suggest something completely different - a weathered finish. One gallon of water per one pound of baking soda, mix well and coat liberally. Several hours later you'll have a uniform look that speaks more 'antique' and less 'shabby'. Look at all the mileage Restoration Hardware is getting out of this trend. If the results aren't what you hoped then paint remains an option and frankly with the uniform palate, even staining becomes an option. Also I wouldn't sweat the old paint that remains in the open pores. It's emulating something like a reverse Ceruse finish with a black glaze instead of white. With gray weathered oak and black grain these could look great!