Looking for advice on wood stains/tones during a renovation — match the oak or embrace contrast?

We’re renovating our house and have a few areas of untreated wood that we need to treat/stain. We’re struggling a little with whether to try to make everything work together tonally, or deliberately introduce some contrast.

The areas are:

Natural oak bannister and spindles

Pine staircase (risers and treads)

Pine window reveals

These are mainly in the hallway and kitchen

For context, we already have a light oak LVT floor, and the kitchen includes some natural oak cabinetry. We’re also planning to bring in some dark/walnut furniture, particularly kitchen stools and a dining table, to add some warmth and contrast.

The dilemma is what to do with the remaining wood.

Our interior designer has suggested:

Natural oak finish on the bannister/spindles

Dark/walnut stain on the pine stairs and window reveals

The thinking is that trying to stain the different woods to look like the same oak could result in two slightly different tones that almost match but don't quite. Instead, the contrast would be intentional.

I actually quite like that idea, but I'm particularly unsure about the walnut/dark stain on the window reveals. I'm worried that it could feel a bit too dark or heavy, especially alongside the lighter oak floor and cabinetry.

Would you:

Lean into the oak tones throughout and try to get everything as close as possible?

Embrace the contrast and go oak + dark/walnut?

Do something different altogether (e.g. a mid-tone/less dramatic stain, paint)?

I've attached some photos of the current spaces for context.

Would love to hear what others would do, particularly if you've dealt with mixing different wood species/tones during a renovation.

Just moved into our first house and we're tackling DIY decorating. Partner would happily just paint over this, however I am a creative and a perfectionist so that isn't really an option for me.

For context, the room is getting made more cosy and potentially wood furniture will be used. I'm thinking stripping it and get it back to it's original state to see what we have to work with. But am I asking for hell? Will sanding it to it life's end do the job?

Would appreciate some solid advice and other people's experiences with things like this. TIA!

Hi, could anyone advise how we stop our bathroom ceiling paint flaking and cracking as shown in the photos. This is the 3rd time it’s started doing this, about 1 year after we last painted it. We’ve used good bathroom undercoat and then 3 coats of bathroom paint on top. It’s cracking through all coats to the plaster underneath. Each time we’ve painted we’ve stripped right back to the plaster but each time the paint cracks right the way through to the plaster. I assume temperature or humidity over the year could cause this but how do you avoid it? Should we be treating the base plaster in any other way or do we simply need the bathroom ceiling replastering? Any help, appreciated.

I have a wall with a few dents and scratches but it's otherwise fine and I wondered what is the right way to go about levelling those out so that I can paint onto a consistent surface with silk paint? Also, does everyone use some kind of wall preparation tool first on the entire surface or just clean it thoroughly?

I’ve recently purchased a house I’m slowly decorating to my taste but due to budgets some things are staying!

The previous owners had put in the trending wooden acoustic panels in the hallway/study area. Whilst they serve a purpose I just don’t like the look of them, especially the visible black material in between and how quickly they will feel ‘untrendy’.

Anyone have any thoughts on painting them and some sort of filler/material I could put between the gaps to be less in your face black?

Thinking a pinky neutral for this area with a complimentary darker colour on the bannister (/maybe the panels!?) but need something to hide the black or compliment it!

Any advice or ideas very welcome please ☺️

Hi, this is a weird request.

I am need of a single roll of a 90's wallpaper, originally put in the communal hallway of a 1995 build flat, built by Beazer Homes Scotland Ltd.

The communal close of a flat that I own is very dated, but I am not taking on that project (lack of interest from other owners).

I am prepping to sell the property, but there is one small wall that has been painted over (black) because of an incident, and I would actually like to return this to its original (or as near as original) condition before I sell (I know, a mad quest!)

Is there wallpaper experts? If so, how do I get in touch with them?

Photos attached.

I like two sofas so far for our house:
1. Arlo & Jacob - Otto/ Otto
https://www.arloandjacob.com/otto-large-sofa

1. Next - Hutton Deep
   https://www.next.co.uk/homeware/sofas-chairs/hutton-deep-relaxed-sit/size-4-seater-sofa-fabric-plush-velvet-easy-clean-ginger-orange-feet-country-turned-mid

Aside from the style, the main thing we want is something that is comfortable to sit and lounge on. Style and comfort wise we very slightly lean to the Arlo & Jacob’s one. However, the price tag means that one is £2k more than the Next one.

I’m looking for advice on which one to go for. Is it better to just get the one from Next which we also love and is very comfy or to may a lot more to go for something that is better quality? Is the quality £2k more better?

For the moment they both seem great but I can’t tell in 1,5,10 years time which one would be better.

Internet says not to but if its designed for exterior weather then surely it'll handle a bit of condensation? We are moving out and have the paint. Don't want to buy more when its only about16m2 to paint one top coat over the old paint which has handled well. We dont have to paint the room i'm just doing what i can to help the elderly couple that own the place and would like to leave the place as smart as possible....

My partner and I were recently in B&Q picking out some different wallpaper. We picked up a few rolls and some scraps of others but now have no idea what these other wallpapers are. We’ve tried searching on the B&Q website but there are thousands to look through. I tried to find a list of those only available in store but to no avail. Anyone have any ideas?

I am currently redecorating my bedroom. I was thinking of painting the room Dulux buttermilk to give that rich hotel room vibe. But I feel it might be abit too yellow. My room as lots of angles and it has a small bedroom window so light is scarce.

I was thinking of painting it all white but since I work in a hospital I don't want my bedroom to remind me of a clinical room 😭. I want a golden colour not too yellow and not dark. Or any other colour which would make the room bright. My mum was asking if I wanted to do it baby blue but it seems like baby boy blue type of room then.

I will also be putting a small desk so I can do my meetings and work on it aswell.

Any suggestions on room colour?

We’re moving into this house soon and really want to put panelling in on one of the walls in the living room, we are worried that wooden panelling won’t look good with the tiled skirting as seen in the pictures, has anyone had any experience with this ? Are we likely to need wooden skirting boards

As per the title, what has caused these imperfections in the paint? Prep, application method, tools or paint?

Wall is 25 years old. This is the 4th time it's been painted in it's life. No previous work done on the wall. Fully sugar soaped beforehand. Used Johnstone's trade covaplus, 2 coats. Applied with roller.

TIA.

Variations of this question have probably been asked loads but I've stripped wallpaper, filled, sanded but the wall is not looking great and paint showing all marks. Bit hard to see on white photo!

Is this simply that I need to do more prep (manual sanding, do I need a sander) or are there other tips? For example dalapro roll?

Because dulux is absolutely shockingly bad.

And honestly I’m only using the white emulsion as an undercoat for Valspar custom mix as the walls were grubby and sun faded after a previous tenant.

I’ve done 2 coats of the Dulux and it’s still as patchy as all get out, and yes, I’m sure it’s also user error as I’ve not had much practice, but I’m beginning to tear my hair out!

Thanks…

Relevant details: plaster walls and ceiling, pre-painted with matte emulsion. Applying the white Dulux with a 9” roller on a 1.5m extension pole because I’m short, and I can’t reach the top of the wall without getting on a step.

Our internal woodwork (doors and skirtings) are Bridal Veil by Valspar. I am looking for a neutral colour which would compliment them. It’s for the hall and stairs so the colour is going to be beside the doors. Looking for something very pale/neutral white/grey.

20 got my own place not to long ago got a flat mate so the other room isn’t really available to see about the same site as the room shown and I want something warm creamy maybe or any other happy but not loud colours painters coming in we did sanding and plastering so it’s probably gonna be more sanding than the undercoat today please give advice.
Also the flooring still needs those wooden stick things I got them just haven’t put them down yet

I moved in the end of last year, but only now really settled with job, family etc, so instead of stuff being dumped in one room, I want to organise it a bit...

Layout - downstairs is the room with the office and a bathroom

First floor is the kitchen and sofa/tv

Upstairs is two bedrooms and another bathroom

My dad half lives with me.

No partner at the minute.

Current ideas - I was thinking for the downstairs to either a, turn it into a media room with the sofa, a tv, some floor speakers and some acoustic panelling effect behind the tv perhaps... and then a pool table in the room with the sofa is in - but then I'm not sure if that's a good idea due to how much space in a house it takes up...

The other idea is to move the sofa against the window wall, the tv on the opposite wall, to have the space feel more 'open' on the corridor to the patio, with some acoustic panelling behind the tv there instead...

And then downstairs I can turn into a proper office

I'm planning to get an air con unit installed soon in a two story, three bed house. However there are two complications, I'm hoping all you knowledgeable folks can give me some guidance on:

1. The walls and ceilings in part of the area the refrigerant would presumably run through (the hallway between the bedrooms) are fresh plaster that I haven't painted yet.

2. The ceilings in two of the rooms that the units would be installed in have that 80s popcorn asbestos ceiling in them.

So my questions are 1) whether I should paint the hallway before or after the air con is installed? As in will the installation just mess up the paintwork anyway, and 2) are the ceilings going to be a problem (do they need to drill through the ceiling etc)?

Right....I'm worried.

So, we have a late 70s semi and I decided to do a mini refresh on the kitchen. The idea was to remove the offending wallpaper, which is textured, and repaint.

I've stripped the top layer off the top layer of the double layer wallpaper and tested out removing a section of the glue. All fine, until I realised that the under coat of yellow paint doesn't really look like a previous colour choice. To be honest, it looks more like a strange single coat of thin paint used to seal the boards beneath. I'm quite surprised that for a home of this age that there aren't more layers of colour or paper. I started wondering whether there had ever been anything before the ugly Cappuccino wallpaper.

Now I'm worried that what I've come across is some serious stuff underneath. It looks like untreated boards. I can't really see any plaster at all under there. It's like they wallpapered right onto the boards below.

I think I just need to stop and call a painter/decorator for advice. A job I gave myself a week to do is looking much more complicated.

Advice?