How to make knotty pine look modern. Knotty pine’s orange-brown coloring and its furry little knots are tough to ignore, but when it engulfs the space from floor to ceiling in the form of paneling or cabinetry.
It can be a design throwback, a common look that seems to send your living room back decades.
While the wood might seem out of date when you see it filling up your space, there are plenty of ways to make it work, even if knotty pine doesn’t seem like your cup of tea.
When you first walk into the room, chances are once you put some finishing touches on your project (read: furniture, window treatments, color, and accessories), you’ll feel differently about this material that has more bark than bite.
How to make knotty pine look modern
A wood-and-white aesthetic gives a room an open, airy feel, a must for modern design.
To get the look, give pine walls a couple of coats of high-gloss varnish or paint in white for more light reflection and keep knots in the wood natural to offset tones with darker colors like gray and blue or green.
Knotty pine paneling was popular back in the 40s and 50s. This lumber is made up of knotted pine. It can be used to recreate the exterior of a log cabin look.
It’s still a popular choice for do-it-yourself home improvement projects that require competitive pricing and square footage of approximately 150.
The paneling can be used on ceilings, walls, or floors, depending on your preference.
Update Your Paint Program
Knotty pine paneling can be painted over, but it isn’t quick. You need to first fill the seams with wood putty for a smooth finish. Leave the seams unfilled if you want a more rustic look with the knots visible.
Whatever look you want, prime the knotty pine with several coats of paint before painting it in your chosen color.
Strong colors like ivory, burgundy, moss green, or eggplant look great, and they’re bold enough to hold their own in a contemporary living room setting.
Wallpaper gives a fresh look
Wallpaper can be used to give a living room a fresh look. Frequently, we think that filling the seams and then priming and hanging the wallpaper is sufficient, but this gives your living room a very old-looking appearance, like something out of a bygone era.
The best way to ensure you’re getting the most life out of your wallpaper is to use putty to fill in any obvious cracks or tears in your current wallpaper.
And then, sand these patches until they are completely smooth before applying new wallpaper over them.
This will ensure that no one will notice that you’ve been through some renovations since giving your home a facelift by replacing your wall coverings.
Windows with wise features
Light colors look and feel more contemporary than darks, so it’s important to remember that you can use curtains.
In this case, sheer-white horizontal cellular or pleat-style shades complete the modern pull of an otherwise rustic setting.
Consider varieties like these when working with lighter colors because they will help keep them from looking out of place while having a pleasant enough look not to disrupt wood-framed walls much.
Let’s get stained
If you like the look and feel of natural wood but not so much the actual look of it, staining can help change your flooring game.
The best part about staining is that it doesn’t require any sanding.
Stain allows you to change the tone of color without having to repaint.
Not only can you stain to give your floors a new color, but you can also add depth, texture, or an antique finish.
Some stains may require prep work before they’re applied (cleaning floors, filling holes in the wood, sealing old stains, etc.)
But the big advantage is that once the prepping is done, there’s no need for further attention before applying a new stain. Check out some colors from Minwax Stain and let your imagination run wild.
You can cover it with drywall
You can cover old, dated paneling in wall-to-wall drywall and paint your walls any color to give them a more modern feel.
It’s not a matter of being an avid DIYer or not sometimes; it’s just easier to hire someone who does this for a living.
In this case, the trim must be removed along baseboards and doorways so that your new drywall is flush with the edges of previously existing frames and walls.
Once you have covered your walls in new, clean material, you may choose any color scheme for the room, like one-of-a-kind dramatic hues (like red), or soft neutral tones (such as gray).
Or soothingly inspiring colors teeming with natural atmosphere from outside (such as blue or green).
How to make knotty pine look modern
Related Guides
