Ask Joshua - Re-stain or Replace Wood Ceiling Beams?

Hi Joshua,

My husband and I are trying to decide what to do with our living room ceiling beams. My house was built in the 70s and originally owned by my grandparents. My grandparents painted the beams in white before I was born. My husband and I moved into the house after inheriting it. I really like California Scandinavian look and would like to get that look in our place. I’d love to have natural wood beams, but are concerned since we don’t know what’s underneath that white paint. What do we do if we sand off the paint to expose the wood and it’s ugly?

Thank you very much!

Nicole - San Diego, California

Scandinavian style living room with wood ceiling beams. Image created using AI via Canva

Hi Nicole,

Thank you very much for writing in with a great question about your living room beam situation. I completely understand the concern about the unknown behind the paint once you sand it off. It’s a good idea to be prepared with a plan b if the worst comes to pass and it’s not great wood underneath the paint. There are a couple of different ways to tackle the problem and make it work:

1. There are tons of different tones of wood stains that can help create the kind of wood tone you want for your beams. After sanding down the paint and getting the beams all clean, I’d recommend testing a few different stains and see how they turn out and see which one you like the best. Sand off anything you don’t like, then move forward with staining them. This would be the overall cheapest and easiest option.

2. A more costly option would be to cover the beams with new wood to get the exact look you are aiming for. This would use a thin real wood laminate to resurface them and then have them already the color you want or stain them to get the color. It will make your beams slightly thicker, depending on the laminate chosen.

There are options to address this issue in the event simply sanding off the white paint doesn’t look good, so I I hope this helps. I wish you the best of luck with the project! :)

Warmly,

Joshua

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