Refinishing Stained Wood Trim - Painter or Carpenter?
I don't know the answers, but we need to do the same, so I am interested in what others say.
Long story short, try the painters, we used Wilburs.
Depending on your trim and the level of refinishing you need/desire, you will find a wide range of quotes. When we bought our home almost six years ago, the selling point was the downstairs chestnut trim, sliding pocket doors and staircase all still unpainted (the upstairs had long ago lost out to white trim paint). At some point it had been varnished over with a fairly dark, now almost black wash. Several attempts to clean it and lighten the finish just didn't get us to the look that we wanted, so we looked to have it done professionally. As we bid out the four rooms to have the woodwork refinished, and it was a large amount, we got back several estimates ranging from $25-40k. Seriously.
When we were about three years into reconstructing kitchens and bathrooms etc, we hired Wilbers to paint several rooms that we just no longer had time to do ourselves. When they were doing the work, we had a discussion about the woodwork, and they gave an estimate around $7k. And we hired them to do the work.
I have no idea if their work was as comprehensive as what the $40k work would have resulted in, but from the end user point of view, its good enough and looks great. They sanded down the dark finish and made two coats of a color mix that matched the sections that hadn't been varnished with the dark pigment. We liked what they delivered to us in the end, especially because we used the savings to build a front porch.
There are other painting companies out there who probably could quote to do the work as well, I can only comment on our experience with Wilbers.
Most painters can work with minor repairs to woodwork, so I'd give that a try first. And they can also tell you whether to tackle the trim or the walls first.
So we have stained wood trim on our first floor. We'd like to have it refinished and in some places, repaired, e.g. filling holes left from curtain hardware, some weirdness with the molding. We'd also like to paint the rooms. Can the painters repair and refinish the trim? Or do we need a finish carpenter or woodworker? If so, does the order of work matter? I.e. fix/finish wood first, then paint? Thanks in advance for any advice/insight!