Updating a Texas ranch

Question:  We live in a home in SW Texas, built in 1983, with a significant amt. of wood paneling, solid oak carved interior room doors, closets, and cabinets (kitchen, bathrooms, living room) that are still in excellent condition. We\'d love to update the interior, but it would be a waste to just tear out all of the nice woodwork. It is definitely \"dated\" though and would hinder a future resale for us. I wouldn\'t mind painting over the paneling as it is not paritcularly high quality, but the oak is. The exterior of our house is brick with an interior living rm brick wall surrounding the fireplace. Some of those same nice cabinets are by the fireplace as well. There are also wood beams in the raised LR ceiling with white paint and popcorn between. You can imagine! The house is carpeted other than dated tile in kitchen, front entry, and small utility room. 4BD/3bath, 2200 sq.ft. Open floor design with rooms off of main living room/kitchen. Very nice floor plan and a view of river. We love SW style preferably as it fits this area. Very rural. Can we utilize/save any of the nice woodwork but still update? Thanks for answering! Mrs. B. Malloy

Jake's Answer:  We are doing quite a few updates to houses built in the 80's while leaving much of the wood work in place.  It seems that the houses built in this time period are really starting to show their age.  I would concentrate on the flooring and ceilings.  Have the ceilings scraped and replaced with a knock down type of texture.  Replace some of the primary light fixtures like in y0ur dining room and entry hall.  Have a painter take a look at doing a darker glaze on the wood trim in the family room, kitchen, dining room and entry.  It's not as expensive as you might think.  Paint the walls and ceilings as well.  If you haven't done much your self in the area of interior design, I would strongly suggest you hire an interior designer to help you with your selections.  The interior designer will make a big difference in the end product.