Beautiful home and I like your idea of painted and unpainted wood trim.

I have some thoughts to start off with...

Unpainted window trim is actually trending now in upscale design and I like that look as currently shown in your pics.

I would paint the ceiling trim and crown molding throughout.

You could consider also painting the brick FP.

The foyer...hmmm.

I’ve thought about limewashing the fireplace! might see what it looks like after we paint the built ins. In natural lighting, the brick pulls a little purple/pink and it really clashes with the warm undertones of the wood right now.

First, congrats on your new home!

I was surprised that the home was built in 2004 based upon the amount of stained trim/woodwork. Also, the small baseboards make the home appear older. The home I built in 1996 has taller baseboards - really makes a difference compared to my sister’s home that was built around 1983-84.

Mixing painted and stained looks nice - I actually mixed when I built in 1996 (builder thought it was odd - but designer didn’t - and I’ve seen many people do it on Houzz over the past few years). My ”mixing” = either stained or painted for an entire room though. I also put in a one level counter height island - instead of having part of it be bar height (which was very unusual back then). I’m sure that my builder thought my ideas were a bit odd 😂

Are you considering replacing any carpeted areas with wood floors sometime soon? If yes, I would take that into consideration when deciding what to do with trim/built-ins.

I prefer a mixed stained/painted staircase vs. one composed of entirely stained wood elements (as yours currently is). I think your ideas re: how to handle the staircase will look good.

I think your brick FP looks nice (the bricks appear to be a nice mix of colors) - and would look even better if it was surrounded with painted elements (instead of all stained as it is currently).

My understanding is that refinishing wood is a fairly big process - requiring a lot of prep work (when correctly done)- unless you are planning on using gel stain (I wouldn’t - while I know some people have used it for updating a staircase railing - your house appears to have a lot of nice woodwork).

I think that mixing painted and stained needs to be well thought out (unless you are planning on having all wood trim painted in a room).

I think that finding a designer to put a plan together for you would be worth the money spent - it’s not inexpensive to professionally refinish + paint trim/built-ins. Even if you are doing the painting yourself, once you’ve painted the wood, it’s much more difficult to go back to stained if you decide that you’ve made a mistake.

I hope that this post doesn’t come across as negative - it’s not meant to be. Obviously, I like mixing painted and stained wood since I did it many years ago. Plus, my new kitchen will be a mix of stained and painted cabinetry. You just have a nice house - and it would make me very nervous to mix the two without professional input.

Maybe you’ll receive some very specific advice from some pros on this thread re: what exactly to paint vs. keep stained. I think that it’s more likely that you will receive more generalized thoughts - and some conflicting advice.

Enjoy your new home!!

I think in the past trim like that was stained darker to look more modern yet still calssic. I have that crazy thought that if there was a way to sand out orange and lighten it into some very light - pottery barn style wood, keeping all the wood unpainted, that would be sth unique. But it's probably sth for enthusiasts only - a lot of work and tweaking.

I wouldn't paint a thing tbh.

if it were mine, I would definitely paint the crown, the built in shelving and the fireplace builtins (not the brick), not white, but painted, for sure.

Thinking outside the box for concepts....

Other than the foyer, paint out all the wood everywhere except the window trims leave wood.

For the foyer paint the stairs, except for the treads leave wood. But rest of the foyer will stay the same as is.

Then decide if the fireplace brick treatment, and the wood stain colors.

You bought a beautiful house with high quality wood trim, not the run of the mill wood trim, that I usually see. I wouldnt paint any of it. Its gorgeous. In any case, dont rush out and paint it all right away, live with it a while, and see how you feel about it. You can always paint it, but, its a huge job to get it back to stained, if you decide you made a mistake. As to darkening the stain, thats not an easy job either. It requires all the finish varnish or poly being sanded down, and that will remove some stain, so when you stain darker, it will be blotchy. You cannot just go and stain on top of what is there. Stain, needs to penetrate the wood, and not just sit on top of the wood.

To me very little precious stuff in most recents builds and this is no exception IMO you wait to do anything before move in except maybe new flooring if that will be a plan. I aslo am not a huge lover of whate walls and creammy ones even less . Are you planning on a redo for the kitchen too? I know everyone wants to put their stamp on a new place but very often done too quiclky is the wrong choice .If staing a darker color is the plan then that IMO needs to done first since snading and stining wood is a messy job and best done before white paint on anything.

I wouldn't hesitate to paint all that trim white.

I'd paint your trim and build-ins. There is nothing special about it to my eyes. Staining will be a really big job. I don't think it is worth it.

speaking of worth - stain grade wood is normally more expensive than paint grade .

But this one is a questionable motive not to paint wood, I understand.

Ten years ago I would have said without doubt - paint everything. But after watching countless atrocities done to wood furniture with paint and best intentions, and also being guilty of some of them I so changed my mind .. but again, it's a personal thing. Next owners , if they want, can sand all the paint and wow at what they will find. Or not.

I’m a white trim guy but this house has some nice wood. I’d still paint most… I would start by replacing all the baseboards with something taller- they look out of proportion to the casing and ceiling height. All the crown id paint white (that crown around the tray in the main bedroom looks so heavy) as well as all the trim and casing. Fireplace, staircase, and built ins could stay wood. I presume all the carpet is coming out and you are extending hardwoods?

2004 didn't use any type of wood remotely akin to the stuff used 100 years ago. It's cheap Red Oak wood. I'd paint every part of it and update that staircase as well.

If you like colonial style imitation-look, leave it.

Otherwise, replace the newel posts and ballusters.

I'd go for something like this

or even this. this looks much more traditional and not 2004 colonial

If you want to leave whats there, I'd still paint. you could go for a darker gel stain on the rail

if you like a heavier look, replace the ballusters w/iron, heavier newel posts and stain everything a Java color

paint all the window/door trim . I'd replace that skinny baseboard altogether. there is NOTHING positive about it. you need plain 5" white baseboard.

see how much better it looks painted?

So this screams 2000. the fan is too small for the size of the room. if you want actual cooling, you'll need 60" blades.

again, higher baseboard, white, and something besides granny's bedframe.

If you want to keep the wood in here, and there is tons of it, I'd still paint the built-ins, new hardware, paint the tray ceiling trim and do some diff colors on that

Again, this fan is horrible with faux oak short blades. find something from this decade if you want a fan.

some diff ideas if you did want to redo the fireplace. limewash or paint it white or black, ditto bookcases

Mortarwashing the brick is another idea

German Schmear. looks like this. I'd do a soft black on the builtins, paint everythig else creamy white

Baseboards. 5", white.

will make a big diff in overall look. don't know if you're keeping the carpet. if you do plan on changing any of the flooring, rip out the old baseboard, put in new flooring and then install the newer 5" boards. Don't do it before new flooring. and if you keep what's there now, the floorers will install shoe molding next to the old baseboard to hide the gap. That will look worse.

red oak floors w/perfect baseboards.