Hi, I'm not very good at color combos but I can tell you that Recessed lighting can be painted to match something other than a white ceiling. I have several types of DIY recessed lights (canned lights, pot lights, acne ceiling, whatever they call them now. lol) in our home, all of them had to be painted because we couldn't afford anything but the standard, cheapie, white trims. Here's a pic of the latest trim around the shower light. It was originally white, but now is a pretty good facsimile of ORB to match the other accessories in our DIY tiny master bathroom. This is the only pic of light trim I have on this computer but we've painted all the trims to our recessed lights to either match the ceiling color in the room or to match other accessories in the room. Where there's a will....... :) Please excuse the messy paint job... we were still trying out color. :)

If all the windows are stained, and all the trim is painted, I think you are fine. As long as it follows a pattern, that is ok. There was another thread earlier about doors and paint vs stain and I think the conclusion was the same. If all the bedroom doors are one finish and the closets another, it is ok to mix. Just come up with a plan, follow it and you will be ok. There is no "one size fits all" here. Personally, I think stained trim can be lovely, but sometimes it can also be overload. I think having some stained and some painted may be the best of both worlds.

Thanks for the input. For some reason I cannot picture my crown being white with the other trim elements being stained. Dunno why. But if you say yours looks good, I do believe you. My house is a little ranch style 2/2 that we are remodeling from builder grade stuff to 'us'. It is a dwelling that is on a large piece of land that we use as our facility for training horses so I can feel pretty free to do what I want, since any potential buyers down the road will likely be more interested in the barn and land than the house, LOL! I have put rough slate on the kitchen floor, scabos travertine on the backsplash, and pretty much done it up in the kitchen altho I did not go custom with cabinets - used Ikea - and am thrilled, BTW. It looks great, IMO. The Acacia wood floor is so cool - natural graining and lots of movement. Altho I like the crisp, creamy trim against the darker wall color, I think using stained or even raw cedar boards with a sealing finish would be very appropriate. I also have some great cypress logs that I would like to bring into it if I can find a way. None of that - IMO - marries that well to the rather colonial looking white moldings that I presently have. Hub will be puzzled at my wanting to redo what looks pretty good right now, but as an artist and first time home redecorator in my 50s I aint wantin' to do it any way other than MY way! LOL! If I did NOT want to keep the crown white, does anyone have any suggestions / opinions? Pics are always appreciated, of course and would not mind seeing pics of that 1926 Tudor, if you have any. I dont really know how to post pics but would do so if it would help and someone can point me to directions. Ceilings in my house, BTW, are 8 feet. I am open to creative ideas and only limited by money as the husband is open too!

First of all, I appreciate all of the sweet comments regarding my husbands work. This has been SUCH a labor of love. We have been in this house for 2 years with disgusting, original 70s cabinets and NO DOORS. I did not even store anything in the cabs, because they were so gross. I fashioned some pitiful "curtains" (basically panels of material velcroed to the openings) to cover the nasty looking innards of the cabs. We priced cabinets and got depressed. Some basic, china made cabs at Panda would have been minimum 12k. My husband has a woodworking shop in the upstairs area of his warehouse/office. He is great at making simple furniture and things. At first, he was going to make the boxes and we would buy the doors. Well, even THAT was expensive. I don't care for fine jewelry, we do not take exotic trips, I am not a "shopper" and I am not into fashion. However, I have always wanted and deserved a dream kitchen. My husband wanted to make sure it happened. We absolutely LOVE our house and plan to be here a long long time. We own a small business and he works 6 days a week. He started planning, measuring etc probably a year ago. We kept tweaking, and he started cutting and making cabinets, a little at a time. I saw nothing of this work, he would come home and tell me he was excited for the kitchen but to me it still didn't seem real. There are a few "flaws" that might not be fixable, but because they are small and also because they are from my husband's hands, I do not mind them at all. I can't wait to show you the interior of the cabs, and all the bells and whistles in this kitchen. That will have to wait, though! The pictures are dark because my kitchen is dark. I hate not having a window. We may add one of those "solatube" things eventually...I found out about them on the home decor forum here on GW. Hubby is adding some hi hats in the kitchen, plus we will have a light fixure over the peninsula (which is barely visible in the picture...it is jutting out at the bottom right.) We are getting a island hood vent (which I will start another thread about eventually, I am overwhelmed) and I am bummed because it is going to cause some of that "openess" to disappear, but I *need* an island hood vent! We are going to cover the gaps below and above the dbl wall oven. We are putting a curtain under the SS farmhouse sink, to hide all those cleaning products you see. Haven't decided the color or look just yet. Yes, that is a wood trim where the countertops meet the wall. My husband is going to stain it the same color as the countertops. You see...the counters...they are PLYWOOD! yes, PLYWOOD! We are eventually doing butcher block on the perimeter, and something different on the island (haven't decided yet) but the plywood looks so darn good, I told him let's just keep it until it falls apart! He rounded the corners and put a band on the edges, also. So, the wood trim you see, the backsplash will stop there for now and when the permanent countertops come in, he will finish the backsplash. We had discussed some sort of trim on the lower part of the cabs, but he got some undermount lights to put under the cabs that will not show at all, so we decided to skip it. Now I am wondering if maybe we should go ahead and do it. I am glad to see everyone was in agreement about needing something at the top of the cabs! I want to add that the ceiling is REALLY uneven so that is why you see such variations in the cab heights. I am worried that is going to make doing a trim even more difficult. My hubby curses the builder of this home every time he tries to do something to the house. He is sure he was an alcoholic, and says if he ran into him on the street he would punch him! lol. Walls are uneven, floors uneven, ceiling uneven, pitiful rigging of electricity, plumbing...you name it! As far as the help in posting pics...THANK YOU for taking the time to type that out and/or provide helpful links. I know how time consuming it is to explain these things (heck, I have already been typing this post WAYYYY too long, lol) so I appreciate the help. I think the problem is in the resizing, not the posting. Maybe it is indeed the picture quality as a few of you have suggested. When I see the pic in photobucket, it looks crisp and in focus, but when I try to resize it, it gets blurry. I will keep trying! Oh, and I do use a digital camera, a canon elph 7.1 megapixels purchased several years ago so I will see if that is the problem. thank you buehl, biochem, suzanne and htracey for the picture help! hollysprings-I will mention those terms and your suggestion to my hubby. Yes, def agree that undercab lighting is a must! still need our glass insert in the door of the corner cab...and shelves, also. Have 2 other cabs that have interior lights across from the island, not visable in this pic. But all cabs will have under cab lighting, for sure! And they will be on dimmer switches! kitchenkelly-thanks for the picture. Of course I need something smaller, but that look is very pretty! suzannel-my husband said if he knew how much work these cabs were going to be, he would have never been able to psyche himself up for the job! He also said he does not want to brag, but he even impressed himself! LOL! lascatx-I remember seeing that kitchen! Love it. I am not crazy about those tiles, but def considered something more "spanishy". BTW, my grandfather was born in Spain, and my husband is of Cuban descent so we do feel like we want to play up the spanish flair in our home. htracey-I *love* molding in general, but in this house, I wanted to stay away from it. Mainly because I grew up in a florida ranch home in the 1970s...and so did all of my friends, and I NEVER saw decorative molding EVER. I am trying to stay somewhat "true" to the era this house was built in. It's one of the reasons I don't want granite counters. I know might sound like a joke to some, not like this is a historic home from the 1800s or anything, lol. However, I have a "thing" for the 1970s...I just can't explain it! Of course, no one I knew had a double oven, or SS appliances for that matter. The other thing about crown molding is the ceilings are SOOOOO uneven it would be a nightmare for DH to install. So, in general I am NOT a molding fan (again, FOR THIS HOUSE) but I do see now that everyone agrees I need molding in this situation! Thank you again for your help. lynn, singingmicki, cmm and green-thank you for your input! And yes, I am definitely thinking something shimmery for the backplash. I don't think I want subway tiles, tho. Or glass. Maybe something mother of pearlish? Ok, I really like this...saw it at Home Depot and loved the sample, but after doing research, I am scared the product that gets shipped to me will not look like the sample. I know this is a marble and not sure how "70s" marble is...but I think it LOOKS very 70s. The 6x6 tile at HD was tubled and had a rough texture, which I really liked. here is *kind of* the antique mirror look that I like. Let's see if those S.O.B.s post, dang it! Ok, thanks again, everyone. I have neglected my family for far too long this afternoon, but I am so grateful for all the help, I need it!