if it makes you feel any better, I was reading a thread on different decorating site that bemoaned white window casings--for like vinyl windows--because the color just does not work with any "nice" trim whites...and it yellows So you are probably ahead of the game going with a tan casing color

I love red - how far does your stool project out from the wall? Also how far does it extend to the side beyond the edge of the backband? Is your stool eased on both top and bottom edge or just top edge? my contractor mocked up one of our windows and I think our stool needs to be a bit deeper.. it only projects 1.25” out from wall and my backband is 1” thick. also, I have a few spots where I don’t have quite enough space for my trim and back and. I might be an inch short. Can you share a pic of what you did? Did you eliminate the backband on one side only? Or did you just reduce the size of the trim on both sides so that you could fit the backband and maintain symmetry on both sides? and if I rip down sides, do I still have the header be the normal height (so sides skinnier than header)? Lastly, you mentioned varying the size of trim used in different locations. I am wondering how that looks. I was just going to use 1x4 everywhere with my backband, but I have a couple wide case openings and beefier trim might be good on those. where else might I use wider trim? And is it ok to mix sizes within the same room (Like use wider trim on cased openings and large double French doors but standard 1x4 for smaller windows in that space)? Thx!!

We just put the side light in with ribbed glass. That has to stay. I didn't know about the Urbane Bronze color. Do you know if that will work on the vinyl window trims? Also, we just put in the satin nickel door lock set so that stays also, thinking it would look good with black (and my husband didn't want a black door handle). Would the bronze color and satin nickel go well next to each other on the door? What if we did the door in the same color as the garage door? A bit greyer green than the house color.

Most likely there is a leak around your window someplace, could be from the snow. At times when there is freezing weather at night and during the day when thawing occurs, the water flow could back up and travel upward finding a way to penetrate the wall cavity, something that will not happen during normal conditions. Moisture is causing the wood to swell and push out the trim.