You are not crazy and HC 19 is one of the best colors to do this with.

Paint the wainscoting and the crown HC 19 too. And the tray ceiling the Navajo White. The only thing I'm unsure about is the extra crown inside the tray ceiling.

Oh wait, are you talking about just doing the dining room like that and not the living? Because I'm unsure of that ...

Definitely would do both spaces. Trim in both LR and DR would be Norwich Brown. (LR has a crown too that would be painted, plus around the windows).

Might add a chair rail in LR? Do just the chair rail? or below as well in Norwich? Would that be too much because then it would feel like the whole bottom half of both the DR and LR would be the Norwich? Too much of a good thing?

Also, trying to consider what to do with the pillars for now? Navajo? Norwich? (Having trouble envisioning that.)

Thanks for the feedback. I'm so thrilled to get a response. Especially one that is encouraging.

I love painted trim and I have it in my DR. I'm a bit concerned about not being able to paint the vinyl windows. Our windows and mullions are painted as trim, and I can't visualize what having painted trim, with white windows would look like. If I were you, I might paint the window trim first and stand back and see if I liked the look before proceeding to the rest of the room.

I would paint the trim in the tray ceiling the color of the rest of the trim.

DR with painted window and mullions:
{{!gwi}}

barb, what a beautiful room!

I don't think the white windows would look good if the trim were painted brown. Usually if the trim is a color, the windows are painted the same as the trim. Also, I worry that the trim in the LR is too skimpy to carry off a color. Any chance you would add a chair rail and wainscoting there too? I'd paint the pillars to match the trim.

Here's a photo of a Stickley DR with painted trim. I think it looks fantastic, but I know it's not exactly what you're planning to do with your space. I also like the three lanterns in lieu of a chandelier. Good luck with your project. I love Stickley furniture. The only piece I have is a plate rack.

Barb, I could sit in that room all day long. I never tire of seeing one of the VERY few greens I can tolerate. And the green you have is gorgeous. This is from someone who hates green walls, lol, but not your's!

I keep expecting to see men with powdered wigs to be sitting at the table. :)

Just checked this thread. Thank you, Awm and Oakleyok!

Had 8 over for dinner two nights ago- no powdered wigs, but some men with long hair tied back in ponytails.

Is there anything worse than being ordinary, I think not.

{{!gwi}}

Barb I love your dining room!

{{!gwi}}

What a stunning room, newdawn!

My SIL has her whole house done in a tan colored trim. The walls are a white to off-white color (her dh won't let her put in any color and it drives her crazy, LOL!). But the darker color trim looks very nice. Sorry, I don't have any pictures.

Barb - I LOVE your room. I am sorry I haven't been able to respond sooner. I was wrangling a cranky toddler and cleaning up after the in-laws were here for a week.

Do you mind sharing your color?? I think it has a beautiful historic look to it. I have considered the blue/green way as well. Not sure if I can go that way with my furnishings, but seeing your color makes me want to look again.

I also appreciate your advice about standing back and looking at the windows to see if I could pull it off. Perhaps the Norwich Brown might not work with the vinyl windows - but a lighter color could.

My guess is that it is either all or nothing - I suppose it would look strange with white trim around the windows, but color on the wainscoting and crown molding, yes?

One more question - when you refer to painting the tray - do you mean the tippy top? or the middle ceiling section?

In other words - I have the lowest part of the ceiling, a middle part and then the highest part of the tray. I'm utterly confused about what each part is called and how to paint it.

Thanks again for everyone's support and pictures. Newdawn, your pictures are awesome. And it looks like the windows are white, but the crown and baseboard is painting. So maybe there is hope for me? Of course the windows in the picture are gorgeous with black old-fashioned slats...

Hi Repainting,

I'm always glad when someone likes my DR. The color of the trim is BM HC Sherwood Green, the color of the wall is BM HC Windham Cream, and the ceiling is a very light yellow, the name of which I can't remember right now- it is not in the HC category.

The Sherwood Green is more in the yellow green group, I think. I have a folder of the BM HCs, but I am not seeing the Norwich Brown. In the folder I have, BM has grouped the colors into groupings that complement each other. That is how I came to pair the Sherwood Green with the WIndham Cream. Before that, I had either Navajo White or Linen White with the green, and while it was OK, it wasn't great. You might want to see if and what BM has grouped the Norwich Brown to. Just a suggestion.

As for the windows, maybe it would work to leave all the windows white, including the trim. I see that your LR merges into a grand foyer with your entry door and a door across the way. I am assuming those would remain white and that might segue into the continued white of your windows. But I do agree with you that a lighter trim color might be the way to go in that case. Powell Buff HC-35?

I have no experience with tray ceilings. But my idea was to paint the flat part of the ceiling that is horizontal your regular ceiling color, for instance, if you went with Powell Buff, maybe Hepplewhite Ivory HC -36, and on the vertical aspects of your ceiling, it looks like you have trim peices, and I would paint those the Powell Buff.

FWIW, I like the way your walls are painted now. Are they sponged?

Barb -

I love your ideas. And it is so funny that you wrote about Powell Buff. I have about 5 samples of that plastered in different places in my kitchen.

Also, I had to laugh about how nice you were with calling my foyer a grand foyer. :) I come from a 1300 sq. ft 1920's house (just moved about 4 months ago to PA from upstate NY). I call my foyer, a waste of space. I would much rather have another bedroom upstairs for a playroom, crafts, etc. Not that I'm in need of space, but I'm not one much for tall spaces. Small and cozy does the trick for me. Just weren't those kind of houses for sale where I was looking...at least not that we could afford.

Anyhow - back to the task at hand. My house completely connects - the kitchen to the family (almost one room). The family has a back staircase (another silly thing), that runs to the hallway upstairs that connects to the foyer downstairs. So in other words, every room upstairs and downstairs connects. ugh.

So my plan is that all trim in the connecting part of the house (minus LR, DR and bedrooms) will be Navajo White. Because that matches my kitchen cabinetry. And all ceilings will be Navajo White as well.

This is being painted during nap times by me. (which is why it takes me too long to respond to the GW forum!)

Yesterday, I managed to prime all of the trim in my foyer downstairs. Hurray!

So, whatever is in my walls on the foyer needs to run to the upstairs hallway, which runs into one wall in the family room and will also be in the kitchen. blah. So I'm thinking of using Powell Buff for that color. I'm hoping it is a good match to Navajo White.

Three walls in the family room will be SW Baguette. I'm very happy with this color. Just wishing that I didn't have the whole back staircase issue that makes everything connect.

So Powell and Baguette, with Navajo will be the two primary colors in the downstairs.

I could always consider Wilmington Tan for the LR/DR trim. Only issue is that it doesn't look quite as good with the Stickley furniture and sitll might be too dark around the windows.

But perhaps you were on the right track by suggesting Powell Buff for the trim. Maybe something with that depth, just another color (because I will be using that in my other spaces.)

OR I could just flipflop those rooms and use Powell on the trim and Navajo on the walls? Would that be strange, too?

I'm not sure if any of this post will make sense. I'm sorry to ramble. Perhaps, if you are interested I can post more pictures of my space to help it make more sense.

I've been working on this since I moved in, and now that things are finally getting primed, I need to make decisions so that I can get to the exciting part.

In any event, thank you again for your advice and help. I am so grateful!
Carolyn (aka repainting, again, and again)