I just went with ivory (or almond, depending on the manufacturer - they're off-white) switchplates, because our trim is Antique White so bright white would have stood out more.

We also replaced the switchplates on the granite backsplash in our kitchen with off-white ones. They were previously painted gray. At first I thought the new ones stood out more, but now I don't even notice.

I want them and vents and outlets to disappear on the wall. Otherwise, I think they look like pimples.

Someday, when I'm really old and can't see the switchplates, I'll have to grope along the walls to turn on the lights, but until that day comes.....

I've never paid much attention to them really. The only time I even "see" them is if they are dirty or broken. now that you mention it though, The first owner of our previous house had used some wallpaper in the dining room and the wall plates were papered too, they really blended in much better in that case.

Mine are white to match my trim (windows, crown and base)
Pimples...LOL!

Mine are painted to match the wall they are on.

In the last painting projects I've begun since this summer, I painted the light switch plates, electrical plates and vents to match the wall color. I like the coordinated look. They almost disappear and are far less distracting.

Mine are all white, as is my trim. When I do my backsplash I may paint those a cream color, to match the tile, but other than that I am fine with the white.

I bought nice metal ones from RH. I have natural wood trim and floors. They have ceramic ones in white and off-white that are easy to clean and look better than the builders grade plastic.

Here is a link that might be useful: RH Covers

I like decora white switchs & plates. On my granite back splash I have gray decora, on the oak skirt on the kitchen island I used oak decora switch plates. I think switches "and" plates matter.

I painted mine to match
Before

TayMac makes the Masque wall plate cover. It is paintable. Below is the link. I bought one to test. It seemed to do fine, but then I fell down on the job and didn't get the others replaced.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tay Mac Masque

I am working my way through the house so that all mine stand out. Yes, I know that isn't popular. But I don't like searching for the light switch and I love the hammered copper plates (used in kitchen) and ORB elsewhere.

Red

If I paint a dark color I paint them if I paint light I usually leave them white.

I DO care, and replaced all of the switch plates in my home when I bought it two years ago. In my kitchen, I painted the plates that covered the granite with some of the stone-look spray paint and was able to match the granite real well. The plates that were on the slate tile backsplash, I replaced with the hammered copper, much like those redbazel used. For all the other rooms, which all have glossy white trim and lots of moldings, I found white composite switch plates that are quite thick and have an ogee frame around each - very elegant looking. It cost me over $100 to do all of the plates in my 3-bedroom house but I thought it was well worth it. I did not bother to replace the outlet covers though. That was a bit more than I wanted to spend and they are not as visable.

I like mine to blend in & disappear. I have the decora style covers & switch plates which I covered with muslin & painted to match the wall. Kind of a pain to do, but better than looking at shiny plastic or an accent metal finish. My backsplash is copper so that was easy to match.

splais, do you mind if I piggy back with my own outlet question. I have the same awful beige plastic outlets/outlet covers in my stained wood judges paneling. They stand out like a sore thumb. I've seen unfinished wood outlet covers that you can stain to match. What about the double plug piece itself? Do I stay with the ugly beige?

nicole, what did you use with yours?

The things that people obsess over, lol!

I was afraid I was the only one; but as you can see, wall plates are very important :)

"Obsessing: ...disturbing preooccupation..."

boysrus2, there are plates you can paint that cover everything but the prong holes. Not sure I've seen any you can stain. check HD or L's

I guess I would have to say I care. For the most part, I paint over mine to match the wall paint. However, I ran into a problem with a switchplate cover in my backsplash when we redid the kitchen. I had gone to great lengths to not have any outlets/switches in the back splash. I came home one day to find a double switch in this position, with no hope of moving it, short of rewiring.

Needless to say I was not happy, but decided to live with it for a year to see if it would "disappear". If it hadn't been in the middle of a decorative tile, I would have probably left it alone. However, I saw it every time I did the dishes, cooked, cleaned or even walked through the kitchen. After a year, I had someone match it for me - this was the result:

Although I thought it was outrageously expensive at the time, I am glad I did it because now I don't even notice there is a switch on the wall until I go to use it.

I care about those things! I'm already working on finding replacements for when I move!!

but i'll be getting SWwestern covers - like: coyotes, kokopelli, cacti.

Switch plates and wall plugs are not "design elements"...nor are cold air vents and hot air vents.
I want then to disappear and I paint, stain faux and anything else I can do make them not stand out.
Likewise down spouts on the house exterior and those corner pieces on vinyl siding. Those things are not "accent features".
Linda C

I think it's all a matter of personal preference. Who am I to say it's right or wrong to hide them or showcase them. As for our home we have several different kinds and colors. I've painted many of them to match the walls, some are wooden stained to match our wood trim. We have brushed nickel in our master bath where the walls are a shimmery silver and in our sons bathroom just because I liked them. Our original ones were all almond, but the one on the side of the island would have stood out like a sore thumb so we bought a replacement in brown.

YOU CAN BUY OUTLET OR SWITCH REPLACEMENTS IN ALMOND, WHITE, BROWN OR GRAY. Eventually I'll change the outlets and switches in the two bathrooms to gray ones so they'll blend in more. Right now it's not that important to me. Too many other things to do.

I have the square plug, and switches, as shown in Amylville's photo.

I did find the plates with the hidden screws. You attach a thin plate around the plug or switch with the two screws, and the outer plate snaps over it. No exposed screwss.

Right now all my plates are ivory, except for the bathroom. They're white; and the electrician put in ivory plugs. It does not bother me at all, and I do like having the screws covered.

That's my neighbor, "supervising!"

Not my photo, but it shows the before and after of the screwless switchplate cover.

Desertsteph - Check out the Talavera site for wonderful SW switchplates, lighting and of course, tiles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Casatalavera

I am getting SUCH a kick from amyl and mnbamma's paint jobs. AWESOME!

I know, aren't they amazing? I forgot to mention that with all the talk of my different plates.

I've long had a soft spot for Honeywell Tap-Lite switches and plates - just punch the big, round, convex button to turn on or off. The wallplate is clear plastic, held in place by gripping the round inner bezel without screws. The full effect isn't acheived unless you have wallpaper or panelling which continues underneath the clear switchplate uninterupted except by the button itself. A selection of alternate wallplate inserts are also included - solids, retro prints, a clown for kid's rooms (punch the nose to turn on/off the light), etc.

Two, three, and four-switch versions exist, as to different button colors and dimmer switches.

Very unique and hard to find nowadays.

{{!gwi}}

My switch plates for lights match my walnut trim except inhte two upstairs bathrooms where they are white to match the bathrooms. The electrical plug outlet covers as well as are intake vents are all primed and painted to blend into the wall color.

All my trim is white so I have left all my plates white, even in the dark colored rooms. It just adds to the trim being white.

But in my dining room I used wallpaper. I covered each plate with the paper and then took one of the colors from the paper and painted the plug part. We never use the outlets so this worked well. They blend in perfectly.

I do agree that this is a really silly thing for us to be concerned about but I figure as long as we don't go overboard. Now my bro changed out all the hinges on his doors in new house because they did not match all the rooms perfectly. I know some here have done that and I think that is cool, would I do that? No. But if something really bugs you and you aren't harming anything, go ahead and make yourself happy.

By the way, that tile plate is AMAZING!

I think I am a little different from most as a good portion of my light switch covers are the vintage metal models. I like the metal over the plastic type as they last forever.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Oh, haley comet, I bought 10 or 12 of that exact pattern (sorry to say at our local dollar store, hope you didn't pay full retail), some I used in the antique brass, some I painted black, some I painted faux patina "pewter". I only got the plug ones, they didn't have switchplates in that pattern (is it the dollar store after all), but I got a bunch of solid brass switchplates that match pretty well. I also have other odd and end switch and plug covers, mostly from the dollar store, others from an architectural salvage place, and you are right, they are so much nicer than the plastic ones.

sandyponder

Yep, clearly a personal choice. I think that they are design elements. I have the same ones that Red has because in my old house, the door knobs really are oil-rubbed bronze from a hundred years of use. Kind of yukky to think about that though.
Diane

This was one of those decisions that I never considered until our builders brought it up. I was over my head in decisions, and was irritated that I was supposed to care about such a little thing. And yet, when I chose oil-rubbed bronze in our kitchen to blend in with the rest of the fixtures, I LOVED them! I didn't use them anywhere else because of the extra expense, but certainly wish I had. Pick something you LIKE without just settling...I think you'll actually care about it later even though it seems like a silly decision now.

I think anything can be a design element if you have something you like and want to use in that way. Some of the best rooms I have ever seen, whether in magazine photos, online, or in person, have utilized objects that are usually hidden or overlooked, as features to be enjoyed in that room. Now, I don't use the metal switch covers really to add design, I just think they look nice, are easier to keep looking good and clean, and are readily found when you need a switch. And when I need a switch, I don't want to be groping all over someone's purple wall trying to find the purple-painted swich! But they look nice blended too when done well...........as I've seen here.

Check out these air conditioning grills! They are from the new issue of House Beautiful in an article on Caribbean style.

Red

Recently saw a show on TV that had an upscale house with painted switchplate covers. They were as obvious as decorative plates. Made me wonder why bother?

There is only one place where I got picky. In the rest of the house I put in "off the shelf" ORB.

In the kitchen, after renovating, we had a dark green marble backsplash installed. Being a kitchen, there were literally 8 switchplates on that backsplash. Moving them was not in the budget. I knew it would really bother me if I saw all those sticking out. I looked on line first for paintable ones but we had some odd combinations I could not find. Plus the round phone jack. On a thread here I found instructions for taking a common plastic switchplate and painting it so the paint will not scrape off. After that (light sanding, degreasing, and spraying with a dark green plastic paint to use as a primer) I faux painted them to match the backplash. The prep took some time (more the waiting for the coats to be dry), but the faux painting was all done in the time it took my husband to make dinner. I topped it with maybe 4 coats of clear spray lacquer. We couldnÂt paint the actual sockets and switches, so I ordered dark brown for those, which pretty much fades in. 5 years later and they are still perfect, IÂm glad I took the time to do it. I can even wash them. I was inspired by that and went on to do the ugly yellow plastic lids to my glass canister set.

mnbamma that is amazing! How did they do the embossing?

I was going to do the Masque for a quad outlet that got put in my DR by mistake (builder did it like the LR where TV and other electronics were going when I said to make the DR "under the windows like the other rooms" meaning BRs). But Tay Mac doesn't make the 2000 series in a quad, only a duplex. Guess I could get the 5000 series with 2 adapter plates but haven't wanted to bother since local HD doesn't carry them.

I definitely care. We paint, paper or replace our switch plate and outlet covers every time we redo a room. We have a couple that have never been painted, but for the most part they are all a victorian style or painted to match the wall color.

Amylville, That looks great.How did you do it?

Most in our home are oak to match our trim. The ones that are painted match the walls on which they are located - same with heating/ac vents.

I consider switchplates an opportunity to decorate. I prefer outlets to be invisible on the wall. I found these blue glass switchplate covers in CrackerBarrel and still love them after 16 or so years. See how the outlet kinda blends.

I'm buying a house in the "woods" and was delighted to see the previous owner shared my interest in switchplates--all are unique and very different.

{{!gwi}}