I love your bronze trim on the windows. BM White Dove is a great trim color. I think your windows would be gorgeous with a creamy white trim color like WD.

I also like your bronze windows. An off white like White Dove should look good with the windows and your paint colors.

Paint trim, base & doors

You can paint vinyl trim around windows.

Don't any of your windows have window coverings? drapes, blinds or shades? You have to first make the decision if you're going to paint the trim and the doors. That will dictate what you do with the window trim, not vice versa.

I don't have much for window coverings. The boys have cheap mini blinds for now, just to keep the sun out so they don't wake up so early. We still have the blinds the original owners left in the bathroom just for privacy and I haven't figured out what I will do in there. I need something that covers the bottom half of the window and allows the sun in all day. Our bedroom has thin, sheer curtains, for a bit of privacy and to filter out the hot sun as our windows face south and west. The rest of the windows are completely uncovered and likely to stay that way.

Living room window that is vinyl wood grain with matching trim.

More of the Living Room

Hallway from living room and kitchen/dining area to 2 bedrooms, bathroom and two closets. (Sorry, I am painting my 8 year old son's bedroom this weekend and moved stuff into the hallway.)

front door of our split entry home

You can see the weird partisan thing in the living room that apparently we are supposed to put foam and fake flowers in??? Not a clue what we will do with this. We store junk in it right now. :(

Upper level bathroom. I painted the wood a medium gray. Not sure what color the walls will end up.

The kitchen is almost done and ready to paint. Still needs a back splash and open shelves(??) over the narrow cabinets.

door and window to the back deck from the dining area. I would like to have that redone and wide door put in, but that is a remodel that is a few years away...at least.

My son's bedroom that is just getting painted BM Banana Yellow. It is bright!

He has a very large section of windows in his room. They will have to be replaced very soon as they are old, hard to open and leak air badly. It is one of the few original 1966 windows in the house.

My son's accent colors he picked out for his room. He has a pine bunk bed/reading nook that I will prime and paint one of the colors, maybe shelves in another color and try to incorporate the other colors in bedding and such. He does have short black curtains with Phinneas and Ferb on them that has all of the colors he picked for his bedroom. They are just for looks, not very functional.

My bedroom. It's bright and hard to get good pix. The colors are aqua and a taupe/brown color. I really like BM Palladian, Wyeth and similar colors, but we haven't decided yet.

Stairs from the entry to the LL hallway

My husband's super messy office he is finally moving into after all the construction. It is BM Guilford Green with an accent wall of Raspberry Truffle

His office is below my son's room and has the same old windows that will have to be replace very soon. It faces north and so it doesn't get the best light in there. He is the one that is really pushing for the trim and doors to be painted. Funny...since I am the one that is in charge of all the painting!

My 11 year old's LL bedroom after construction and paint. BM Patriot Blue and Metallic Silver with Simply White accent strip and painted bookcase. I promised I would find a way to incorporate his favorite color (PINK!) in here as well, but I haven't figured out how.

hall from LL bedrooms and bath to the family room. Because of all the flooding that occurred after we moved in, my husband had to tear out all of the walls. The doors will have to be replaced as well. This is the only new one he has put in so far.

Our family room is also a work in progress. The painting is done, but there isn't any trim up yet. The accent wall is SW Folkstone and the rest of the room is BM Limelight.

The new door from the LL family room that walks up into the garage. We haven't decided if we should paint it or not.

From the pictures and the kitchen I would have thought that your home was more contemporary in style and would not have guessed that buying 6 panel doors a solution for your home.

Painting doors and trim is A LOT OF WORK sanding, priming, painting. Frankly, I would simply slowly replace all the doors and closet doors with something easily available and affordable. The door styles below from HD are available prehung & PREPAINTED. They just get installed and matching trim is installed around the doors. Then I would simply replace the baseboards or paint them in a paint to match the doors. You can continue with 6 panel doors, but unless your home is colonial and traditional, IMO it's not the right direction to do.

I would put a new cap board on top of the patition in the living room, and that would eliminate that really out of date planter thing. One of my friends took it out completely and put a solid wall there, and it has given her a lot more furniture arrangement ideas. Have you thought about painting the paneled part of it? It would take away some of the dated look of it.

The paneled doors wouldn't have been our choice, but what was in stock and not too expensive when they had to be replaced. My husband said the selection was very limited, especially for the solid wood door that leads to the family room. I am hoping that the rest of the doors will be more our style.

I would like to do something entirely different with the partitian one day so that it feels more open, but until then I will likely paint it. Something like below, but maybe not as severe. Still looking for ideas!

Stainless Steel Cable Railing · More Info

Transitional Deck · More Info

This Pre Hung, Pre Painted door is $149.90 and can be ordered on line from HD. I recommend this solution based on personal experience, provided you can measure the size of the doors you already have. Sometimes the staff at HD will quote a very long lead time so they don't have to spend the time writing up the order. You can have the doors shipped to the store or directly to your home. The same thing is available through Lowes. I just ordered a storm door and though they quoted 3 weeks, the door arrived in 10 days at the store.

This door would coordinate with your kitchen and MATCH YOUR KITCHEN CABINETS. With the contemporary direction you are headed plain white is your safest choice for paint. There's also the option to eliminate trim from the windows so you have nothing to paint.

Any suggestions for an exterior door? The one that leads from the kitchen to the deck is pretty old and inefficient. It will need to be replaced before we can extend the deck and put in a larger door like I had hoped to do when we first bought the house. I am having a hard time finding a door that doesn't look like either a front door or a service door, like the one to the garage. I would like it to still let in a lot of sunlight.

I really like the white door you posted. I wonder if I will have an issue getting matching doors if I change them out over time and having styles discontinued if it takes me too long? I don't think small differences would bother me, but it would make my OCD husband nuts!

Thank you for all your advice. I feel better about painting the trim, but know it is going to be a very long process and its a daunting task to take on.

I really like that door, but worry that our existing storm door would take away from the look. But we live in Minnesota, so they are necessary. And having boys (8 &11) and all their friends in and out, I don't trust them with a storm door that is all glass. But that is the look I want.

Unfortunately, I can't have any plants in the house - real or fake, even. The cat is obsessed with them, and even a pineapple sitting on the counter while I put away groceries is too tempting for him. I really have no idea what to do with that channel. The boys (husband included) pile stuff on there and the cat knocks it off. Felix the cat seems to think that is the best place to lounge and keep an eye on everyone.

When we moved into this house, pretty much everything was original 1966 (including the KITCHEN carpet!) or cheaply and haphazardly replaced when the owner's children got it ready to sell. We are slowly changing out every almond light switch and outlet, hinges and door knobs are on the list as well. It's a hot mess of outdated drabness! But after a complete kitchen remodel and the entire level flooding after living here for two months, my dream of sweeping through all the cosmetic updates it needs fell by the wayside as my husband spent 6 months renovating the lower level. He needed a break from the inside and is now spending his spare time on building a treehouse. I'll get him back to it one of these days...

Thank you! I needed that right at this moment! I am painting my son's room while he is out of town and I keep getting destracted by the other rooms. Trying to find a way to store all of his Lego sets leads to me measuring hall closets for new storage ideas, looking at drawer pulls for the living room unit and open shelving to finish off the kitchen! I need to file away all these ideas until I get his room back together and then tackle the next room. I appreciate everyone's advice and input!

Your boys won't be small forever and this glass door can certainly take a beating. Additionally, you can use a coordinating storm door

I've had a cat, so I know what they can do to live plants and soil, but I'm not quite sure why silk plants are not an option. Or you can use joanies suggestion and just cap the top.

Her suggestion of getting one room done at a time will provide you with a sense of accomplishment. Also I'm not sure I would do too much in the way of paint for your kids rooms. What works for a boy at 7 will be hated by a boy of 12, so unless you're planning to paint and repaint, it's much easier to keep a base color and just change the wall decor, window covering and the bedding from time to time.