I like a bright house. We have lots of windows and french doors and lighter shades of paint. Only our entry door is stained, and it is in a surround-sidelights that is painted. All our doors, frames, window casings, baseboards, etc. are BM 'white linen'. We are empty nesters in a traditional style house (not craftsman, etc.). The only 'little destroyer' visiting frequently is one grandson, age 3.5. I think our less expensive but solid manufactured wood doors and our trim can be repainted many times for what we would have spent on wood worthy of staining. An FYI about your cherry kitchen cabinets: I was told they tend to darken with age.

I am looking for the same thing, frankly. I had PLANNED on painting every single stitch of stained woodwork in our 'new' 60's ranch. But am rethinking this as well. I did, however paint the woodwork in our rehabbed kitchen and family room, and am not disappointed. We also have a more orangy finish on our stain too. I will say that with the 'orangy' beams in our family room, which we intended to paint too, we decided to just darken the stain to an ebony color and it looks great. All we did was wipe it on, no prep work at all. So you might want to considertrying that in one room since I DO understand that that color can date a room. Also I have seen some rooms where they paint the trim/casing around the windows but kept the actual windows and mullions dark wood. Wish I could find those photos now. So, in conclusion, I feel your pain lol And also would like to see some rooms with stained trim.

From what I can see the trim looks in good condition - what are you hoping to accomplish by painting it?. Get wall colors that work with the color of your wood, instead of vice versa. (there are an infinite variety of greys so you should be able to find something that will bring out its beauty while still being something that you like). Colors are all about how they relate to other colors. Once you start on the slippery slope of painting woodwork it goes downhill pretty fast. The first coat looks pretty for a while but eventually it starts peeling,chipping, getting stained & discolored, getting re-coated with more layers of paint that starts looking like a lumpy mess. Paint layered on window sashes eventually starts messing up the functioning of the windows. If it's you who ends up having to remove multiple layers of paint (which eventually needs to be done even if you are just repainting it) you will regret the day you ever went down that path! I would stain the trim before I'd stain the floor just because its a more manageable job and dark floors are a PITA to keep clean. What kind of wood are we talking about, oak? There are products that would really beautify and enrich the color of oak without being a heavy pigment stain that obscures the grain - look into shellac, waterlox finish, or even a dye stain for first coat under the finish coat. When you put a dark pigment stain on it obscures the grain but also goes deep into the grain which can only be removed by deep sanding (bear in mind there are only so many sandings a floor can take before it has to be replaced.)

I love the color, but I do think that because you can't paint the metal windows, you should leave the woodwork white. The completely one solid color in your inspiration photo is what makes it a unique "look", but having to leave your window frames white while the woodwork is dark would look kind of half-finished. That said, I think the white woodwork looks fantastic in the room!