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Paint Home Decorating Design Dilemma

Light wood trim, dark wood trim or paint

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Renovating our first home we just bought.

Painting all walls white. floors will also be a light white oak. What color should I leave the trim? The doors are antique!

I’m planning on leaving the beams a dark brown. Was thinking of going a little darker with the stain like espresso instead of the cherry. I thought this might look more modern and a better contract with the white oak floors. however I’m really not sure. Was also thinking of going light with all the wood trim. the floors and walls will be light so there’d be little contrast but might be a nice light and airy look.

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Comments (7)

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Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
IMO espresso was the color for really cheap chinese kitchen cabinet and all kinds of cheap tables so no to that idea. I know people have this thing about painting wood but IMO too much wood is not good either There is nothing I see that is modern in the pics you post so maybe explain that a bit.I assume the furniture is not yours so post some pics of your stuff to give some idea of your style and the colors.
Jennifer Hogan
3 years ago
It looks like you have beautiful wood doors, door trim and beams. Don't know what you have around the windows (not pictured). Looks like the stairs could use a bit of TLC.

If I were you I would not be in a hurry to paint or refinish the wood.

First year in the home should be figuring out what works, doesn't work, how the home functions and where to sink your money.

Prime your walls - live with them for a bit and decide if you really want white walls. I know all the pictures on the internet today are white rooms, but they also have studio lighting. Not all homes look good with all white walls. White needs lots of light to really shine. Often a light neutral color looks better than white if you don't have giant windows, skylights or other great lighting.

My last home had between 6 and 16 linear feet of windows in each room - natural daylight galore and I had white walls. My current home has more normal sized windows in most rooms and I am painting the walls that were white to something more appropriate for the amount of light. The white just isn't pretty with out sufficient light.

With the walls all primed you can look at flooring and paint and make a better decision on what works best in your new home.
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Hi nostalgicfarm. Our floors are #2 grade oak. I wanted a lot of knots, but the dang installers cut most of them out! They are stained Dark Walnut (I think) and finished with tung oil. The trim is pine stained Sherwin Williams Walnut Wainscot. We currently have five inside pets; three cats and two dogs (54lbs and 10lbs). The floors have held up great. No scratches. Easy to clean. Most of the house is painted a warm white (looks much brighter in photographs) so it balances the wood doors, flooring, windows and beams. My youngest daughter has Anderson Hickory Forge in Ringing Anvil. She has four dogs, two cats, one 2yo. It is gorgeous and since it is literally hand scraped (not machine) there's no pattern. It has held up better than I imagined. The few places I've seen have been in the grooves (vacuum wheels?), and she just goes over with a felt tip staining pin, followed by paper towel to wipe up any extra. Here's a link to her MBR redo so you can see hers. Here is a link that might be useful: MBR Redo
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If you have an 80's home, that stained trim may not be anything special. You might just be better off painting it too and giving the house a lighter look. As far as color everyone always suggests beige because it is safe. There are other 'not in your face' colors that will work. A light yellow might work with your house, particularly a vanilla or something that would compliment the gold in the room. You can paint darker colors, but that tends to make a room look darker and smaller. If you truly want something a bit darker, I might go as far as a medium color, but wouldn't go any darker than that.
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You need to post pictures of all the issues and the rooms.
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Your window panes appear to have divided lights. I'm not sure if you are thinking of hiring a painter, or doing the painting. Either way, the painter is going to charge to do all those divided lights, or you are going to be doing painstaking work yourself. White is very fashionable now, but once you paint woodwork white, it will never go back to being stained wood. To prep, you need to sand lightly every single surface, then primer to keep the color from bleeding, and then you will need to fill every little hole and crevice that you didn't know were there until you put white on it, and how they look bad. Then you can apply the paint. So, I'm thinking that the white has been around for about 20-25 years now. Fashion will be swinging back to the darker colors again, as it has already shown up in cabinetry. The woodwork will have to be replaced if you change your mind and want stained wood in a few years. I agree with the comments about using lighter colors in your furnishing and even artwork on the walls.
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Cindy Warren Fialka
3 years ago
No opinion but you should take off the address of your new house from a public forum!
nicochic
Original Author
3 years ago
I took the address off! Anyways thank you everyone for your opinion. I agree taking it slow is a good option but at the same time I’m anxious to get things the way I like!

heres an example of my apartment now.

jennifer, do you have any specific paint colors that are still light but not white that you recommend?
nicochic
Original Author
3 years ago
Also the colors I was thinking of going with is decorators white by benjammin Moore. I feel like the grayish white in my apartment now isn’t as nice as a brighter white.

The decorators white is part of benjammin Moore’s off white collection
nicochic
Original Author
3 years ago
Inspiration photo
nicochic
Original Author
3 years ago
Here

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