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Design Dilemma Paint

Painting built-ins navy but what about the crown molding?

3 years ago

Hi all, I really appreciate this forum as a resource to turn to. I have a north-facing office with a built-in bookcase along one wall (the east wall), 2 decent sized windows on the north wall, wainscoting and crown moldings all around. Currently they are all white. Option a is to paint the bookcase navy, walls a barely gray, leave all trim white, in which case do I also paint the crown molding on top of the bookcase navy or white? Option b is leave bookcase and trim white but just paint the walls navy; would that be too dark for a north-facing room? What do you all say? Thank you in advance for chiming in!

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Comments (3)

gyk1
Original Author
3 years ago
I should add that right now this room is too white/light for me; I want to make it a little cozier but not go overboard and make it too dark. Thank you!
kempek01
3 years ago
Option B is less work than Option A and would probably be cozier. Leave the lower part of the walls white and it won't be too dark. {Now some will tell you that the darker color has to be on the bottom for the room to be "grounded", but you have permission not to agree with that.]

What about option C: painting the back of the bookcase only with the navy? Would that help?

If you do go with Option C, I would paint panels and insert them in the bookcase (leaving the original back the color it is now). If you ever wanted a new color, you could just remove the panels and repaint them. Plus it is a great way to test the idea without committing to paint on the built-in.

No matter what you do, I think the crown needs to all be the same color throughout the room.
gyk1 thanked kempek01
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You might want to cross post this on the kitchen forum also and run it by the decorating one as well. Personally I would make all the trim and built ins white, but that is just my taste. I'm sure you'll get a mixture of opinions. I'm not sure what type of paint your painter is referring to when he says laquer. Does he mean apply a poly over the paint? Normally semi gloss or hi gloss are used to paint trims. You can use either latex or oil. The oil is said to turn yellow as it ages. I personally use BM semi gloss latex white on all my trim and moldings. It's a nice satin finish that is very washable. Also keep in mind a hi gloss paint will show any dings or imperfections in the wood.
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with living there for a while before you do anything, but I WILL SAY when we came in this house for the first time, I knew I would paint almost everything in site that was wood stained. In fact, I decided on painting the trim on 2 windows in my living room and leaving the actual wood window stained wood, and it has just not looked right to me, so I am about to paint that now too. In a fairly busy and eclectic house like I have the painted trim just looks so much cleaner and more like a canvas for the rest of my furnishings and that is my point, MY furnishings just look better with the painted wood, yours may do ok keeping the wood and maybe staining it darker. Just my humble opinion JMHO, LOVE your sunroom and all the space you seem to have.
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Another vote to leave the cabinets alone, please! (and the fireplace and floor though you didn’t ask) The furniture that’s there - the wing chair, its fussy side thing, the sofa, rust-colored floor cushions, the rug — those are what are making the room look dated. If you want to lighten/modernize the room as you said, replace those things. That room is a candidate for West Elm and dwr if I ever saw one. Remove the ceiling fan too.
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Thanks for the input. The built-ins have been painted white for many years. They are in such a high-traffic spot that they have taken a lot of abuse. It was due for a fresh coat of paint so I thought I'd try something different. I was thinking I'd stain the counter and leave the rest white until the Sherwin Williams consultant suggested adding the color. Based on some of the pics and advice, I think we are going to look into sanding and staining the main ledge that everything gets set on and then possibly just painting the backs of the shelves.
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cat_ky
3 years ago
I would leave the bookcases, trim and wainscotting all white and put the navy on the walls. I think it would be a nice cozy office. Just have good lighting by where you are working.
gyk1 thanked cat_ky

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