Something about your house strikes me as being more important than just a box to live in. Maybe its my intense passion for a historically correct shingle house (that I can't afford), or maybe its the color similarity to Mark Twain's house. Maybe its the rarity of four story homes along with the perfect Queen Anne transitional colonial revival interior. It would break my heart to see the walls of that perfect setting painted white, or, god forbid, with painted woodwork. Here's a thought, since your initial question was about woodwork and wall color. Call in a woodworker who can identify (without a doubt) the wood in your home. What we see as, maybe, insignificant today, was a severely high-end wood of the 19th century (because, for some reason, oak has soared to the top of the wooden trim heap - its not better - just trendy). Once you have your woods correctly ID'd, you may seek out furniture restoration techniques from a woodworker who works in old techniques, like shellac and varnish who can point out how to properly clean or repair the finish. Finish techniques varied baed on the wood type - for instance, mahogany nees its pores filled to gleam while walnut (my personal favorite) takes a finish like no other. Oily or tropical woods like rosewood or teak need very different care than oak or maple. And, please remember, the worst thing you can do - yeah, worse than painting the wood - is to polyurethane it. You cant ever strip that plastic stuff off of wood). For the wall colors, choosing pleasing medium tone neutrals is probably always safe and will look both historical and modern, without being "slavishly" historical (though, if done properly, slavishly historical is ASTOUNDING. Think of colors like saddle tans, soft gold, nearly any shade of "dirty" green-like sage. With natural wood, avoid blues and purples, heavily saturated colors, brights and white (white or very pale colors will make your AMAZING wood look faded, dull and lifeless). If you have the Sherwin Williams color sample book, use the first section of colors after the grays. Those colors almost always look perfect with wood. I have done my whole house in them, so far (got more to do, yet). Check my blog for SW color in use: http://thejoshuashivelyhouse.blogspot.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Joshua Shively House

Yes, we painted all in a bright white, it's called chantilly lace - Benjamin Moore. Doors and trims are shiny, and the walls matte. (To be more exact it was our intention to paint all the same... The part where the contractor in fact painted some rooms with just the basic white (no chantily lace in it), it's a different story => only pick contractors with very good recommendations from people you know, not 5 star rated from Google!)

I use semi-gloss for all the trim in my house. As Cat says, it's easy to clean.

Thank you. I will be replacing the storm door down the line. For now I’ll be cleaning it up and painting it when I select a door color. Any more color help? I don’t want white. I had great results on painting the interior of the door but having a hard time with a color for the exterior that will pull the eye. It’s the reddish brick that’s throwing me off. I love blues, red and yellows.