Take your designers' advice because they can see the space. We can't.

Do you love your current trim color enough to want to let it dictate your design decisions?

How long do you plan to be in the house?

Do you think you might spend the next 10, 20 or 30 years wishing you had painted all the trim a brighter white?

When we bought our previous house all the trim, doors, crown were painted a creamy-yellow white. It just made the house look dirty/drab. This was about 12 years ago and it cost us $10K to repaint everything in BM Simply White ... never regretted spending that money in the 10 years we lived in the house.

I have a bathroom vanity painted in SW Balanced Beige. The bathroom looks nice, but I would not want my kitchen cabinets in that color.

For color comparison the trim is BM Chantilly Lace and the walls are BM Winds Breath (which I am going to re-paint soon!). The top is more creamy than it looks in this photo, but hard to photograph.

Vanity color, counter sample and floor tile sample.

chispa,

Thanks! Your response is SO helpful! Before I even read it, I half decided to repaint the woodwork a brighter white. We plan to stay in the house at least 10 years and possibly for the rest of our lives. This creamy white is dictating everything, for sure! It's going to be costly to repaint the woodwork. We built the house 16 years ago. Not sure how often people repaint their trim and baseboard, but I suppose most people repaint it at some point during their lifetime. I agree with you that while your vanity is beautiful, I don't want my kitchen cabinets that color. Super helpful to see your photo. I like the. Chantilly Lace.

I studied Maria Killam's color wheel for neutrals and this creamy white is all wrong for the quartz and backsplash that we would actually want. I need either a true white or something that is a bit off-white but nothing yellow/buttery. I'm very sorry I used the creamy color on the woodwork now. Reading the other recent thread here about a countertop being to white compared to the cabinets put me over the edge. Even IF we can pull the colors together through the backsplash, I doubt I'll really love the result - ever.

I have to contact the designers to have a conversation about this and go back to the drawing board.

Thanks for helping me work through this big decision.

🙂

Glad it helped.

In the new house I used BM Chantilly Lace for trim, doors, crown, linen cabinets and kitchen cabinets. The reason I went with CL is that it was the only white, out of the many I tested, that stayed white in my north facing kitchen. It is a tiny bit bright in a couple of spots in the house, but the decision had to be made based on the kitchen.

Did you say that painting the woodwork trim inside your house will cost $20,000 to $25,000??? Where exactly do you live? I live in a HCOLA and no way would it cost that. It wouldn't cost that to paint the interior either. Well, I'm sure some people pay that for the entire interior, but the work can be had from licensed people for far less than that.

Chispa, thanks! I'm looking at CL or BM White Dove. The kitchen and living room get a lot of light but there are other areas of the house such as hallways that get less light. We have a 2,850 sq foot home with many windows - about 25 and patio doors, many closet doors etc. I'm thinking about doing the downstairs this year and the upstairs over the next year or two.

I am suprised by the cost of painting your trim. Do you really dislke it? How about slowly doing it yourself or finding another painter to do it for less.

If you can live with it (I am getting the impression you are working around something your do not like) then great. But I do not see that you will be truly happy trying to work with what you do not like, bc then you will never be as happy with what you choose. Just a thought and perhaps I am wrong.

Have you considered painting the walls the same color as your trim? That might be a good idea.

Mrs S, I live in the Midwest and I agree that the painting estimate is high. This ballpark figure came from Certa Pro. This is a professional painting company - not sure if it's a national operation or not. Our designers work with a different painter so we will definitely pursue another estimate from other professionals.

Amykath, I don't think I could paint all the woodwork, windows and doors with quality. I agree about checking with another painter and that I won't be happy working with this existing trim color. It's fine with warm historical colors but not fine with cooler shades in the marble looking quartz types I like so much. Can't really use white anywhere because of this woodwork color, and that's a real bummer.

MrsS, I should clarify that the $20K - $30k I was quoted for painting included the baseboard, windows, and doors throughout the house.

@svanflicka, I would definitely check around for other quotes. When my ex-husband and I built our new home, we had the enitire house painted for about that much and it was almost 3000 sq ft. I am sure we got a bargain as we found them through a friend. There are painters out there that are not with huge companies with overhead etc. I would really dig deep into finding someone from word of mouth or just investing on your own. Then meet with anyone you find an check references. I promise you that you can find someone to do the work for far less.

I feel you will not be as happy as your working around something and giving into things (colors, counterops etc) that you do not love just bc of your trim etc.

I would really take your time and think through it all. Spending all of that money and time, I would want you to be overjoyed with making the choices you want and not being made to just settle due to keeping and try to work with the trim color you have.

I am not sure where you are in the process, but I would take a breather and really think this all out. In the long run it will worth it.

Editting to add, you can always just slowly start with the trim in certain areas (like the kitchen) and take your time in painting it all. I know you will be happier. I have been in a similiar situation before and after all was said and done, I wanted to kick myself for not taking more time.

Your spaces are going to be gorgeous! It sounds like we both have a very similar taste in design.

Amy

Here is a comparison of BM Chantilly Lace (semi-gloss) trim and BM White Dove (matte) on right and BM Winds Breath (matte) on left.

I first had the walls painted in Winds Breath, but wasn't happy with how dark it was, so I repainted it myself in White Dove.

Be careful with using White Dove as a trim/cabinet color ... it can go quite yellow, specially if you have any other whiter whites near it.

Amy, thanks! Very helpful advice! I'm going to slow things down, though we've been working on it for four months already. We will definitely check out other painters. Our designers are fond of a woman who operates independently and hopefully she can do the job for a more reasonable price. We may just do the downstairs woodwork this year and tackle the rest next year. I could use some style inspiration. I'm going for a classic/traditional/timeless look, and I really appreciate French/European style.

Ideas so far include white cabinets, quartz countertops that have a subtle marble pattern, marble backsplash that's not too busy, white oak hardwood floors stained a medium brown shade, and a wood range hood stained in a similar shade, as well as a rustic mantel beam in the adjacent living room fireplace. Walls will be painted a neutral shade. New lighting will be brass. The island will be painted a different color - possibly a dark shade of greenish gray. Blues, greens, and taupes will be used in rugs. Hardwood will carry into the living room where board and batten will be added that matches kitchen cabinetry. The fireplace will be updated with a whitewash/overmortaring.

Could use some design style inspiration for the backsplash and countertop, along with wall color options.

Chispa, I love, love your gorgeous home! I really love the CL and White Dove combo, especially with your floors! That's exactly the tone and contrast I've been thinking about. So you think Chantilly Lace on the cabinets and trim and White Dove on the walls? Love it! My concern is whether CL will be too bright in our space. I like Simply White but worry about anything too yellow now since this happened with our existing woodwork color. Ideally the white should be neutral and versatile but not too sterile either. Love ❤️ your choices and agree that WD is better than WB.

I would join Nextdoor in your area and look for recs from customers of a professional painter, but not some big national brand like CertaPro. I have a painter (licensed) where I live who has a small crew of his uncle and another relative. They'll buy whatever kind of paint I specify with their pro discount and just charge for the labor. The work they did for me is meticulous and neighbors all around us used them, too. I would look for a smaller company like that with a stellar reputation that they want to protect. If you're just painting the trim, it won't be that bad!

Mrs. S, good idea, and I'll check out other painters. This job would include more than the trim though, i.e. doors and windows.