rockmymt This is so liberating. Moving into a house w/natural wood. It would be pretty if it was in good condition. Since its not in good shape I considered changing it it white. Now I might just paint it. My question would be if bedrooms are all a different color, should I trim each room differently? What do you do with the doors, I wouldn't want them all different, at least not on the outside. Help please

remmisandhoots I love the idea of colored trim, but what do you do with doors? My house is pretty plain with completely flat 1970's doors and it seems if I paint them brown (I'm thinking of a milk chocolate for the trim) I'll just have these large slabs of brown drawing the eye. I notice they are painted in some of those pictures above, but those are pretty doors that can handle the attention.

Sheila Schmitz Rockmymt and remmisandhoots, since it's a big project to paint trim and doors, consider hiring a color consultant or designer for a few hours to look at your house and make some recommendations. It needn't be costly and can save time and the pain of do-overs. Here are some pointers that might help:

Sigrid I wish there'd been some advice for how to pick a white trim to go with white walls. How many shades apart should they be?

olldbobbi Great ideabook. White trim is still my favorite. Cannot do purple and yellow :))

bubblyjock @ sigrid - go to farrow & ball's website - they have a generous, but not over-whelming, range of interesting "whites," and for most colours there's an example of it on a wall, with suitable complementary or contrasting colours:

http://us.farrow-ball.com/colours/paint/fcp-category/list?resetFilters=true

A. Peltier Interiors In my very first home I painted my trim white but all of my doors a glossy black. It was such a statement and I loved it!

Sierra Jones After inspiration from a houzz photo, we painted my son's room in a deep blue, and did the trim and door in black. It looks amazing!
We were a little scared at first, having ALWAYS painted trim white, but what a difference! The room is so boyish, and will definetely carry them into teen years ( they are 9 and 11 right now).

Rough Linen I painted my whole central room Iron-Bru orange, doors and all, and loved it. A few years later I repainted a softer terra cotta, then planked the walls after another few years with a dark stained rough wood, but kept the doors as they were. I love it! and I'll change it again, when I feel like it.

alibonelli I LOVE to break the rules when it comes to trim! I have dark stained wood trim and beige doors in the great room and hallways that are open to each other, gloss black crown in my study, cream in my daughter's pumpkin colored bedroom and stark white in the olive green guest bath. The door facing the inside I keep the same color as the trim. Except for my master suite, it is a crazy indigo blue stained wood around the windows and doors with white walls. I kept the baseboards and doors a pale silver/periwinkle so it wasn't 'too much'!

Burlock Interiors Great topic! I am sharing this with my Facebook fans. Thanks!

patricia beharry The artwork in the living room of #6 is interesting.

lilion So if you paint the woodwork purple, the wall color, or even white, do you paint the door as well? The question ocurred to me when I was looking at the room with the lavender trim. Did they paint the bedroom door lavender as well? I'd think doing otherwise would be a big blotch of the wrong color when the door was closed.

Carol YAY...I have been doing searches on Houzz for darker baseboard trim for our newly constructed home and this is just what i wanted to see....thinking about doing the baseboard and door trim just a slightly darker color than the (for now) cream walls...doors will be white for now, but considering forest green for french doors as they are in a lodge-type decor. Will have to check those out also on Houzz...

jhowellfineart Would love to know the name and brand of the taupe/gray color on the walls in the first picture in #6. I am in the process of picking a color for a bedroom and bath remodel and would like a warmish taupe leaning toward the gray side and not green. It is a largish room with a lot of natural light. After many wasted pints of paint, I can't seem to nail the color I am after. Thanks.

Francesca I live in an older home (1869) that had some changes done in the 1950s, so far as I can tell. The first floor is completely wonderful natural wood trim. I love it in this house. But, I am also excited that the bathroom and two of the bedrooms upstairs have a simple painted trim and that's going to get glorious color (right now, white on yellow in the bathroom is fine but the white on white in the bedrooms is NOT).

jhowellfineart BTW, this was an extremely helpful and interesting article and very timely for me. Thank you.

zootysall Refreshing and thought provoking. Many thanks!

nerdhen We have recently moved to a beautiful, large home, but the trim is all standard Honey Oak. Not substandard by any means, but nothing elegant or very interesting. We have wrestled tremendously with what to do, if anything, with the trim. It would be a huge undertaking to paint or re-stain it all, including doors and windows, but I want to take the plunge. My wife doesn't want to mix different trims throughout the house, so it's a real sticking point with what to do where, or all, or by floor, or what!!! Has anyone dealt with consultants and what their recommendations are on mixing trim colors in different rooms? Or even how to match built-ins and cabinet colors to trim? Right now it's all just (nice) OAK.

Karen Pittenger Thanks so much for the piece, it has fully relaxed my concern and consternation over trim. Your examples are all enlightening, and I have to say the Peggy Braswell bedroom is truly fabulous. I can't add a photo right now, but I have both dark trim around same color doors against lighter walls (Ralph Lauren metallic dark green against chocolate milk walls) and same as walls trim on the 'contemporary white" walls. I thought it looked good, and it is nice to know I am probably in good company!

jlwms123 Thank you Samantha! I'm all in when it comes to painted trimwork. We bought a 1978 rancher with dark 6-panel solid wood doors and stained builder-grade trim. I love the doors but couldn't stand the trim. Pic #4 was my inspiration to replace the door casings and base with something a little different and paint it all medium gray, including the door jambs. It is gorgeous and the wood doors looks so much richer. I couldn't believe the interest and dimension it added. One note to those considering it: you may want to replace the trim and base if you decide you want it painted, especially if it is stain-grade. Look closely at it; every little flaw and gap will show with paint and you could be filling and sanding forever.......

Susan Jennings Love the black trim, especially with the cream walls... looks so classic and elegant.

kyaku Ha. I painted the woodwork in one of my bedrooms a chocolate color which I still love after all these years.
Then I bought a more reddish brown color to paint the trim in my kitchen. The girl who mixed the paint for me asked what I was painting and I told her. She looked at me in horror and said "Oh, you can't do that! You can't paint trim a dark color." (Oh yes we can!)

sochic4evr If you want to paint trim and walls in bedrooms different colors that's fine but trim and doors on the outside hallway should all match as they connect. Hope that was helpful. Happy painting....

sochic4evr I decided to paint all the trim iny home a flat deep chocolate brown and use fall foliage colors on walls - burnt orange in my kitchen, ochre in my dining room- cognac in my family room - merlot red in my master bath including the ceiling color red / people love the look so much they call me and ask me for the paint colors .....

jhowellfineart Any ideas on a good taupe/gray color for a bedroom bath combo?

sharpmama This is a great discussion! I recently saw house that had the trim painted in a darker tint of the same color the walls were painted, and it looked really nice!

sochic4evr If you're going to use taupe/gray it could be a gorgeous combination just be sure the undertones in the taupe color you pick have gray in it. Taupes come with undertones from browns to grays, etc....what are you doing the walls in taupe or gray? Trim I assume the opposite of walls?

sochic4evr Here's an idea of what I did in my home using dark trim colors

jhowellfineart Thank you for the advice, sochic4evr. I am having a lot of problems with getting the combination right and I have wasted so much time and money on paint samples from the local Benjamin Moore paint store and ready to abandon the idea. I have dark purple velvet chairs in the room and thought a taupe/gray combo would be nice. The room has a lot of light so can handle a darker color but don't want it to be too somber. And the bathroom is somewhat open to the room and is being remodeled as well so have to continue the color idea to there. Any favorite colors?

sochic4evr Post a picture and I'd be glad to help with your frustration. I'm a freelance interior decorator and love color. The purple chairs sound amazing - I can get the visual of gray/taupe in my head. For a novice it is very tricky so I'd be glad to help. Don't abandon the project - it will be stunning when finished.....

frenchdecor My friend did ceiling molding (medium wide in 8' high walls) and painted it white, but was disappointed as it visually lowered ceiling in spacious living room. I found designer's suggestion to paint molding the same color as walls or a bit darker than walls to "fix" this problem. Did someone actually did that, did it work? I would like to do molding too, but hesitate because with low ceiling (even visually) I hardly can live with.

Gina Fitzsimmons ASID Black Doors can be done with white molding if you are not fearless enough to go whole hog!

Gina Fitzsimmons, ASID Annapolis, Md.

patscats2 I love white woodwork or any color that contrasts with the wall color.. Rooms with woodwork and walls the same color is so bland. When I see designer's do that on decorating shows on TV I cringe. If you're going to have molding you need to make it pop. It's the architecture and needs to be seen.

jhowellfineart Thanks for the offer, sochic4ever. The room is a disaster as it is all torn apart but I will try to post a picture if I can get a decent shot.

sue79 How can I get the names of paint colors and brands?

sochic4evr Are you talking about specific colors posted on here?

marcella100 As a general guideline, paint doors to match the frame. Otherwise, it looks like everything is being outlined like a cartoon!

jackers986 Nerdhen- I'm in the same boat... Just moved into a large home chock full of honey oak trim, doors, and windows. It's a tremendous undertaking to paint, and I don't have the guts to dive into it yet. I know some people love wood trim, but the orangey, glossy oak screams 90s to me. Please let us know of you take the plunge and paint it!

abab2 I am basically not a color shy person. I have same oak issue and decided to paint the trim white since my wall colors are black, red and variations of green in the rest of the house. I do not regret painting the oak white one bit! It frames the colors in my rooms beautifully while keeping continuity throughout the house. My suggestion : go for it!!