Traditionally you would do medium floors with white millwork trim for moldings and the same color millwork as your floor for woodwork in libraries or dining rooms. The more updated traditional look is to do medium to dark floors and white millwork everywhere else. The more modern approach is white washed walls medium to dark floors with dark to dark grey to taupish color millwork

Here examples of medium on medium that I personally think looks dated and does nothing to show off the beautiful floors and millwork. The second one is when you try to do several colors of woodwork- medium floor, white crown, taupish grey baseboards- and I think it looks busy and confused. Choose two distinguished colors for millwork and floors. Furthermore, avoid red and orange toned woods as they look dated and tend to clash with everything.

I agree re:avoiding red and orange toned woods. They DO look dated and clash with everything! I am living it right now! :)

Thank you so much! I need to "rethink" my plan. I know we can't do white woodwork. We could move to the darker floor with the more taupish color millwork. Wow...lots of decisions. I screech a bit with a darker floor because dust is more visible. Hmmmmm.....

Mikeandmary I have espresso stained walnut with super long blond hair and three long haired white pets and seriously I run just a fuzzy dust mop once a week and have no issues with dust. Now I don't have kids. But the dust isn't an issue for us.

Thank you Jenny! That makes me feel better about the darker stains.

mikeandmary- I'm curious- what did you decide on for stains? and why no white millwork? Just not your taste?

White...just not my taste for sure. Still looking for the perfect color. Will probably have to find a custom stain for the millwork.

Jenny my hubby and I went to the street of dreams in Omaha and have reconsidered the white millwork...totally surprising to me. We did see some homes with white trim around gorgeous dark interior doors. Is that common? I think we're going to do all white in the basement for sure. What's a good white color for the millwork? I think we can do the upstairs in white also, but I don't want white doors. Our home is an upper end home on a small lake. Thanks for your help Jenny.

Concerning very dark floors ..... a friend just installed gorgeous dark flooring throughout her home. She has a lot of natural light and her floors show dust an hour after cleaning them