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jigisha_shah

wood trim and doors or white?

Jigisha Shah
9 years ago
I have wood trim and doors in my house. i want to change everything to white but not sure it would be good decision or not! If i can get advice on this would be great.

Comments (4)

  • Gloria H.
    9 years ago
    I went through the Parade of Homes today and everything is mixed. White trim is nice, but your house doesn't seem to "cry out white". I like your wood; it looks warm. I built two houses--one with white trim and one with stained wood. Stained wood is much more forgiven.
  • PRO
    Lampert Dias Architects, Inc.
    9 years ago
    You can do a combination of wood and white. You might do your doors and door trim in white and selectively decide on other areas in the house.
  • Natalie
    9 years ago
    Hi---the color of your wood is pretty with your color palette, though white would look nice too. Flip a coin. CheerS!
  • mstypea
    9 years ago
    As someone who has recently toured-bought-sold homes, I strongly advise against changing the permanent wood elements in your home. Wood is classic and will never go out of style, whereas altering it will be a personal style choice that may not appeal to others including you in the future. This can become a big issue if you decide to sell your home. By "permanent" I mean: doors and their frames/casings, moldings, floors, window frames/casings, any exposed beams, etc. Basically, don't alter any wood that would be a large amount of work/money to get it back to the original state. If you are looking to tone down the wood in your home I have a couple ideas or you to consider!
    First, you can refinish the wood in your home. I have done it and it's no small task, but I sanded, cleaned, re-stained, and sealed all the wood in my house; and just changing the stain color made a massive difference in brightening things up and giving the wood new life. It was also not an extremely difficult job just time consuming (fyi: I am not Superwoman handy) and saved me a ton going the DIY route. The process was long as I have a true Craftsman style home with exposed beams, real wood staircase, solid doors, built-ins and more. What I got out of it however made it completely worth it. It gave everything an updated and more contemporary feeling while keeping the classic elements intact.
    My second idea would be to go after your kitchen cabinets! With the wood floors and other "permanent" wood items in your kitchen, I do think that changing your kitchen cabinets would make a big impact and look really nice. Budget-wise this can be done on a huge spectrum too. Depending on what you can afford you could go all new custom $$$$ to new pre-fab $$$ to partial DIY refinishing the bases of the top and bottom cabinets but purchasing new doors, even some with glass if you like the look $$ to complete DIY refinishing $, and have it turn out great! I think a color stain, or paint could breathe new energy into your room! I have done this as well! I used a sprayer (you can rent, but if you are a DIY-er consider buying a good one) after sanding, cleaning, and the hardest part of the whole ordeal prepping, I got to just spray it out in a jiff without worry of drips, streaking, brush/roller marks, or anything else. If you decide to do this, take the time and carefully prep. it took 10x the amount of time to tape and plastic every little thing with OCD perfection as it did to spray, but it came out looking so professional. Most people thought I bought new cabinets! Also, just like painting a wall in your home; sand a door or an extra piece of wood from your cabinets and test with sample size paint and/or stain making sure to look at your samples at different times of the day and with different lighting. You may be surprised by what you choose after that!
    I hope this helps! If nothing else it was fun to share my projects and thoughts/ideas with you...Take care!