Trying to choose wood trim

11 years ago

We are currently remodeling our kitchen and living room and turning it into a great room. our cabinets will be maple and our floor is hickory. The paint color is a buttery tan. I believe it is typical to use the cabinet color for the trim but it feels like it would be too neutral with what we have going on right now. I am also considering white but my husband has a love affair with wood. we are also trying to figure out our stair railings and posts. any input would be appreciated.

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User

11 years ago

I personally don't see any problems with adding some Craftsman influence. Do keep in mind that your door openings will have limited space for substancial trim. The lower stair door will probably be the most problematic and most visible. The white trim will draw attention to it. There are ways to trim a door nicely when the trim runs into a wall, but it needs to be planned for in the design of all the other trim. When looking for trim styles, make sure you know what these problem measurements are to make sure it will still look good on every door.

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Comments (15)

PRO
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I would paint the trim white. I've never heard that it is typical to use the cabinet color for the trim. Tell hub there's already enough wood in the house!

As for your stair railings and posts, why not take a look at the photo section of houzz which you can find above. They have 142,314 photos of stair railings, or for just wood stair railings, they have 56,818 photos.

They're equally good at supplying you with photos of almost any aspect of your home, inside and out, that you can think of. Their library of photos includes over 3 million.
PRO
JAZ Design, Inc.
11 years ago
I completely agree with Carolyn! The white trim will help distinguish the wood features that he loves so much.. I love wood also, but too much of one thing can take away from it's beauty.
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PRO
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID
11 years ago
JAZ described very well the reason for using the white trim. Well done, JAZ!
User
11 years ago
It IS typical to use the cabinet color for the trim....if your cabinets are stained oak.....and your trim is stained oak....and your bedroom and closet doors are oak....and you have wall to wall carpet....and you are tired of white.
One big consideration after the actual stain colors of the cabinets and floor, is how the actual bedroom and closet doors you are trimming out will be finished.
Do you really need a strip of high contrast white to offset a floor with THAT MUCH already going on???
PRO
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
There are thousands of homes across our dear nation with oak cabinets and trim that have been painted white because the owners were sick of looking at their golden oak! But thankfully we are all allowed to express our opinions here and Fred and I have different ones.
Michele Schmidt
Original Author
11 years ago
I was raised in an all oak house so I get the attractiveness of white. Our cabinets are maple but won't actually touch the hickory flooring since we will be using tile in the kitchen. our island will touch the hickory but we are painting it a steel blue color.
PRO
JudyG Designs
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
The staircase...I think what you do with it depends on how old it is. Newer and rather ordinary stained staircases can look pretty blah!

Keep in mind to tie your stairs in with your floor. I kind of like mixing in some black.

There are so many combinations of paint and stain. Could we see a picture of your stairs?

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Michele Schmidt thanked JudyG Designs
Michele Schmidt
Original Author
11 years ago
The stairs will be hickory. The doors on the landing are fir.
Michele Schmidt
Original Author
11 years ago
And a little more context....
Michele Schmidt
Original Author
11 years ago
The floors dstill need to be finished.
User
11 years ago
Just as many people are stripping or pulling out paint-over-oak cabinets these days. Sheesh stay up with the trends :D.
I'm just saying there are a lot of things between black and white that may be better. The floor already has a lot of contrast, and white may be too much.
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White trim around wood doors is also a challenge. The trim needs to be substantial enough to pull it off.
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Painting the trim a shade or two lighter or darker than the main wall color is also an option.
Michele Schmidt
Original Author
11 years ago
The hubby has his heart set on craftsman style so likes a substantial weight trim.
PRO
JudyG Designs
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
As much as your husband loves Craftsman (fabulous architecture), I am not seeing even one gene of Craftsman in your home. I see something like a mid-century split. Which is fine. Maybe what he needs to see is modern examples.

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Michele Schmidt
Original Author
11 years ago
You could be right:-). Thank you for the stair pics and input-we will look into some other styles to make sure we are headed in the right direction. He is a cabinet maker so has a lot invested in the wood work and making sure it represents his style.