I agree, I think the trim and the shutters on those windows are actually painted wall color for low contrast.

I think many of the pictures you will find keep the contrast low between the wall color and the painted trim to highlight the stained trim. I think two high contrast elements: white with wall color and stain with wall color can be problematic.

While I like white woodwork, when I see a mix of bright white windows that are in high contrast with the wall color And with the other stained trim, my first assumption is that the windows are vinyl and can't be painted, and that they aren't an upgraded window that allows for painted finishes. That's probably an unfair assumption, but it's the one I make.

white trim and stained doors that's our plan...

okokok,

are you doing white around the stained doors or just using white windows/white painted trim and stained doors/stained door trim? That's what I was planning. I'm not as crazy about stained doors with painted white trim.

I do on our first floor and I love it.

This is the look of our last house and will be with the next.

[Craftsman Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/craftsman-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2116) by Black Mountain General Contractors Brookstone Builders

This is our townhouse we sold

This post was edited by nightowlrn on Sun, Jan 19, 14 at 22:13

Most of our house has painted trim and doors and windows, but the LR and the DR have stained cherry woodwork, so we ended up using a painted frame around a stained mahogany front door in the foyer.

Love that look. Especially if the door stain matches the floor stain. Nice continuation of color. Very rich looking.

nepool

trim around the door will be white, only doors are stained

I wouldn't mind if closet doors were painted, but dh doesn't
much like that idea......

I am going with white trim and white interior doors but our exterior front door will be stained and I am wondering about having the trim just around the front door being stained. I saw that in one of my friends homes and thought it looked good.

What does gw think about that combination?

It seems like all the 'mixers' here are all using white painted baseboards, and only staining doors. Is it just that everyone loves the contrast of white baseboards against the hardwoods?

I live in a stained house (windows, trim, baseboards) and although I do long for the freshness and brightness of painted windows/trim, I'm a bit worried about all those baseboards getting banged up and looking 'yucky' over the years. That's why I was thinking stained baseboards and doors/door trim, and white windows/windows trim (including French doors).

Nepool. FWIW - our white baseboards and trim weren't banged up after 7 years. I don't know if it is the contrast or what, but we prefer it.

We have really wide painted baseboards, and they hold up great. We have only been in our new house 2 years, but we had white painted baseboards in our previous house for 13 years, and they looked great, too. I mean, of course you have to run a swiffer over them occasionally so they wouldn't get dusty...but you'd have to do that with stained baseboards as well. All of our trim and interior doors are painted white, but our front doors are mahogany and look fine with the white trim. It is hard to tell in this picture, but that curved trim piece is actually about a foot deep, the door is sort of recessed.

As we are planning our new build I have been trying to decide what I want. I have white everything except for the front door now. Several years ago my husband cased in some arched openings for me and painted them to match the rest of the house. I loved it until the paint started yellowing. The worst part was when he painted them he touched up trim throughout the house. Spots of yellow everywhere. He has since repainted all the trim even the stair spindles. Everything looks great and fresh but now I keep wondering if this paint will last. Once you have a bad experience it's hard to want to do it again. I am considering all stained trim and doors. I worry about it being dark but I like a lot of the pictures I have seen. We will have a lot of windows so maybe that will help.

BTW - I have also been seeing a lot of painted trim (not white) in model homes. Is this a new trend?

Darlene,

I am in the same place as you. All the pictures you see of new homes are WHITE WHITE WHITE- trim, doors, kitchens. It just seems overboard. At the same time, I don't want to go the "all dark" way either (my kitchen cabinets will be cherry). Its a fine line. I really do prefer the stained doors, like the ones pictured in my first post above. I think its so pretty.

Even though I'm worried about the maintenance, I'm starting to lean a little towards white baseboards, but having stained doors with corresponding stained trim/casings. That means the stained doors/casings will meet up with white baseboards. I don't care for the look of the stained doors with white trim around them (like in nightowlrn houzz photos) although the 2 double doors pictured in these threads do look good (maybe its because they are double doors with glass?)

This is probably the hardest thing I've had to choose, so far.

nepool,

I love the picture in your first post. That door is beautiful and it looks so nice with the wood floor and the whole room. Are cased windows something a lot of people do? We have never had cased windows. Of course we have a window sill but not cased. Maybe it's a regional thing.

Since you have stained trim maybe you can answer a questions for me. I am concerned that if I do all stained that it will limit paint choices in the future. My house has all white except the kitchen cabinets. I remember when we painted the kitchen having to find a color that went with the cabinet color (some stains have more red or yellow in them). My sister has stained trim and doors (in her words, ugly stained trim) and when she painted a room and didn't think about the trim and the dark blue doesn't look like she had expected next to the dark trim. I have a dark blue room with white trim and the contrast is striking.

We don't even have a floor plan yet and these details are driving me crazy.

Hi Darlene,

It must be a regional thing (are you out west?)? In the northeast, everything is cased: windows, doors, plus baseboards.

I'm still struggling with my choices. I really want most of my interior doors to be beautiful stained doors like the first picture in this thread, and for them to have matching trim (closet doors may end up white, with white trim). What's killing me is the baseboards. White baseboards look beautiful against the hardwood- stained baseboards, may not look as good. I'm worried about the maintenance of white baseboards- but I may just bite the bullet on that.

Hello! I am building right now and I am having the same dilemma you did! So what did you decide? I want to have the baseboards stained but have the window trim painted! Do you have pictures? I would love to see what did!

Ashlee Yardley, what did you end up doing and do you have a picture? I have stained trim throughout my home but I am getting all new windows and can't decide stained vs white. My daughter has a new home-all white trim and I have noticed in 2 short years-the white trim needs touch up.

I love this! I'm planning to do exactly the same in my new build. White trim, wood stained doors and wood base boards.

I am too!!! More pictures would be great