In general, I would use the same style molding through out the entire house.

We have colonial casement in the entire house for all doors and windows except the front entrance. That was done in fluted molding, with corner rosette and small base block trim on the bottom.

I also did crown molding in the entrance, dining room, living room and hall.

All moldings are painted white.

If you are going to stain, it is imperative that all moldings be of the same wood. Different woods stain differently due to their density and fiber structure. The same goes for painting.

Enjoy the journey.

eal51 in western CT

eal51...
Thanks for your input and advice. The molding in your home sounds real nice especially around the front entrance. Send along a photo if you can...I would love to see.

I guess deep in my heart I knew all the molding should be the same, but I found this oak molding that is so beautiful and I was trying to incorporate this into our home. Maybe I could stain all the pine moldings and doors in an oak color stain.

Thanks again
Pixie

In a modern house, the decor in all the rooms can be different----so why should the moldings be all the same.

If a house is designed for the entire house to be a certain style, then trim should reflect that design---as in pixies house.

My houses have always been eclectic, I guess. New or old, each room was different.

Ordinarily the best molding goes in the public rooms. Smaller molding and lesser grades of wood have always been fine for private rooms. More contemporary decorators tend to employ themes room by room and match the molding to the style for the room. Worse come to worse you're only a pry bar away from correcting a mistake. Work out your themes, consider your transitions ( can't have different kinds of molding running into each other), and do it.

Of all the woods I've stained, pine is by far the hardest to get "right". Stain is often absorbed so that it looks blotchy. It takes alot more work, and prep using a stain conditioner first, to have a chance at getting it to look good. If you have a choice, I'd skip pine for staining.

Eclectic......now that's a good way of putting it! Yes, that is exactly my personality. My livingroom furniture is mission style oak along with some traditional pieces mixed in. That is why I fell in love with the 5 1/4" oak molding. I would also like to do some crown molding for the window molding in the livingroom. The livingroom window is 96 inches wide by 72 inces high. By the way, I have ivory colored carpet in the livingroom that has a low pile almost like a berber. My "other style" in the other rooms of the house are more modern with straighter lines using light colored woods like maple and a little cherry in the bedrooms. So I guess you can say I am "Eclectic" in style and as jan9 says,"go for it" a pry bar is only seconds away!!

Still would like some input on this subject......what are the newer homes using for molding today? What is the most popular without being too trendy?

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. This forum is very helpful and encouraging.

We're also facing this challenge except the difference is between colors. I hated the former dark wood kitchen and the new kitchen is much lighter. Now, the rest of the house is a medium brown molding. We're making the color transitions in the least conspicious places. In one place the door molding will be a different color than a pocket door which usually stays open. We did stick with the same style of molding, but, are using 3 different woods.

Thanks....using the same style molding but different woods is a great idea. Still keeps that connected feeling or flow through the house but allows for personality in each room. Glad to hear you felt the doors and the trim around the doors could be different. I have seen white doors and stained trim and I think it looks beautiful. My hubby is a woodworker by hobbie and it is very hard to convince him to paint a beautiful piece of wood so I cannot even consider that route.

Thanks for your input.....Happy 4th of July to all!!

We recently moved to the midwest from California. Here everything is stained, but I very much miss the crisp white painted window moulding and floor trim. We have a newer home and I painted one of the window mouldings white. I LOVE IT. My husband hates it. So my question is can I finish the additional 5 windows in this front living room with the white, leave the remaining window mouldings and floor trim stained? My husband does not only not like it, he is concerned about resale. Please help!!

It is very interesting that you also would like to use stain and paint together. I have looked in magazines and books and you do not see mixing of moldings and trims but it seems there are a number of us considering it. As I said before, I love the look of stain and white paint. I live in the Northeast, I do not think this would hurt the resale but I am not sure with the midwest area.

We need more input and suggestions from the forum. What is everyone else doing and what are your opinions? Please send photos of some good examples.

Thanks so much

I am also looking into changing out our old, traditional type stained base and window moldings.

My kitchen has new maple, light stained cabinets (contemporary style) and I've been wondering if to replace all the painted ones in the nook area with a similar stained molding instead.

The rest of the house has old, oak stained base moldings and they're pretty ratty looking. We began to paint some of the base moldings in the family room but never finished. Not sure if to go with all painted or stained...

I want to update our 1990 home to a more modern look. Is painted considered traditional?

Matching the moldings in the kitchen area to your new cabinets would give you a nice look with the whole room integrated into one theme. Check with the maker of your cabinets and see if they make and sell matching moldings in maple. Matching shop applied finishs on maple is difficult. Cabinet finishers usually use a finish schedule that's more complicated than just stain and clear coat, especially on maple.

More contemporary molding styles depend more on shape and placement than finish, paint or stain, to achieve the "modern" look. For a contemporary stained look try Sara Susanka's books. Contemporary painted work can be found in any of the magazines emphasizing contemporary homes. With the right design painted boards can produce a striking room.

Jan, Thank you so much for your input.

Mari