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allison_zollinger

Keep wood trim or go white???

10 years ago

My husband and I just bought a house and want to update it. To me the house looks dark and if we had white trim it would look so fresh and clean. But we only plan to be in this house for about 5 years and plan to sell it. I seen that white trim is a trend now but whose knows what will be in style in five years. We are stuck on the fence and I would appreciate your advice. Also any other advice would be appreciated since this is our first time remolding a home. Thanks ahead of time. Please review our photos. These photos were before we moved in.

Comments (17)

  • 10 years ago

    I would not paint that beautiful wood trim! It may hurt you in the long run when you go to sell your house. When my husband and I were looking at houses last year, we were looking at older houses, especially those who are like Craftsman style houses because we love them! If we were to buy a house similar to yours, I would be upset if the woodwork had been painted. There are people out there, like myself and my husband, who look for those beautiful details like real wood trim!

    Allison Zollinger thanked Bev
  • 10 years ago

    I would paint the trim in the rooms with drywall. I would leave the trim in the rooms with the pine panelling alone.

    Allison Zollinger thanked jhmarie
  • 10 years ago

    Right now we are starting with our bedroom which is the one with the salmon color. We have just stripped the wall paper and are in the process of muding the holes and sanding. We threw out the those curtains. We would like to keep the wood ceiling and our wood closet. Here's a picture of the closet. Now to decide what to do with the trim? Whatever we decide will expand through out the house. If we go with white trim.

  • 10 years ago
    I would paint all of the trim white. Will make the house brighter and any wall color will look crisp and clean. I just painted all of my woodwork in a home we just bought as well. It was very time consuming but well worth it.
    Allison Zollinger thanked Jean Davison
  • PRO
    10 years ago

    White trim has ALWAYS been in style. Not a trend. The important decision is to do what is correct for your home, and I would suggest you do everything to make your rooms look as tall as possible. To that end I would eliminate the chair rails at the 36" position on the walls and paint the trim and the ceilings white.

    If you want to continue a wainscot feature, do what they have done in the picture and install the chair rail just down from the ceiling.

    Allison Zollinger thanked BeverlyFLADeziner
  • 10 years ago

    I love wood. It is beautiful. The wood ceiling makes the room dark. May you want to consider a whitewash stile stain that still shows the wood structure

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    You should keep in mind that once you paint the wood, it loses all distinctiveness and might as well be plywood and MDF.

    And painting the wood will adversely effect the resale value.

  • PRO
    10 years ago


    I am not that great at a steady hand, but I played with your salmon wall master pic. Your wood trim is very dark, so it would not cover well, but here is at least somewhat of an idea of what it could look like painted. I did your walls too.

    NEW

    ORIG

  • 10 years ago

    I usually like white trim, but based on how much you have, and how long you will be in the home, I would leave it alone. Keep the ceilings, for sure. The thing that will really help lighten the house it is removing the wood and dark colors from the walls.

  • 10 years ago

    I don't think you should worry about what will be in style in five years, unless you have a crystal ball. I would just try not to go with super trendy unless it's something you love. I don't think white trim is really trendy, just well liked. I love mine.

  • 10 years ago

    I remember stripping white paint from wooden window frames years ago. Ugghh.

    Get rid of the chair rail, Paint the walls and get new window treatments, add lighting and then decide if the trim really needs to be painted. Nothing brightens a house or room more than good lighting and plenty of it.


  • 10 years ago

    I live in a MCM ranch that has wood ceilings, 2 large lannon stone fireplaces and painted wood trim. When we moved in, the walls were dark paneling and the trim was dark brown. Removed the dark paneling and painted the trim a creamy white. You can't believe how that lightened everything up! Creamy white trim is not a trend. Keep the wood ceilings.

  • 10 years ago
    Our home has those same wood ceilings as does a few other homes in our neighborhood. With wood or dark floors the wood ceiling can be a bit much but with a light/white floor or carpet it actually looks really nice.

    I agree with a previous comment - remove that chair rail. The chair rail alone is a lot of wood. I think if you remove the chair rail, paint the entire wall(s) one light color and lighten the floor (white carpet?) it will make a huge difference. The only other thing that bothers me is that the window trim and baseboards are a different color than the ceiling & crown. With it being so dark it's more dramatic. I wonder if you could make it the same color as the crown?

    Either way, do something that will make you happy. You're the one living there :)
  • PRO
    10 years ago

    Paint the trim white, this is hardly a trend. White woodwork has been around forever.

  • 10 years ago

    That is not "beautiful, old wood trim" PAINT it

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    I would absolutely paint the trim white, and keep the ceiling as it is.

    Similar look: