We had even darker stained wood trim and had it painted out a few years ago. No regrets and it is holding up very well. Make sure your painter knows what he is doing!

Definitely paint the fireplace to deemphasize the volume of brick and the slanted angle at the top.

Paint the trim

You are going to have fun decorating the living room. Great windows and a nicely proportioned space. The fireplace is too dominating - could the lower part up to the mantel be refaced in marble and the upper part covered with sheetrock? It would probably take a pro to do this properly but it would change the whole theme of the room.

I love a clean slate,what fun! Agree with painting the trim and fireplace. You can do the fireplace stone in a linen/cream - as pottery barn has a lot of great items that could compliment. For the upstairs, I'd paint the trim too- but leave the doors natural and they will be a great accent.

You can go two ways with this and it depends on what you want to achieve. If you like the modern, sleek New York warehouse style apartments you can get the same look in your living room with the exposed brick which won't need to be painted. The trick is maintaining that "height" grandeur in your rooms through window dressing: curtains that are bold and down to the ground, you don't necessarily need to paint the walls a different colour as the white can still give a feeling of space but bring in contemporary pieces so the brick doesn't make the room feel tired or outdated. If you notice in all the rooms, there are statement console tables, the furniture is sleek and not too bulky. Like in one of the pictures the fireplace mantelpiece has been painted white. This could really lift the brickwork from outdated to modern.

Painting the wood in the living room either white or black, or dark blue/dark green give the room an edgy appeal which is both classic but modern as well. Continue this into the dining room will improve flow into your house.

The brick can be sponged with watered-down white paint to alleviate its "brickiness" while still retaining some color and texture. I like its arched detail.

I love its arched detail too and also, will you be changing the carpet/floor? I say that because most of these rooms with bare brick have wooden floors and that might bring the elements together especially since you have so much wood in the trimmings already.

What is your style if u like a more modern look and love black I would paint the fireplace back definitely paint out all the wood including the doors. A creamy whatever pearl from sherwin Williams is soft and beautiful. That will give you a more modern look also if that is a wood burning fireplace you won't want to paint it white if gas good. The gold color of wood outdated the house and your house looks beautiful and spacious. Nice choice.

I like the idea the person gave on distressing the fireplace. It would look fab and with the trim and closets white paint more updated look achieved

Elinor rowlands I like the hard wood floor idea I was going to mention. That as well. Good thinking

It is a beautiful house, love the characteristics of the bedroom wall too. You could go white or black on this:

If that trim is 20 years old you might want to get all new trim,
It already probably has varnish, then you will have to sand and prime and do extra layers of paint because it's wood. With all that you are going to lose a lot of the profile in the wood work. Start fresh by using all new trim and base boards. Make it all paint grade material that you can spray before you put up and just touch up the nail holes. Change out the base board to something taller.
Check out colors from the Benjamin Moore line to keep that open air feeling while doing a lighter trim the Peau De Soie AF-60 is a great color that can be contrasted with a lighter color for the trim, they recommend Side Walk Gray 2133-60.


Do one of the two things for the fireplace:
-stack stone the chimney. Take the stone to about 12" above the top of the arch of your windows where you would put a crown mold going around the entire room. above the crown mold on the chimney.. just sheet rock and paint everything above the crown mold to match the walls.
-or tile up to a mantle and wainscoting to the ceiling.

If you are planning on using that room for the TV. Do custom cabinets entertainment center in a darker stain that doesn't bring out the wood grain (spray stain hides the grain & wipe on brings out the grain) (match the mantle to the ent center) on that big wall opposite of the window and gather furniture towards the center of the room.

get rid of the chair rail trim in the dining, if you do wainscoting in the living room you can repeat that look in the dining room.

Wood floors would look great! do something lighter that shows the grain.

don't do fireplace with legs.. do a wrap around mantle that divides tile or rock work and wainscoting

You could do something like this above the wainscoting for the fireplace.

Please note that you do not have to sand the trim to paint it, even if it is varnished. There are paints that will cover the wood, stain & varnish in a couple of coats. You just have to make sure that you get the right stuff. Don't know about the louvered closet doors but you'd probably want to replace them any way.

With this kind of project I would recommend you hire a qualified painting contractor there's lots of prep and lots of trim to paint doors walls etc.. You want it to look professionally done.

1. Congrats on the home!
2. Definitely paint the trim
3. I would whitewash the fireplace. I think the distressed look could work quite elegantly with your pottery-barn aesthetic. I would think about putting a very light whitewash on the brick arch detail. A slightly deeper color than the rest will help it to stand out.

I would definitely paint all the trim and the fireplace brick.

It is always wise to sand whether it is to remove a gloss or smooth out the wood. A quick fix paint/primer isn't the answer, if it was, professional painters around the world would be doing it to save time and money. I've seen the best of the primer/paint chip off. You also have to think about what products the previous owners used. Old English? Pledge? Orange Oil? not to mention the natural expansion and contraction that will occur if you have changing humidity. MDF moulding all the way.. Do it right the first time.

I agree with painting the trim , but would leave the doors stained, maybe go with a darker stain. Paint the walls a contrasting color to show off the painted trim. Put stone over the existing brick, that would give you a updated look. The wainscoat in the dinng room I would leave and add molding in the lower part, picture frame molding spaced out evenly then paint all the trim and the bottom part from the wainscoat down to give that area a paneledl look.