I would stick with flat board 3" window/door trim and maybe increase the base board/exterior trim to a 6" flat board.

Simple flat trim inside and some landscaping outside.

Search the box above under Photos for "split reno" to be inspired.

I love the mixture of cedar and gray for the exterior as for trim inside keep it simple 3” trim around the interior windows a 4-5” plain baseboard I can’t tell but the kitchen window might have to go smaller trim.The exterior really needs some work and of course lots of landscaping , since the garage is si in your face I would get a new garage door to go with the wood you need to add IMO

1x4 trim for window and door trim and 1x6 flat would look nice for the baseboards.

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Beth H is right again, splits are coming back in style bigly. It must be all that mid century modern style that is so in. In my area they are building new ones and selling right away. You should do well

Thanks everyone your input is so helpful! It sounds like modern is the way to go! Now if only I could find a way to add a master bath without an addition! Does anyone know where to find some before and after exterior renovations for a short face split like this one? It seems like everything I have seen is for the elevated ranch style of split.

dont miter the 1x4 trim use square joints

Unless you are in a very high demand area doing all of those improvements then to sell in a couple of months seems counterintuitive to me. I would freshen it but with all of your to do's unless the house is the worst one in the neighborhood probably will not have much of a return on your investment. I do love your kitchen.

Split levels have a style. Simple, streamline and functional. The base boards should also be simple and streamlined. The corners should be mitered. Mitered corners have nothing to do with style. It has to do with good craftsmanship. I have a quad level and the original baseboard is flat with a rounded top. With the rounded top it doesn't collect dust like a flat board would.

"Mitered corners have nothing to do with style. It has to do with good craftsmanship."

That's one of the oddest statements I've seen on this site.

Mitered corners will look very odd and out of place in an Arts and Crafts style house, the Shakers never, to my knowledge, mitered corners in their casework or trim. Miters are no easier or harder to make than any other sort of joint, in wide trim they will open and close with the seasons because of wood movement. Mitered corners are more typical of a MCM style, so probably appropriate here, but better craftsmanship? I don't think so. It has everything to do with style.

Guilty as charged. I forgot about shaker style since it is a split level we are talking about. Have you ever made a mitered corner? They are harder to cut and fit properly than a squared corner. And the more elaborate the trim the harder the miter is to get perfect.

Shaker, Craftsman, Mission, Modern, Farm house, Arts and Craft, Bungalow and others all have square joints. The wider the board the harder it is to miter because of the walls , doors windows the trim boards and many other reasons. MDF is a good product for painted trim because it's an engineered product which will not shrink unlike natural wood which shrinks perpendicular to the grain ( the narrow side). Big miter joints just don't look right.

Yes, I've made many hundreds of miter joints. Set your saw accurately to start with, tune the fit with a plane and shooting board as necessary to get it spot on and you're done. A few extra minutes vs a square joint, but certainly not rocket surgery. I try to avoid them because even after you've done that and made it perfect the joint will open up as soon as the humidity changes.

Now making one of these joints...

Thanks for all the comments on mitered corners. Difficulty excluded, what looks better and won't be out of place? Seems to me that the orginal trim in this style of home left a lot to be desired.

I had a split style -- wow, isn't that a fancy term now, we just used to call them tri- or quad-levels. Never again. But that's a whole other post...

I agree with changing out the garage door, I think you need something with windows, as was mentioned above. I made that change with my house and it made a big difference. And yea, you *really* need some shrubbery.

Mxk, for us the difference between our house being id'd as a split versus tri-level was $1,000 in property taxes! The difference was that the lower level was below grade. (The lower level was a walkout, but only because it led to a sunken patio.) In a tri-level, three levels are above grade. This was just a simple question we asked when going over our property bill one year! Too bad it wasn't retroactive.

Yes, tri-level is only partially below grade so counts as living space; not sure about a quad (I think quads have a "basement" below grade - ?). Call it what you want, a split is a split regardless of whether you call it a bi, a tri, or a quad.

Property taxes are based on the value of the house anyway, in my state at least. So, split levels are worth less per square foot compared to ranches, colonials, or Cape Cods, and the lesser value is what translates into less property taxes.