No, you shouldn't. The shaker style isn't trim; it's the construction technique. You can replicate it on your doors and/or drawers but it's not to be used to outline other areas.

What about underneath the window seat? I have another window seat in the hallway with the shaker style wainscoting, if you will, on the face of it and it looks nice. Like this.

Leave it plain.

It looks fine under the window seat, because that is a place you would expect to see wainscot. However the seat in your room is too small to give the intended effect of wainscot so it will look like a drawer. But it isn't a drawer, right? Building out the trim might also cause it to interfere with the doors opening fully. All in all to quote Melissa Gallagher, "Leave it plain" :)

Thanks for the pointers. If I leave it plain, should I paint it all white, to match the new doors? Or have it painted the same as the other walls in the room?

overall, do you think this will be a good look with the new doors??

Or you could raise up the doors on the right side to be the same height as the ones on the left (I photoshopped them with the old doors, but you could design the new shaker style doors to do the same). You could even make the doors on the right be the same width as the ones on the left for (more symmetry) and just have more wall to the right.

Wall colour.

Since you asked, I would leave them flush with the walls. If you notice, on the shaker doors you posted the frame is flush with the doorway trim and the panel is recessed. That is what genuine shaker would look like. Yours will create a raised edge. It would be fine, I think it would be a fun update if it doesn't interfere with the door function (could bump walls) It's just not what I would do.

If you are looking for cottage-y you could replace the door pulls and try a stencil on each door.

What style is your home?

@nidnay thanks for the suggestion, but I wouldn't be able to swing open the right hand door if it were extended.

Just to give some perspective, this is what the doors looked like when we bought the house.

As for the symmetry of the doors, the two doors on the left and two doors on the right are the same width, but different height. Whereas the 4 doors on the left have are the same height, but one set is narrower than the other.

Generally speaking, do you think I should bother with changing them, or should I just keep what I have??

My first gutt response is to change to the shaker style, assuming this is the general style throughout your home. One thought was don't put anything above the window and make the one door to the right of the window the same height as the other 4 and drywall closed or put shelves where the far right door meets the corner and the ceiling is angled.

@stl1990 and @lindsey the house is a 1940's traditional center hall colonial. I wouldn't say that the shaker style is prevalent in the home, as most doors are the traditional 6 panel doors. However, on bedroom does have board and batten wainscotting, which is a similar look. I also have built-ins in the living room that are a similar style...pictured here....(excuse the mess!!! ...kids...)

@Melissa thanks. Just so I'm clear, you
are suggesting I do this with the new shaker style doors, rather than doing it
with my current look, correct? Would the
triangular look at the top of the right hand door look ok?Even though it would
make all the doors appears to be symmetrical, in height, the door to the right
would obviously look different than the others.
I’m not sure what’s better/worse….the two doors to the right being identical
to one another, but shorter than the other 4 doors….or, all doors the same height,
with just one on the far right being different than the others.

Thanks

Yes, I am suggesting with the new shaker trim. In my opinion it would be more cohesive even with the smaller door having the triangle piece. To me it would look costomized to the space.

Remove all trim. Mirror the side walls of the dormer.

Thanks, that's a good idea. I could even do it so that the entire face of the door extends to the same height as the others (rather than the seam cutting through it).

One other slight issue is that there is an outlet on the far right wall that ios already tough to get to with the doors as they are. If I build out the face of the doors, the outlet will be blocked. Should I just cut a notch into the door, so that it looks something like this?

True Shaker cabinets, etc, were often not symmetrical because each piece was designed by the user to fill a need. Even drawers on work tables were often sized by the need to put certain items in a certain workspace. Check at your library for photos of true Shaker furniture. Books on the Shakers at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, Sabbathday Lake, , Maine, etc. will show you how simple the look really is.True Shaker look predated the “form follows function” theory by one hundred years.

@jbtanyderi sorry, but I don't understand your comment. Could you please clarify. Thanks!