https://www.houzz.com/magazine/pick-a-paint-help-how-to-create-a-whole-house-color-palette-stsetivw-vs~13038406

thanks for this! I wish I could find something similar to this but specifically for homes that don't have any white trim/molding... I think that's what's making it so challenging for me.

Linda, I think you listed 3 good options in number 1. Bathroom isn't uncommon to do. But the rest? not sure, but hoping a pro arrives.

-- Is it realistic for you to paint all the wood trims? fine if so... but in one room, maybe DR, nice accent blue or other lower on wall. Just white paint, and the doors might contrast even more, and look stark and plain.. a blue, etc. could soften... ?

Unless bathroom is urgent, we can discuss the others. How many other rooms -- and entry too?

How many rooms have chair rail ?

@everdebz Bathrooms are definitely not urgent. :) They're in pretty decent shape for now and are fully tiled, so the only changes for now would be the woodwork.

1st floor: entrance/foyer, living room, and family room have chair rails (each room is shown in the first collage... the kitchen, bathroom and guest room/office don't have them.

2nd floor: chair rails run along stairs and around the 2nd floor landing, but none of the bedrooms have them.

I was wondering the other day if it might be a good idea to paint walls first and decide on chair rails later? Maybe I'll decide they're not so bad and save myself the hassle of removing. Or if I decide to paint them white, I could always do that later. On the flipside, I might just end up deciding to remove them and having to repaint the walls, which would be annoying.

Here are some other color palettes I'm contemplating: pulling in an off white color throughout to create a really clean, neutral base but then adding soft/warm greys or dusty mauve as complementary colors...

Colors from top to bottom: "delicate white" "fall chill" "shadow taupe" and "coffee custard" by PPG) :

Those are pretty! Here’s some other ideas:

https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/the-best-paint-colours-to-go-with-oak-wood/

Another helpful article: ( some colors are repeats)

https://jillianlare.com/coordinating-paint-colors-oak-trim/

Is your style and plans for furniture traditional? if not, I picture removing the chair rails.

How high are the baseboards?

https://www.semiglossdesign.com/remove-chair-rail

Online: "They’re far too traditional for my un-traditional taste. And with 8′ walls, dividing them up isn’t doing them any favors....my ceilings already look about a foot higher! ... chair rails make no sense in a hallway. Not a lot of chairs in the hallway, ya know."

One more website, seems amazing if keeping them -

https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/the-best-way-to-paint-a-wall-with-a-chair-rail-dado-rail/

thanks @H D! I actually found another post through one of the links you shared that was also super helpful...https://jillianlare.com/honey-oak-paint-colors-sherwin-williams/

might look into some of these "warmer neutrals" that were mentioned

@everdebz So helpful!! We have 8' ceilings on the 1st floor too (yikes!), it's starting to look like the chair rails might have to go...

Baseboards are around 5 5/8" high

My design style is not really traditional...if I had to describe the style that I like it would probably be somewhere between modern, urban and ethnic. maybe without the chair rails that could work? the exterior of the house is stucco and the house is super big with recessed lighting in all the rooms and these interesting tile floors on both the 1st and 2nd floor...it feels like when they expanded it maybe they were trying to convert the house into something fancy but then couldn't figure out what to do with the ceiling fans and all the wood, so they just quit trying lol.

Thanks for your input, @Patricia Colwell Consulting!

It does sound more and more like I need to get rid of those chair rails. But would you mind clarifying your comments on lighting and flooring?

Re. flooring, are you suggesting to restain the floors to better match the baseboards?

Re. lighting, the lighting in the house is so convoluted. See collage below.

First floor has a chandelier in the entrance (1), another chandelier in kitchen (2), round crystal ceiling lights at the bottom and top of stairs (3), antique nickel-looking ceiling lights in family room and 2nd floor landing and also in one bathroom (4), recessed lighting on all floors (5), and ceiling fan lights (6). Sigh. I would probably move chandelier #2 from the kitchen to the entrance (it just seems to match better than the one that's there now), remove the antique ceiling lights everywhere but bathroom, remove the large ceiling light in the kitchen, and install matching new ceiling and wall lighting wherever it's needed. Not sure what to do about ceiling fans...

Any ideas?

I love chair rails, but it looks like yours were put up too high. Many people put them up wrong. They are supposed to occupy the lower 1/3 of a room, not break the room in half!

For eight foot ceilings, a chair rail at 30" off of the floor looks great.

If they are not your style, don't feel badly about removing them, since even if you liked them they are at the wrong height.

Realistically you can either paint the oak white (or a trim colour of your choosing) or sand off the golden stain and apply a darker more modern stain if you want to go for a rustic look. Painting will be much less work (but make sure you use a good primer for adhesion), but if you love the rustic wood look you could consider the sanding/ re-staining option.

I would leave the hardwood floors completely alone since they will blend into the decor once you cover them with area rugs, plus light oak hides dirt and wears really well! I would also leave the staircase alone if it were my house, since it matches the floors and you will have plenty of other more pressing projects to occupy yourself with. Lighting is easy to change and makes a huge difference!

I actually love lights 1,2 and 3, but I would change the others if it were my house. It really depends on your style!

@isabellagracepan well that was eye-opening! I didn't quite realize what it was about the chair rails that was off, but you hit the nail on the head. I'm definitely thinking we'll remove them and only keep them on the stairs. We're actually planning to repaint our front door black and so we want the walls by the entrance and front living room to complement. I'm thinking some kind of shade of off white so it's bright but is not too stark. I don't think I want to paint the wood, I love the grain too much. But the idea of sanding and restaining all that wood fills me with anxiety lol. Is it possible to apply oil to darken the wood a little without sanding? Or is sanding pretty much required?

I agree with your thoughts on the lighting...I'll have to start looking for alternatives to replace these old ones.

Lose all the chair rails- with 8' ceilings they just chop up the walls. I would also paint all the crown moulding white. Honestly I would paint ALL the trim white so the wood floors and staircase are the feature.

I think it is great that you are going to embrace the wood trim. Natural wood trim is expensive, and if you can find a way to make it work all the better.

I am not experienced enough to know if you can apply something over top of the finish. A lot depends on what finish it is already. I did have good success changing my honey oak stair railing and spindles to a cherry colour (to coordinate with the cherry floors) in my previous home. I applied a rub on varethane gel finish to the railing after sanding, but I am not an expert and I think I was lucky that it worked out so well. Your stairs already match your floors so I think it would make sense to leave them alone.

Since you will be removing the chair rails, perhaps you can experiment on some of the removed pieces and see if you can find something that works. Or, you can find paint shades that go with the wood as it is and lean into a California/ beachy/ rustic kind of look.

You said Baseboards are around 5 5/8" high, which seems good, and along with wood border, plenty of detailing. A pro would know how to highlight the border... the right rugs?

With rail also-- very structured looking....[and all the doors]

@isabellagracepan Wow what a great idea to experiment with the chair rails! Thanks for that ingenious suggestion.

@Chris thank you for the link! I'll take a look... modern is definitely what we are leaning towards. I have a bunch of color swatches that are all in the cool off-white, light grey/taupe-ish family. Maybe a little greige. But I wouldn't call any of these cream, so I think I'm good there.

Think we'll start with removing the chair rails on 1st fl and then decide from there if we should do more. I think (I hope) we've also decided on wall colors, different from the ones I posted earlier but in the same family.

Entrance = free reign or maybe lauren's lace

Foyer//living room/kitchen = lauren's lace

Family room = free reign and hush or silver service (focal wall)

With you looking to go Modern, I agree the chair rails and lights and fans must go. At some point I would also budget for an upgrade to your stair rail.

Do you have existing furniture that will come into these Spaces?