Foyer to living room

I think adding trim to these openings would be too much, given the era of the home.

So, in your opinions it's best not to add trim around all the openings in the house? I just like the finish look it gives over all. Just curious because I want to add trim to all the openings in my new home. Always looking for suggestions and ideals.

I agree it would be nice to have a larger trim to use, I'm just concerned with using different moldings, I want to keep it cohesive.

Our "new" 70's house has added trim on living room, foyer, dining room. I like it. But, our trim is white, not sure how it would look in darker wood to match your baseboards. Or, are you planning to paint baseboards? We have been slowly working on changing narrower door trim to slightly wider (like the pic).

Lopipopi, Yes, we're painting all of the trim out to White Dove. I love your trimwork. Is that a three-piece crown? That's pretty much what I'm going for. If I had the funds, I'd have pocket doors installed... however, nope... not in the budget! Paint and trim is about what I have the means for. Thank you for sharing!!

I don't know that it's an issue of era. I've lived in a 1929 house with wonderfully wide trim between some rooms, but just plaster corners between others. I now live in a less interesting 1989 home that also has trimmed out openings for some doors, but not others.

If you like the trim, add the trim! In general, though, I think the wider the trim, the more proper it looks (narrow trim is somewhat dated to a particular 1980+ time period of 'cheap' homebuilding, IMHO).

Also using flat trim matches profiled trim fine, eventually you can change all trim- it's easy and inexpensive

Thank you!! That's very helpful. I've lived so long in early 1900's homes with elaborate and thick base, doortrim and crown that I just need something in this home! I like the idea of doing a 4" around the opening. I'm armed with a mitre saw now, as I had to rip off and replace the side trim on the front door from an old security lock that had cut out part of it. Handy little tool, those saws are :)

Question for you, the inside trim on the top and sides of the doorway opening--I was looking at the doorway to the kitchen, and I'm thinking it's 5"x1/2? What is typical when you put wood on the top and sides before adding the trim?

Just clear the wall depth. Then the casing will cover the edge.
See the face casing covers the jamb face.

Also don't miter! When doing flat trim do a butt joint.

That is gorgeous. That's satin oil paint, isn't it?

25% Navajo white, SW oil, semi gloss

That's beautiful... gosh, If I were rich I'd fly you up here and have you do my entire home. I was looking at your pictures on here... you do amazing work! Thank you for the ideas!

Thanks for the compliment! My husband and I work really hard :-) so we appreciate it. Our team (craftsmen) are really talented.
I like helping people on here. It's nice to inform people about Millwork, it makes all the difference. For little cost you can achieve a lot!

Yes, ours is three pieces of trim. One flat piece on roof (to hide the scars left when window valence was removed), a crown and a chair-rail thingy on the bottom of that. The previous owners had done the living room. We left off the chair-rail piece when we did the dining room (see this pic - room in the back) but matched the crown size. I agree with Period, I think our crown is a little much for 8 foot ceilings. Excuse mess, we tore out carpet in prep for hardwood.

Personally I like the contrast of the white trim with the gray paint. Without it the gray can look blah.

oh - one more thing - our crown piece is actually upside-down. I'm not sure why previous owners did that, but we copied it.

@Period Millworks...can you show examples of where you are saying not to miter??

I didn't read all of the responses above, so forgive me if I am repeating something that someone else already said, but I think that you should only add wide casing to the archways if you change out all the casing in the adjacent rooms. It would look strange to have nice wide casings on the openings with teardrop ranch base in the rooms.

Also, unless you have already bought the paint, I would highly recommend against using oil. It's very smelly and has a lot of VOCs. We used Graham Ceramic satin enamel paint on our trim and it is gorgeous. It "lays down" like oil-based paint, with no brushstrokes, and after 2 years, has held up very well.

Studio Z, thank you for the suggestions. We are using BM Satin Impervo Waterborne. I contemplated the oil, but decided on the latex just for easy clean up. Oil goes the best finish, and it's my preferred for when I paint on canvas, but for ease of use the latex is fine. The finish is fantastic on this paint as well, barely a brushstroke. Here is a pic of what I'm shooting for. I just discussed--again--the option of replacing the baseboards with my husband this evening and I think after the new year we are going to go for it do we may replace the door trims at that time (and hopefully install crown!)

Sorry, I scanned the earlier comments and saw Period Millworks comment about oil-based paint, and didn't pay attention to who made the comment! Good luck with your project!!

I willl be adding trim on my entrance to kitchen. I do not like the look right now. It looks bare. when my kitchen reno is finished, I think the trim on kitchen entrance will have a nice finfished look. My opinion.

how can i decorate a doorway to the kitchen