If you are planning to sell your house I would suggest painting.

I’m not a natural woodwork fan, myself, but as bluenan says, it is your house and you love it. I do think your wall color is important to make the oak look its best.

I should add that if your home a particular style like Craftsman, then don’t paint.

To add to JudyG's comments, can you post photos of the area to are thinking of painting?

I love wood trim of all sorts, and think it's silly that we allow ourselves to be conned into believing that things that are perfectly beautiful aren't in style any longer! We've had wood trim for years, and since we're renovating, we're actually replacing it and the doors with knotty pine trim and doors, and LOVE how it's coming out. If potential homebuyers don't like it, they can tear it out when they own the house. Until then, we're going with knotty pine for a rustic look, and if we're out of style, so be it. I'd rather love the look of my house than conform to some arbitrary standards of the interior design industry. Same goes for my hair and clothes--I go with what I like, not what society tells me I should have. Do the same.......

I love my 89-year-old oak trim. I don't want my house to look like everyone else's.

I think painting over stained wood is almost always a bad idea. Once the paint gets scuffed or stained it needs to be repainted or touched up, and eventually it just looks crummy.

You should put a darker stain on it then any design you come up with should not be a problem.

I think it depends on the oak...1980's trim is much different story from 1880's trim...I've lived with both.

Thanks EVERYONE for all your feedback! I appreciate it!! Attached are a few pics of our foyer--this is one of the places I'd love to add some architectural detail, such as wainscoting or something. It is very plain--white slate tile (which I don't like, but will deal with for now) mustard-colored walls, and lots of golden oak trim. The architectural details I've really liked are all painted--and I don't really want to paint the trim right now--but doing that detail in more golden oak just feels like overkill! thoughts???

Your oak is beautiful. I would paint the walls a lighter colour rather than painting the oak.

The yellow paint is making the oak seem more orange.

I know these pics don't really do the wall color justice, but it does bring out the "gold" color of the oak. We had a lighter color for 12 years and just went with this to warm it up...ugh! I'd love to blame the floor for everything...