have you painted your natural wood trim? Are you glad you did?

[almostmom]

We have stained wood trim all around our house, except in the bedrooms where it's white. It looks really cabin-y, which I mostly like. But I've been thinking (with my mom's prodding - moms!) about painting it white. We have pretty saturated colors on our walls, so I think it would really brighten the place up, and update the look. But part of me loves having the wood with the knots and stuff. Now, not all the wood looks that good, but some of it does. Our house is pretty small, if that means anything.

So, if anyone has painted over their wood trim, let me know if you have regrets, or love the new look, or feel neutral about it.

Thanks!

[sewarsh]

we did. we painted white paint over natural pine (i think) in a small hallway and it looks SO much better. brighter and bigger. we painted the baseboards, crown molding & 2 doors.

recently though, my DH spent WEEKS stripping the black paint off our gorgeaous oak vanity in master bath (thanks to previous owners), he then varnished it and now its bacl to wood and looks great.

[c&j04]

White painted trim is really the norm around here. I love it and all of our houses have had it without even a discussion. (DH in construction) We don't have white walls anywhere and the trim just brightens it up so much!

[wolverine2]

I struggle with this because we have beautiful gumwood trim (floor and ceiling and around the windows) in our living room/dining room, and then it has been painted in the bedrooms. When we first moved in we were SO glad they hadn't painted over it. But it does make the place look darker. I just can't bring myself to paint it because once you do it, it's so hard to go back. I'm going to try other ways of lightening things up in the future (we have dark furninture as well from when we lived somewhere else). I do like the painted trim in the bedroom, but I'm just too afraid I would regret it if we did it anywhere else.

[arivecchi]

I agree that white trim looks a lot more updated and brighter.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My friend did. I still cringe at the thought because I know what a PITB it is to strip it if they change their minds.

Coming from someone with painted trim (done by previous owners), I wish it were natural instead. With little ones that bang into the baseboards, the light paint winds up getting chipped, dirty and dinged.

Beth

[momof2girls]

I think it depends on what kind of wood trim you have. If it is good quality chunky moulding (like in an older house), then I would leave it alone. However, if it is builder's grade regular old moulding I would paint it. I once heard a decorator say that unpainted wood stained dark can sometimes come off as "cartoony", whatever that means!

[Corie]

We have stained wood trim in our house and we love it. I would never
paint it white.

[billysmommy]

We're debating doing this in our dining room. We do love the natural wood but every other room in the house, the trim is painted white so the dining room doesn't really go with the rest of the house

[SnuggleBuggles]

I think it depends on what kind of wood trim you have. If it is good quality chunky moulding (like in an older house), then I would leave it alone. However, if it is builder's grade regular old moulding I would paint it. I once heard a decorator say that unpainted wood stained dark can sometimes come off as "cartoony", whatever that means!

I agree with the point about the quality of the wood. My friend's was original to the house, high quality. I would totally paint over construction grade stuff though. It'd come down more to historic/ original or new and just there.

Beth

[almostmom]

I'm not sure about "good quality" but the house was built in the 50's and the trim around the windows is maybe 3 inches wide. All the doors are the same color wood too, and the entryway hallway has 3 sliding doors covering a closet which are also the stained wood. It would be a big change...

One issue is that the actual windows in the eating part of the kitchen are wood, so if we painted the window frames, it might look funny. But the eating area is surrounded on 3 sides by windows (of which there are 9), and it might look nice to have them painted next to the yellow walls.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. As always, insightful, and ultimately, confusing!