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We live in a house that was built in 2003, but the original owner was five years behind her time when she built it. There is literally golden oak everywhere (and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere), there was teal carpeting, stencils all over the walls, you get the picture.... But the house has a good design, and we've been working on updating it.
We are to the point where we are trying to de-oak somewhat. For example, we had 3 foot oak trim pieces going up and down each outside corner of the drywall. They were protective, I'll give them that, but ugly. I pulled all those this weekend and re-painted. Much better.
Now we are looking at the trim. Obviously white is all the rage now, and we were talking about it. I'm not sure I want to commit to the level of painting that will take, and once I do it white will probably be as out of style as our oak is today... that's my luck. But I don't want this discussion to get hung on on the choice of white or whatever color. That was just some background - I have more of a fundamental question regardless of the route we take.
We have wood casement windows, which are *surprise, surprise* golden oak stained. So they match the window trim. Am I correct in assuming that it would be a major design mistake to have the trim one color of stain/paint (white for example) and the actual window wood be another (oak)? This is a higher end 3,500 sqft home, not a starter.
Thoughts? How have you seen people approach this in the past?
it really is a matter of taste, yours to be exact, since it is your home.
Here in my region, and where I grew up, people painted thier trim the same color as the walls. I still do.....but that is my choice.
White trim is the rage now, personally, I dont like it, but a lot of people do.
So, you have to do what you feel. Even if it becomes more work, I would do what will be pleasing to your eyes....
But to answer your question, I think the trim and the window casing should be the same color.
I couldnt see white trim and golden oak windows. no good. I think it should be the same.....
I would tell you screw the trend stupid stuff and do what makes you happy. I build high end homes for this area. I'm seeing more and more requests for that oak you find obnoxious. I make all kinds of red oak trim as a hobby of sorts- I just like to make it. And I'm getting more requests to make it and put it in the houses. Most of the homes will have some custom oak base and trim. Some will have extensive oak especially in dining rooms. The color that is chosen most of the time is Provincial stain by Minwax.
Like I've told countless buyers, build what makes you happy and forget trends. When a person comes into your home for the first time, they see what you've done as special. After an hour, it's old hat and just a place where you live. It's forgotten on the second visit. So why spend money trying to impress someone for 30 minutes to an hour when you live there 24/7/365. If there's something about your house you don't like, change it. But don't change it because it's the trend- that's just not smart. If remodeling, change it to what you like, not to trends as trends don't last but a few years and it's gone leaving you with a dated house. Remember the old flocked wallpaper? How about the trend in wallpaper? See what I mean.
Pick what you like. I personally like white trim and don't care about whether it's in or out of style. I also think that if you want to have white trim with oak windows, it's fine - I am a fan of contrasts.
There are plenty of examples to see online if you google "white trim and golden oak windows." I think this looks very nice.
I have a 1930 built house, having sanded ALL the trim (someone did a Terrible job painting the most recent job, it peeled off in huge sheets), there was only one time it wasn't white going back 86 years. That was in the middle and it was blue.
My point is that white isn't "trendy", it can be trendING, but it will never look out of place, dated or "wrong". It's a safe (and boring, yes all mine is white) choice.
As for the sashes being different from the trim... my folks built their dream home in 2009, it's nearly a half million dollar build, the windows are wood (inside, vinyl outside) and there isn't any real trim as they have those funky rounded corners everywhere. Wall color runs right up to the wood windows, it looks fine.
Beyond that I've been in some multi-million dollar places where the sashes are different color from the trim. Normally it's a red sash (on the ones I've seen, historic recreations) on an earthy green or brown. But the can (and do) go over the top like this:
It is a HUGE PITA to paint window sashes well. I've got 25 3'x6' windows and another half dozen decorative windows, all that need glazing and paint not to mention the 6 full-light doors. I've done a few and it's not a painting job I'd wish on anyone. Tedious and monotonous, skip it if at all possible.
To make the transition a little "softer" you could always use a neutral 'earthy' tone paint on the trim. I guarantee that if you paint, someone's going to be cursing you sometime in the future. I'll always take natural wood over anything painted.
I've been reading this thread with interest as I will be having some painting done soon. The windows were installed in the 80's I believe, they are all stained golden oak but in great shape. My late husband was totally against painting them, I was thinking of doing it though but on second thought, I think I'll leave them (except the bathroom one, that WILL be painted white) - just because of future resale - if someone else wants them painted, that's on them - rather then turn off someone who doesn't want them painted. (They'd probably replace all the windows anyway)
Thanks for the comments so far guys. And I definitely second the "do what you like, don't worry about trend" comments you'd provided so far. Neither my wife and I could ever be described as "trendy", so we aren't going all HGTV or anything on our house. It's just throwing good money after bad to try and keep up with what's in style today.
But we do see things, and talk about how we might refresh or improve certain aspects of our house. This is not a forever home and we are pretty conservative decorating wise anyway, so we like to make sure whatever we are doing isn't so far off base that it's going to impact a sale in the future.
emm74 - thanks for the pictures. That's exactly the concept, I'm still a bit on the fence whether I like it or not.
I'll have to think some more - and I have several other projects I'm tackling before this anyway. This would be a large, time-consuming, and detail oriented job and I'm not really ready to go hog wild on it yet anyway.
If you don't want to paint your trim, then I wouldn't. I don't know about white trim and trends, but having been faced with a similar dilemma, I just lived with it. I do think you can update your house even with the golden oak. You could also have it stained darker or lighter, or you could do the restaining yourself over a period of time. It sounds like dog's work to me, but it could be done.
Just be thankful you have actual wooden trim! Some of us don't.
With the oak, you can use deeper colors, instead of namby pamby pales. The oak also looks good with brick or stone that might be on the fireplace. You can keep the oak trim and still paint or restain your kitchen cabs, if they are also oak. You can also restain any oak floors darker or lighter. (We stained light oak darker in our house and the floors look wonderful.) In other words, the wood in your house does not all have to match. And having other wood tones eases the oak overload in general.
With all the warmth of oak, I would use cooler tones on the walls, grayed to contrast with the warmth of the trim. Most reds probably will be too much, especially with wood furniture. But I think you can work with this, and do something nice.
Don't be afraid to consult with a decorator if you can't see your way forward. Be clear about what you feel you want to do, and what you want to achieve.
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I'll always take natural wood over anything painted.
