# Help! Mismatched Trim, Doors, Windows - Paint them All???



## Snowy334

My husband and I just bought our first condo, and we've been working hard painting, placing hardware, adding storage features and all that good stuff.

One thing we haven't figured out is what to do about the trim, doors and windows. 

Our floors are all light, natural wood color. The trim along the floor is the same tone, light wood. The Doors however, and the trim around them is dark wood color, and the Windows are also dark wood color as well. I’d really like them to match, but have no idea what the best course of action is. 

Should we paint everything white? Try to sand and varnish the windows and doors and door trim? Can I even paint the windows white? Or is that a horrible idea?

Help! Any advice welcome!!


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## bob22

Personally, I like gloss, white trim and I don't like varnished doors (unless they are really nice wood that matches the room's style). But, that is what I like and everyone has different tastes. You can paint the wood windows etc but once you paint them, you'll be working very hard (if not impossible) to get them back to a natural wood that you can stain/varnish.
Why not look at some other people's houses in your development to see what they've done that you might like as well?


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## Snowy334

Thanks Bob, that's a good idea to check out what other people have done. 

I personally also like white trim, and doors, but the consensus in my office was an immediate 'NO, don't paint it!' :laughing:

I attached a couple of pics to illustrate the problem. We are going to replace all of the doors no matter what and I'd prefer white. The trim around the doors and below the window will have to be replaced too. 

The currently baseboards along the floor run throughout the ENTIRE condo. Which isn't huge, just a 2 beroom, but its even in the closets. Lots of painting. But if painting it white will make the whole place look the cleanest and most cohesive them we'll do it.

Painting the windows has me the most worried though to be honest. But I've been reading a lot on these forums and it looks like with sanding, primer and 2 coats we should be ok. And apparently oil based is the way to go?

Still learning!!


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## EdinDesign

Hey Snowy... I see that it's been over a week since your last posting on this thread, but on the off chance that you haven't acted on this project yet I thought I'd share my thoughts...

I recommend that you paint all your trim.

What I've found is often the case with baseboards that are the same colour as the floor is that it creates the illusion that the floor is moving up the wall and therefore making the wall appear shorter then it actually is (bringing the ceiling down visually). You'll find that painting the baseboards will highlight your floors, create a starting place for the walls and visually increase your ceiling height.

Your window and door trim... please don't take offense, but there's nothing special about it architecturally speaking. I really think that you should paint it. I suspect that if you did paint it that your rooms would feel brighter... and brighter feels bigger... bigger/brighter in a condo is a very good thing 

As for paint type - there's no need for you to use an oil based paint as long as you've used a good primer (I recommend Zinsser). Latex will do the job wonderfully.


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## javan

I suggest a nice white semi-gloss wall/trim paint.


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## Crown Molding Ken

Snowy334 said:


> My husband and I just bought our first condo, and we've been working hard painting, placing hardware, adding storage features and all that good stuff.
> 
> One thing we haven't figured out is what to do about the trim, doors and windows.
> 
> Our floors are all light, natural wood color. The trim along the floor is the same tone, light wood. The Doors however, and the trim around them is dark wood color, and the Windows are also dark wood color as well. I’d really like them to match, but have no idea what the best course of action is.
> 
> Should we paint everything white? Try to sand and varnish the windows and doors and door trim? Can I even paint the windows white? Or is that a horrible idea?
> 
> Help! Any advice welcome!!


Hi Snowy, 

In my overstated opinion, you should paint everything white. It's clean, will go with any wall color, and is bright and cheerfull. But be carefull of the white you choose, some are too yellow, and some are septic white, like a hospital. My all time favorite white is Benjamin Moore's, White Dove.

But I'm biased. And you'll see why if you take a look at some of the white trim I've installed in the past. It's in my DIY blog/Pattern Book www.iNeedCrown.com

Good luck, Snowy
Cheers, Ken


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## florist.guy

Hi Snowy,

White is timeless - although you might like the way an opaque white stain would look versus paint. That could be easier to maintain depending on the paint you use, and it should definitely be semi-gloss or gloss to stand up to wear and tear better. careful sanding the baseboards and avoid sanding your floor...not fun to fix...


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## Snowy334

Thanks so much everyone for the suggestions!

We are going for white! We started taping off one of the rooms last night to get started and went out looking for a few new doors for that room to start with. 

Going to hit the local hardware store and get primer and paint tonight, and sandpaper to get started! 

I am excited to see how it turns out!


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## susan stef

*Help! mismatched trim, doors,windows - Paint them All???*

Snowy334, while searching all day for solution for the same question you had about painting wood windows, trim and baseboard I came across your question and read all of your replies and saw your pictures you posted. Thank you, now I know what to do and how to do it. Please if you read this post a picture so I can see how mine will look! Suettalynn


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## ohman

Hmm... by the way, just curious... WHY should people paint the door trim and baseboard with gloss or semi-gloss paint? I always thought that for gloss or semi-gloss paint, the "cracks" or "defects" on the surface is easier to be noticed? If that's the case, since door trim and baseboard are prone to high traffic and easily damaged, wouldn't it be a better idea to paint them with FLAT or low-sheen instead? Thoughts or comments?

Sorry I'm still a DIY beginner and don't know much about paint...


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## ARI001

You are correct the higher the sheen the more defects will show through. Generally trim is painted with a satin or semi-gloss because it holds up better to scuffing and cleaning. If you have ever tried to clean a flat paint you will notice it smudges and smears (however there are now some washable flats available and eggshell cleans up so so). I only recommend gloss paint for exceptionally well done trim jobs as it will show all defects. Trim is used primarily for one of two purposes; to hide something or to accent something. The overall finish of the trim should be dictated by the purpose and quality of the trim as well as the quality of the trim job. That said, most trim jobs in new construction homes I would recommend using a satin simply for its ability hold up to cleaning and scuffing. These trim jobs are usually bid at economy standards with much higher tolerances for gaps, allow mitered corners (vs. coped)/ require no returns/ and allow butt joints instead of scarf joints. Needless to say the painters usually get to do a bit of caulking and filling. Obviously you do not want to draw a great deal of attention to the trim job. So one would probably use an off white (shadow or similar) satin paint.


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## ohman

Thanks so much for your reply and knowledge sharing!

By the way, please see the following two photos to illustrate the trim area that we want to tackle with:

http://yfrog.com/04trim1j

http://yfrog.com/eitrim2j


So I talked to two professional painters, both of them said that I should use oil-based primer, oil-based finish paint (semi-gloss) for the trim. Currently we already painted the trim with eggshell water-based finish paint (but of course it doesn't look right), could we directly put up oil-based finish paint directly, or should we still prime it with oil-based primer first then oil-based finish paint? Thanks!


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## ARI001

As long as you got good adhesion with the coat of paint you applied you should not have to prime. I don't like the idea of oil based paints used inside. It is my understanding that only Glidden and Behr have an oil based paint (note I said paint not primer) and both are only for exterior use. I would go with a good quality latex or latex acrylic paint. I know a lot of painters like to push Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, and Dupont (mostly because they discounts on it and make more in mark up) but they really are not any better that their competetors. If you look at independent testing on paints Behr (Home Depot) and American Tradition (Lowes) both performed as well and in some cases better.


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