# Putting up window trim, chair rails and crown moldings. Paint or stain?



## Bacardi 151 (May 2, 2007)

Like the title says, I got some work ahead of me. My dining room is part of the kitchen. The kichen has flat cherry cabinets with tan granite counters. In the next room, the wall colors are the same, but it has a light maple laminate floor. I guess I'm just stuck with white, correct?


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## shapeshifter (Jan 10, 2007)

I don't believe you are. If it were my house, and I plan to do something very similar, I would take the bold step of painting the walls, maybe a taupe or dark shade of beige that coordinates with your flooring, applying chair rail and painting it a lighter shade of the same taupe or beige. 

After all, it's just paint, right? 

Another thing you could do would be to put in an area rug to under the table and chairs, and pull your colors for the wall from it. That way, you would know ahead of time if your colors work well with the maple floor.

You would just need to make sure that the wall color works with the flooring because there are a 1000 shades of beige or taupe.


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## Concordseeker (Aug 5, 2007)

I personally like white for trim. IMHO stained trim, unless it's very high end wood, just looks unfinished. You might want to paint under the chair rail a darker shade for contrast.


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## shapeshifter (Jan 10, 2007)

I also like the real contrast that white brings in. Do they not have to be careful about the shade of white they choose? Just like choosing the correct shade of beige or taupe? 

The shade of white that I really like is Wal Mart Color Choice "White Chocolate" It seems to work well with any other color I've used because it is not a stark, ghostly white. It has some cool undertones and seems to be able to adapt to the wall color it is painted against.

The reason that I suggested using a lighter shade of the wall color is, around here, more and more you are seeing that rather than the white trim.


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## Cole (Mar 12, 2005)

Concordseeker said:


> I personally like white for trim. IMHO stained trim, unless it's very high end wood, just looks unfinished. You might want to paint under the chair rail a darker shade for contrast.


I couldn't agree more.

I like the look of white trim!


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## DIY4EVER (Apr 10, 2007)

i agree with Shapeshifter's area rug idea. this is what i did in my dining room. the area rug has squares of different colors on it, red, blue, tan, dark brown.... I used the red color on the bottom 1/3 of the walls and the tan (taupe) color on the top 2/3 and ran a white chair rail all the way around at the line created by the two colors. everything coordinates with the rug:thumbsup:


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