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May 14, 2008
what color did you paint your hall trim?
Please help me Brownstoners! I have to paint all the trim in my hallway. It's A LOT of wood, very ornate casing, wainscoting, high doorways, 4 floors of it. What color is the trim in your house? What are traditional colors for trim paint (house was built before the turn of the century)? Did you feel like you made any mistakes in choosing colors and if so what were they? Correct decisions, things you're very happy with? Please share. I need to make a decision fast! Thanks.
Comments
depending on the quality of the wood, most will tell you to keep it stripped and stained.
Posted by: guest at May 14, 2008 9:58 PM
I strongly suggest you get the attention of MsLimestone.
She knows.
Enough said.
Posted by: guest at May 14, 2008 10:02 PM
very interesting question--what WAS the traditional way to do it back in the day? Did people stain the wood, or paint it white?
Posted by: guest at May 14, 2008 10:30 PM
Oh man, you just stepped into the Victorian versus Edwardian sinkhole. Be afraid, be very afraid.
In all seriousness, white looks nice, as does stain. It all depends on your house. All our trim is white. It works with the plaster crown moldings we have in two rooms and there was not much good wood molding left.
Posted by: slopefarm at May 14, 2008 10:36 PM
yes, but it is really an off-white that looks nice, something on the order of cream-colored, not actual white, if you are picking paint colors.
Posted by: guest at May 14, 2008 11:24 PM
OP here, thanks guys. Yes, I am very afraid - it's a lot of paint, and a lot of labor. There's no way I can afford to have it all stripped. It's poplar anyway, was meant to be painted (or so I'm told). Besides it's all primed, which is what's making me hesitate about white/light. It SO white. It's like walking into a snow storm. The walls are actually painted a very light gray, almost white (it looked darker in the store, can't afford to repaint now so I'm stuck with that). Ideally the trim would offer some contrast and I was thinking about something dark but everyone's telling me no. It was brown before... I like the cream-colored idea, "bone" as it were. Anyone else care to weigh in?
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 8:17 AM
If it is your hall, I would go with pure white. Grey doesn't mix well, in my opinion, with the off-whites (assuming you have a blue-grey and not a brown-grey - the latter might be okay with an off-white). We just painted our parlors grey (sounds a bit darker than what you have) and the white makes it snap. We had also thought of a dark grey, but decided to just paint a few doors eggplant. We love it, but it is a particular look...
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at May 15, 2008 9:08 AM
I stripped the doors and ornate molding and painted the rest the baseboards a deep red (maroon/burgundy/brick???).
Hallway shot was taken when molding was stripped but not yet stained. Chair rail and baseboards are painted.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/castleandkeep/297694788/in/set-72157594378041657/
Did the same in the parlor. The baseboard is paint.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/castleandkeep/297697219/in/set-72157594378041657/
Posted by: rh at May 15, 2008 9:09 AM
Ben Moore cameo white, satin impervo alkyd enamel goes on like butter
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 9:09 AM
A very good book for the question- What is historically correct? is Paint in America; the Colors of Historic Buildings Roger Moss editor.
This book illustrates the wood trim in functional areas of the house was usually black, brown, dark green...any color that would receive dirt. Base boards in particular are dark because they are the place that received the mop. Special areas are Parlor front room, dining master bedroom would have the creams, yellows, fancier colors.
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 9:41 AM
chocolate brown (don't have the name on me right now, but choc brown looks good with grey) or BM super white semi gloss (my fav) signed,designer
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 10:00 AM
I'd highly recommend an creamy white (pure white is too stark) as it works with pretty much any wall color. If you have a lot of trim, you're better off painting all the trim in the house the same color to create a unified look and then using various wall colors.
Its just my opinion but I find a lot of stained trim to be overbearing in most settings.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at May 15, 2008 11:15 AM
You're right in that wood trim that is poplar or pine was originally meant to be painted; as the trim was pieced together with different grades/cuts of wood it doesn't stain well.
I would highly recommend using BM satin Dulamel or Satin Impervo--i.e., alkyd (oil-based) paint in white throughout your whole house. Since it's oil paint, it will yellow ever so slightly to a nice creamy tone.
Personally, I think semi-gloss is still too shiny, and gloss is awful. Satin will look the best, is not flat, and hides imperfections better than semi-gloss.
Oil-based is more of a pain to work with, but the look and durability are superior for woodwork.
Posted by: tinarina at May 15, 2008 12:57 PM
We love oil semi-gloss. Not too shiny for us (it's a matter of taste, of course) and easier to clean than flatter finishes. Check out BM's Ivory White in their "old" color deck. It's a lovely soft, antiquey white that is plenty bright -- just not glaringly white -- and works really well with old brownstones.
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 1:02 PM
darker colored trim can look nice - depends on the look you want. To match up OK with the wall colors, I'd suggest using a darker shade of the color on the same swatch (for those ones that have 4-7 shades of the same color on one piece of cardboard..) Me, I prefer the creamy white. To do dark around windows, you need to have a lot of light coming in (as it won't reflect as much light as white will) or not care about the amount of light coming in.
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 2:48 PM
Donald Kaufman white #5. The best. Very creamy...like milk. We painted all our trim that color -- spindles, base and crown molding. The only place we didn't paint was on the parlor floor, instead, we ebonized.
Posted by: guest at May 16, 2008 7:02 PM
I was reading an Elsie de Wolfe bio and saw she always painted baseboards and trim, hated stained wood, and always in colors not white. Just FYI because she's the big Edwardian decorator.
Posted by: guest at May 17, 2008 11:48 AM
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