Aesthetic Connundrum

[shadesofmauve]

I'm having the sliding glass door in my bedroom replaced when I get the studio windows. It's single-paned aluminum, the most poorly insulated part of the house and an eyesore to boot. Replacing the slider is a no-brainer -- I should have had it done when I paid for the front windows.

Unfortunately it brings up the problem of trim.


My house has mix-matched interior trim styles. Not just mix-matched from room to room, but within the rooms. I haven't helped this situation any, because I had windows replaced almost as soon as I moved in, well before I had any kind of vision or plan. I can't just pick something that matches the rest of the house.

If I knew what paint colors I wanted in the bedroom that would help, but Erik and I haven't come up with a paint scheme we agree on in three years of me owning the house (No, technically he doesn't need a say in it, but I'd rather not have my bedroom be a place he hates to be... :P). It's a sliding door, so any mismatch with baseboards will be incredibly obvious; I need to have it trimmed in a way I'll want to continue throughout the room.

Of course, thinking about it makes me question the trim I had put on the other windows, too. ARGH.

In the rented bedrooms (oak floor, crap mahogany trim and doors) I paid for paint-grade poplar, intending to paint it (because hey, renters! Low-upkeep is good). When it was installed I thought it was pretty, though, and I put a ridiculous amount of time into staining one of them instead. I haven't finished the second one at all, because madalchemist is busy living in that room.

The living and dining rooms open onto each other and have four different trims between them. Off-white molded MDF crap around the baseboards, blockish butt-jointed off-white wood around the slider, ancient beaten up mahogany around the door, and newer not-yet-stained mahogany around the window. It's a mess. I chose the not-yet-stained mahogany to match the mantle and tie in with the wood door (it's fir, and it's freakin' gorgeous) but the trim on every other wall is painted fiber board. The wood-on-white looks beautiful next to the green wall... but the green wall has off-white fiber-board trim.

The dining room's no help -- I want to paint it a very bright color that will really only work with white trim, which pretty much necessitates white trim in the living room, that would then leave the window frame not matching the baseboards, which I'm pretty sure is some kind of design sin. So I probably should have paid less and painted the trim.

What was I thiiiiinking?!

The only thing I know for sure is that I want to replace the fiber-board junk with wood (painted or otherwise) because you really should be able to bump your trim without denting it.


TL;DR: My house has an identity crisis, I can't make decisions, and fiber-board sucks.

Comments

[stasia]

I don't think you need to have the trim match from room to room. It's okay if the dining room's trim is white and one thing, while the living room has stained trim in a different pattern/style/wood/flavor. You could, even, play up the differences, as a way of demarcating rooms.

Bear in mind, I'm a chromaphile and would have colorcolorcolor everywhere, so I might not be the best adviser for this.

And yes, fiberboard suxxorz.

Stasia

[shadesofmauve]

I may not have been clear enough -- the problem is that the dining and living rooms run into each other, so there are corners where the two trims would meet. The other issue is that the green wall in the living room looks best with white trim, even if the white walls might look best with wood (and the window frame is already wood). How would you feel about white baseboards and wood windows?

EDIT: Also, did you see my massive pic post yesterday? I thought of you and your color-love when I posted the pic of my kitchen window. ;P

[stasia]

I did see the post - and omg, I love that color for your kitchen. I saw the note in the description line and looked at the color and thought, Oh, how nice. I wonder if, if we ever buy a house, Geordie would let me do that. Heh. I wonder if he'd have a choice!

So, if you match the style of trim, but not the color, there's a way to have them be dramatically different. Or you could just ... embrace the difference? Make them the same size, but different patterns and put a square boss at the point of joinery?

I don't care about matching trim, so I'm really the wrong person to ask. I like pattern and lots of it, so, well. Yeah, different window trim and baseboards and don't forget crown molding up high, but leave a space so you can have room for your plates...

Stasia

[shadesofmauve]

if you match the style of trim, but not the color,

That seems like a workable idea. I had them use a basic wedge profile on the window (Like this because it's a 1960s house and pretending otherwise seemed silly), but with one minor detail. The top and sides have a narrow trim that 'matches' the original beat-up mahogany in size, but the bottom piece, under the sill, is wider. I did it that way because it helped hide places where the wall was beat up, but also for some bottom-weight, visually. I suppose that means I could use wider baseboards if I wanted and it would still match, after a fashion!

[shadesofmauve]

This morning I decided to provide visual aids!

Here's the corner in the living room with THREE different trim types:


(unfinished new trim on the window, crappy off-white fiberboard installed right before I bought, and possibly-original beat-up crappy mahogany).

And here's the green wall next to the door, because COLORS.

[oddlittleturtle.livejournal.com]

I love mahogany. I'd keep that, stain/restain it so that it all matches, and lose the fiber board. Fiber board is the devil.

The stuff that's in our current rental is a conglomeration of mishmash trims that I pointedly ignore every chance I get. They're all painted white, but they're all different. Some windows have those little ... I can't think of what they're called... ornamental thingys in the corners and none of them look plumbed. :/ Some windows have wide trim, some windows have thin trim... ugh. Can't wait to leave. lol

The new house has been freshly painted (flat beige and flat white D: ) and all the rooms' trims appear to match, though the foyer is getting wainscoting in high gloss white and a nice bright color and crown moulding the first chance I get since the entryway looks so plain and uninviting. I may carry the look into the formal living room...

[shadesofmauve]

I want to say the ornamental corner things are bosses, but I'm not sure. I know what you mean, though. And none of my trim has the same profile as the rest, either, I just didn't mention that part because the color is even more obvious.

Unfortunately all the crappy mahogany would have to be replaced to make everything match -- it's junky baseboard that's been beaten up and has paint dribbles on it, and it was installed over carpet (which was installed over the hardwood) so it's actually 1/4 to 1/2 an inch off the floor. *desk*

What do you think of the window frame being wood ('cause wood = pretty, yay!, and I already bought it) and baseboards being white, if the trim's the same profile? I already think I have to replace all the baseboards (because fiber board is eeeevil) and I'm not sure I can afford non-paint grade wood, as well as thinking it'd look like ass next to the planned paint scheme for the dining room.

Oddly enough, my folks' dining room has the opposite -- painted windows and clear fir baseboards -- but that was because stripping the window frames was such a PITA that they gave up and painted them. Aaaand they spent a shitload of money on those beautiful clear fir baseboards!

I love gloss paint inside, btw. I can't wait to see pics of your new place once you get it properly turtled-up. I use semi-gloss instead of high gloss, and people at the paint store still look at me weird, but walls that you can clean! That reflect light! Why do people even bother with flat paint?

[oddlittleturtle.livejournal.com]

The ornamental corner dohickies would look great if they were done properly. It looks like someone just decided, 'hey, ornaments!' with no planning whatsoever and just hotglued them onto the door frame, slapped some paint over it and called it a day. (We didn't want to waste money painting someone else's place, so we never bothered to do anything about it. But, oh, how they bug me.)

Oh, too bad about the mahogany. I've never been in a home with baseboards that didn't match the windows (at least not that I can recall - Mom never liked exposed wood baseboards or windows... but her mother's house was all paneling so she had an aversion to exposed wood on walls hehe), but the clear fir sounds gorgeous and what you described doesn't sound bad at all.

...What about an eclectic or cottage chic look? Draw out some of the colors of the paint splatter? Not sure about your tastes or furniture style though - and I'm just throwing out options! If it's crappy enough that it needs replacing and you've got the $$ to do it, go for the white. I'm probably the only one ever that notices if someone's baseboard looks off or doesn't match. I grew up with fixing up homes.

With my doggies, I have to have high gloss or semi-gloss to keep the messes down (without fail, Luke's tail catches every corner after it rains and twice if he gets in mud). And the way I have the entry planned with hooks and such, I want something easy to clean. And shiny. xD ...Though for the paint above the wainscoting, I may use Porter Paint's silken touch paint that Mom's contractor friend recommended. It's eggshell, stain-resistant and nice and cleanable. ...hmmm. Tests. And budgetary concerns. That stuff's expensive. D:

[shadesofmauve]

My parents have been remodeling their house since I was 14, so I've got that critical-how-can-this-be-improved mindset, too.

Here, I took a photo this morning for visual aid. This is one corner of the living room by the front door where there are three types of trim.



I'm currently leaning towards staining and finishing the window, then replacing the rest with the same profile (hard to see, but window is a straighter wedge than what's around the door now).

That odd 'door frame wood, baseboard paint' thing extends through the hallway, but I don't usually notice it there because I don't hang out in the hallway.

I kinda hate cottage chic (no way you could know that) and don't mind replacing the baseboards, really -- like I said, they're all either fiberboard or beaten up and 1/2 inch too high. They're not big pretty wood worth the pain of refinishing.

I can't even blame my filth on dogs. I was a fan of cleanable semi-gloss paint before I even got the cats. Perhaps I can blame it on the gardening...

[oddlittleturtle.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Yeah. That dark door trim against that white would drive me nuts if were everywhere. The window is very nice though.

Good idea with the staining and finishing the window and replacing with the same profile.

[shadesofmauve]

Yeah, I like wood against white (or cream, preferably) but not that dark. When i say 'stain' the window I'm thinking of something light that will bring out the reds, because it's an over-all grayer piece of wood than the rest.

So, hopefully having the same profile will make it work even if some is painted, some wood. We can hope!

We can also hope I remember making these decisions now, since I probably won't replace the living room trim in the next year. :P

EDIT: Oh, and I am NOT in love with that white, I just don't hate it enough to be motivated to choose a new color. The wall to the right is moss green and beautiful, so I'd probably just be looking at different whites.

[pyoor_excuse]

Our baseboards don't match our windows, because our windows are hideous UPVC atrocities, as is standard in the UK, and the trim in every room except the kitchen is not-white. Having the baseboard change from painted to stained in the middle of the room would be a bit odd... but you could probably make it work somehow.

Stick some furniture over the joint and people probably won't notice anyway :)

[shadesofmauve]

Is the trim UPVC?! I have vinyl windows, too (the new ones, anyway -- the old ones are single paned aluminum) but there's a wooden sill, wood trim, wood making the box that goes around the window and arrrgh I forgot all my building terms. Fully wood trimmed, I suppose.

EDIT: There's a pic above in comments.


I want the baseboard to be all the same, I think -- though it has joins now! -- but wonder if people will notice my window doesn't match. I'm hoping if I change the baseboard to the same trim profile it'll look intentional, at least.

[pyoor_excuse]

The window structure is UPVC, in the UK there's no boxing trim around the windows (unless it's a victorian or even older house). Above the bay in the library there's a massive sheet of plastic replacing what was, presumbably, once wood. Whilst our windowsill (inside) is wood, I've seen plastic ones. Our baseboards are wooden tho' - in fact, all except the strip of MDF* that I stuck in because the original splintered to bits when they were removing it from the kitchen are original 1930s wood which is much nicer, and much tougher than modern architraves seem to be.

* Whilst I concur on the whole 'MDF is hideous stuff' concept, the price difference between MDF and the proper wood ones was vast - and this stuff is fairly tough (high density) MDF, so it doesn't dent if you knock it.

[shadesofmauve]

Ah! Okay. I've never seen a plastic sill before, but originally this house didn't have boxing trim, either -- I don't think they used it much mid-century. I had the window company trim the front ones with wood when I had them replaced, because I prefer it to having the drywall go right up to the window.

I actually love MDF... as a painting support. I seal and gesso it, and it makes a lovely smooth, light surface to paint on. It's very dimensionally stable, so I don't have to worry about the painting cracking or warping. But my paintings aren't down where I kick them. :P

I'd probably have to look at MDF trim if I wanted to trim out the whole house at once, but since I'm planning to do long-range piecemeal I can afford paint-grade wood, instead.