If your home has a lot of wood trim, whether floors, doors, or window casings, you may be wondering if you can mix in some white painted trim with the wood? Some people like to mix things up, and some people like cohesion. Which is the case for wood and white trim? We’ve researched to see what the experts have to think of this combination and compiled answers for you here.
You can absolutely mix wood and white trim. However, you’ll want to be thoughtful about it. If your baseboards are white, you’ll probably want that white to flow up to the door casings as well. Though there may be an occasional reason to only paint one window casing in a particular color, for the most part, you’ll want to be consistent with what remains wood and what is painted white. This way, the look seems intentional, not hodge-podge.
We’ve gathered some examples of great ways to mix wood and white trim. With each example, we’ve found a photo to highlight what we’re referring to. In addition to this, we’ll talk about how best to mix wood and white trim, if you can have white trim with wooden doors, if you should paint wood trim white or is it going out of style, and finally, is it okay to use different color trims in different rooms? So please, keep reading for the details.
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Can You Mix Wood And White Trim?
Wood trim has been hugely popular at various points in the history of homes and residences. Craftsman-style homes, bungalows, even homes from the Victorian era leaned heavily toward the use of beautiful hardwoods for doors and trim. Architectural purists would argue that one should never paint over some of this beautiful old wood, but for many homeowners, dark tones are out and lights and brights are in. This brings us to our topic at hand: white trim.
If you want to lighten up your space, you may be considering mixing white trim with wood details. And whether you’re building from scratch or renovating something older, from a style perspective, this is perfectly okay.
How Do You Mix Wood And White Trim?
When you think about mixing wood and white trim, you want to consider consistency. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
White Trim, Wood-Toned Window Sills, And Overhead Beams
In the room below, all of the trim is painted white with the exception of the window sill and the overhead beams. Leaving these bits of wood keeps the room from being too bright and is a nice tonal contrast to the gorgeous hardwood floors.
White Baseboards And Everything Else Wood-Toned
In this gorgeous and airy space, the only trim painted white is the baseboards. Keeping your baseboards the same color as your wall gives your wall an airier feel. There’s no horizontal slash of color breaking up the plane of the wall. It’s a way to make the room appear to have more ceiling height.
Trim Painted White, Built-in Cabinets Left Wood-Toned
If you live in an older home with beautiful woodwork, but you also love light and bright paint, here’s an idea. Leave any custom built-ins the natural wood stain, but paint your window trim and baseboards the white color you love. Here the walls have been painted in a contrasting soft greenish-tan.
Coffered Ceiling In Wood Tone, All Else In White Trim
This elegant dining room mixes white trim and rich wood beautifully. The handsome coffered ceiling has been left in a rich walnut tone that draws your attention to the detail. The rest of the trim, including the built-ins, has been painted white. This works to keep the focus on the dining table and creates an illusion of space in the room.
Can You Have White Trim With Wood Doors?
Perhaps you’re replacing your current doors with delicious antique doors you salvaged. Or maybe your wood doors are gorgeous and your wood trim isn’t. Whatever the reason, the question of can you have white trim with wooden doors has arisen. The simple answer is yes. You can have white trim with wood doors and we’ve found some gorgeous examples for you.
This multi-hued wooden door looks super surrounded by simple white painted trim. Anything else would make this door too busy and it would be difficult to match stains.
The white trim around this wooden door fits into the overall farmhouse feel of this foyer.
Sometimes the doors really are too gorgeous to paint over in white. These rich wooden doors fall into that category. But they look fantastic with the clean, bright white trim.
Should You Paint Wood Trim White?
Architectural homes of old were often made with beautiful hardwood trim and in these types of homes, you’ll want to think long and hard before painting it over. Because once the paint is on, it’s much harder to get off. However, sometimes the wood deteriorates either due to wear and tear or bug damage and then a coat of paint may be merited.
That said, not all homes are built with gorgeous hardwoods. Many of the homes from the 70s and 80s and 90s were built with inexpensive builder-grade trim. And many times the trim was left a natural color to go with a particular style vibe. In that case, don’t even think about if it’s wrong or right to paint over the wood. Do what is going to make your home look great and you feel happy.
Is White Trim Going Out Of Style?
Current trends tend to be leaning toward painting trim the same color as your wall paint. Of course, if your wall paint is white, then your trim will be too. In farmhouses and coastal beach houses where shiplap, neutral hues, and overall airiness are valued, white trim is going to be a great choice and very much in style.
The choice of bold solid color and white trim may be falling a bit out of fashion, but it’s such a standard it’s never going to fully go out of fashion. The bottom line is to paint your home, and your trim, in the way that pleases you the most.
Is It OK To Have Different Color Trim In Different Rooms?
It’s absolutely okay to have different color trims in different rooms. The tricky part is how to do that trim on the doors and door casings. You’ll want the trim color on the hinge side of the door to match that room (the flat part of the door frame), then on the other side, where the door frame sides are, you’ll paint the other color. We’ve found a great video to show you exactly how to think of these transitions when painting.
One thing to keep in mind though is what you can see from one room to the next. You want the look to at least work well together, even if the trim colors in the rooms don’t match.
Design Choices Are Personal
As we’ve noted in other posts, design choices are so personal. The same can be said of the choice to paint over wood trim if you’re looking for more of a mix and match look. Ultimately, you have to live in your home, and you have to be happy and content there.
If you enjoyed this post here on HomeDecorBliss.com, please check out a few of our others below:
7 Best Wall Colors That Go With Wood Paneling and Trim
Should Baseboards Match Door Trim Style And Size?
