I vote for the stained banisters. A little contrast helps everything stand out.

walnut stain! :-)

Mix it up! Another vote for stained/paint mixture. Very pretty lantern!

Stained!

Definitely the stained, it adds a nice contrast!

Stained will make it "pop"!

Stained and maybe a tung oil finish. Whatever the final coat is, it needs to be something that will stand up to handling.

Pun intended. :-)

Stained--needs the contrast. Love the lantern! Great job!!

I love both looks, but it seems stained would be more practical. Might white show dirty fingerprints over time from the oils on your hands? I guess though, it depends on your overall decorating scheme. They have two different looks. Your lantern would work with either, I think. Your pine floors are gorgeous! What company did you use?

Thanks for your opinions.

An overwhelming vote for stain! I do love the stain & it makes more sense with our kiddos. I just loved the cottage look of the white....

Lantern is Murray Feiss-relatively inexpensive compared to the other large lanterns we found.

Floors are from Stonewood on Cape Cod.

Stain it is. My dh is happy-stain was his vote! I'll post photos as soon as the stairs are done!

Thanks again,
Katie

No doubt about it. This house needs more stained wood.

I go for the stained look too. I have to ask, that is an outdoor lantern, are you sure you want it indoors??

I'm not going to give you a vote, but rather have you look at what feel you want. I don't think you can go wrong with either. One thing though if you do stained and change your mind later you can always paint it vs. the other way around.

The first pic reminds me of a Swedish style and all white would be the way to go then. Your floors do give me that feeling.

The second pic reminds me of an older style American home with the stained part. The only thing is the floors in the 2nd pic has a darker stain than what you're going for. Although I like the contrast of dark stain on items with light flooring (have it in my current house with furniture and my old house with light floors and dark stained trim). Just something to think about if you like it.

They're both pretty, but the all white is too sterile for me. The stain is richer.

If you do the white, the kids will eventually stain it for you! LOL! :)

I too have indoor lights in my house. No one knows the difference. I couldn't resist the handblown glass and it seemed a shame to expose them to the elements. Yours is very pretty too! All of it is pretty! Love your style!

Keep us posted!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Why the warning about an outdoor light indoors? I always thought outdoor could go in or out...

Lyfia~ In my mind, I am all Louis chairs & gustavian influences (ever check out the Velvet & Linen blog?) In real life, I'm a traditional beach house. My concern with the stain was the disjoint between the pine floors and a rich, dark stain. I'm going to try to use a stain similar to the darkest knots in the floor. We'll see.......

Again, thanks for the kind words & feedback, everyone.

I am a fan of all white. It never goes out of style and blends in with everything. However, if you can get an *exact* match on the species of the flooring, then having it as the planks and trim would be good.