Dear Southerngal,
My typical 70's house also had stained trim. It was beat up and not very attractive. As I redid rooms, I sanded it, primed it, and painted it. When we added on, I decided on stained trim, as I noticed that I was always having to "touch up" the painted trim and we had 3 boys by that time. So, my house is a mixture. It seems most decorators see that as a no-no, but personally, it doesn't bother me. In the master bedroom, the trim around the window is stained (because we replaced the windows when we added on)but the other trim is painted. I'm too old now to think about having everything match.

I have asked this question myself over several years and have finally come to a conclusion...

My house has stained trim (previous owner's choice). I personally don't care for stained trim, especially on horizontal surfaces such as base boards, because IMO it draws too much attention--like a person wearing an all-white outfit with a brown belt. (Again, just MY opinion.)

I have wanted to paint everything, but hesitate to paint the windows because I am afraid they will have issues opening, and quite frankly it just seems like too much work. So, I got the idea to just paint my base boards and door trim, leaving the windows, window trim, and doors (for now) stained. (I do not currently have crown moulding, but I would paint that too.) My thought is that the windows will be okay as an accent, sort of like a picture on the wall. Picture frames don't have to match your moulding, right?

Personally, I think this is one of those things that, if you point it out, people will always tell you the "rule" that all trim should match. However, if you DON'T point it out, no one notices. In fact, after I first asked this, I started doing some work in my own dining room and noticed that the previous owners had actually painted the base board and chair rail in the dining room to match the walls already---I was living here and didn't see that until I started preparing to redo the room myself.

So... I say, "go confidently in the direction of your dreams". I bet it will look GREAT! (And I'm right behind you!)

Lis

Our house is a hi-ranch/bi-level built in 1967, so it's a similar style and era as yours.

Our doors and jambs are stained oak, and our pine windows and window moldings are stained to match the oak. Like you, we hated the thought of chipped paint and the endless round of touch-ups (been there, done that!). If the stained moldings, doors, or window frames do happen to end up with a scratch or nick, the Minwax stain markers work really well (our MB door and window took a beating during a recent reno--I went to work on them with the marker pen and they look as good as new--really!).

For our base molding though, we opted to paint that the same color as the walls, but used a satin finish (instead of the matte finish on the walls). One, the cost of solid oak base molding for the entire house would have been astronomical. Two, we felt that the rooms would have looked shorter with the molding visually "cutting off" the bottoms of the walls.

Do any of you have photos you can share with the changes you mentioned? I do think you're right, If you paint the baseboard the same color as walls, no one would notice. I would also paint all of my home's trimwork, BUT what a project that would be (and I'm through with home projects for a while). The baseboard in the one bath would be my last thing to do. Also, in that room I'm trying to go with a little bit of shabby chic (not there yet).

This is the window in our bedroom with the new stained trim.

In the same room, the original baseboard is painted white, but I also did the trim around the new closet stained

I think the combination in jilljohn's bedroom looks very good because they both relate to another part. The windows and trim relate to the floor and the molding relates to the wall. It appears thoughtout neat and clean. Something a decorator would do to accent each area yet not delete from the total, rather add to it.

Thank you all!! I’m appreciative of this conversation. I have a 70’s home and asking the same question. Remembering the scuffed up white baseboards in my old home is making me reconsider and I’m investigating staining the baseboards to match the new wood flooring.