I know, I’ve taken far too long to show you the ‘after’ photos. The problem is that I don’t really see the dining room as a completely finished room yet! It does look a million times brighter with its painted white trim though.
Here’s why I decided to paint the wood trim, and here’s what the room looked like before. Still to do:
- Paint the wall above the picture rail and the ceiling. Probably the same color as the background of the wallpaper.
- Paint the doors.
- Paint the trim in my office and in the living room.
- Find new window treatments. Maybe simple white shades?
- Either get new chairs or reupholster the ones we have. The fabric isn’t very practical for our expanding family.
- Remember to flip the handles on the buffet back the right way before taking pictures next time. Eleanor likes to flip them all up, and I hadn’t noticed until I was editing the photos!
Before and after shots:
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It really makes such a difference! I am usually all for keeping the natural wood but in this case the white just changed the feel of this room and really pulled it together, excellent job as always!
love it! and it will pop even more once the ceiling/wall above the picture rail are painted, I think.
It looks nice and crisp, but I think there is too much white. I really think that painting the wall above the wall paper and ceiling (like you mentioned in your ‘to do’s’ will really help to finish the look…and perhaps a different light fixture, that’s not white would help to make the space more rich looking. Love your blog!!
Exactly.
sooo nice….i loooove the after!!! im soo glad you did it…its so much nicer and like everyone said..”looks crisp and clean!”
i think painting the wall above the picture rail will look awesome as well…
wow…you have a wonderful eye for design! congrats :)
It looks beautiful! What a great transformation.
nicole, as in your case, our only eating space is the dining room next to our galley kitchen. i reupholstered our dining room chairs with laminated amy butler fabric from fabric.com and am so happy with the results. cleaning up after my five year old and other messy guests is a cinch. i highly suggest you take a look at the fabric choices.
Love it Nicole, looks so much nicer with painted trim x
Wow! It really has made a huge difference in the brightness of the room. Looks great and can’t wait to see your other plans come to light!
I LOVE IT!! It makes the room brighter and the wallpaper pop out and become a feature.. not overpowered by the wood trim like before. Well done!
I think it looks horrible! =( The room looks incomplete now, like there is something missing. I really loved it before. I really can’t believe you ruined it!
I knew I’d love it in white, and I do!!! It looks so crisp, clean, and modern. I feel like it goes better with the rest of your house (except the living room, which you’ve already said you’re repainting the trim in there too). I can’t emphasize how much I like it, and how I admire you for taking this bold step. Given the condition of the wood before, it seems like it’d be a pretty obvious choice, but I can see why you struggled with not preserving it.
Anom., There’s really no need for such an outburst; the room isn’t ruined, whether you like it or not.
My opinion is that though the trim matches the paper (of course), it doesn’t do justice to the home. The architectural interest has been obliterated for a decorative flourish (wallpaper) that likely won’t be there in a few years and I think that’s unfortunate. No one should have to live in a home they don’t love but it seems that perhaps a different home would be better suited to a light, bright, punchy aesthetic if the dark heaviness isn’t an interesting counterpoint. I’m glad you’re happy but I do have to say that I think this would have been a better choice for a contemporary build with MDF mouldings.
I think that once the upper wall and ceiling are painted, the trim will be better showcased. Right now it blends into the white in an unfortunate way.
I love the whole room, but think the white walls with the white trim are gorgeous. Of course, you’ll do what you want, but my opinion is it looks great as is.
I think I like the before picture. Seems very cold now. Where as the wood really make the room feel warm.
Opps hit enter before I finished.
But with that, I think it looks alot fresher and bright which gives everything a lift and make the wallpaper look fantastic.
We are also painting out all of our trim and our built ins. It’s a HUGE project but will be so so worth it! I think yours looks great!
great job, it looks very nice! i, too, am in the process of painting the wood (2000 era oak) trim in my home, room by room.
I love it! So fresh and fabulous!!
It’s a big change. I can’t wait to see it with the wall and ceiling painted; I think it will feel a little less austere compared to right now. The dining table doesn’t blend as much as it did before you painted the trim. I think it looks good though.
It looks amazing! I love craftsmen homes with their trims! Both natural wood and painted (usually!)
This looks fantastic – just the inspiration I needed to get going on finishing painting my own trim, so thank you!
It looks like your dining table is in a different {lighter & brighter} room! Great work. I love that you kept the back of the cabinet a wood tone.
I like the change a lot, that now that I see the wood in the other rooms through the doorways, I want you to continue it through the house. Ooooh lots of work! But, I think it looks great though and I heart that wall paper!
-ashley
I absolutely love that you’ve painted the trim. I have wood trim – the same color as yours, actually – all over my house and I hate it. I’m apprehensive on painting it because I’ve heard horror stories (regret, chipping, peeling, looks tacky, etc.). You may have just convinced me otherwise.
Wow, I came across this too late, but D. Marie, you could probably stain your wood a lighter color, which would remove the problem of chipping, dripping, etc. I found this company (just by Google, no affiliation!) that shows some color choices: http://www.cabotstain.com/colors-and-finishes/families/Custom-Tint-Colors.html
As I’ve been trying to strip all the gloppy, flaking, causing-windows to stick paint on our trim, I noticed the original treatment in our 1922 house was actually a very light green stain, so the wood looked bright! So…I may give it a shot once I have the trim stripped and start a blog, though I don’t have style like this lady!
Love the white!!! Modern and fresh!!
Ooooooo…so much better!
it looks so good!! i think you should paint the trim in the whole house!! i like the white a lot better than the wood.
You made a wonderful decision to paint the woodwork!
LOVE IT!
I think it looks fantastic! …and I think black chairs would look awesome!
Nicole! It looks awesome!! Like a completely different room! It’s so light and friendly and just beautiful! Great job!
I think a really mod (maybe round), white dining table (and chairs) would look fab in here.
That or mod white chairs w/your existing table.
Nice job – I like it.
I love it…maybe the overhead light fixture could be dropped a little lower??
I liked it before better also. I do agree that is a feature in classic houses that should not be painted. But I can’t wait to see your final ideas!!
I love it painted!
Not a fan of the current seat upholstery either, think a fabulous stripe picking up the trim and wall paper colours would look great to tie everything together.
What a beautiful transformation! It looks great. :)
No idea why, but I’d love to see the ceiling and rest of wall be gray. I think it would look great.
And for what it’s worth, I think the painted trim is SO SO SO SO SO much better than before. But everyone has an opinion. :)
I like it so much better! I’m a white trim fan.
I love the way it looks!!!!!!!! I think you made a great choice!
Love the transformation! And, do you have the wallpaper info somewhere on your blog – totally in love with it!
Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy your turkey day!
I still like the way the wood looked unpainted. However, I know woodwork always look better in photos than in real life. One thing you must do is paint the wall above the picture rail and ceiling a slightly different color (as you said) because otherwise, that picture rail is completely lost.
to be honest, i loved the old natural wood trim. “what a pity”, i thought, when you told, you´d paint it. referring to the condition of old wood, i´m very tolerant. and it gave this special charme and character to your dining room.
i like the after, though. And i admire your great ability of painting even such difficult things like this.
but if i was in your shoes, i would definitly change the chairs (a bit more black could add more contrast) . Or/and the table. and if you go for a reupholstering: what about bold black an white stripes?
The crispness of the painted white trim and buffet looks great! Looking at your pictures with the ceiling currently white, my mind keeps going back to wondering how the room would look if the picture rail were painted black. Maybe it sounds strange, but I think that it might nicely tie together with the black in the wallpaper and the dark knobs of the buffet.
White trim lightens the room so well! I am curious about the window treatments you’ll chose. Roman shades in a bright pink to highlight the accent color? Maybe a layered look with pink “peeking” out? Looking forward to more pics–
Nikki
very nice! i’m such a wimp about painting wood cabinets/ trim, but i always love the way it looks.
your dining room looks great!
You did an incredible job, I think it looks so much better, I enjoyed the natural trim too but I think it just made everything else feel a bit…old. I don’t know if that makes sense but now it feels like a new room with a modern retro vibe. Love your blog!
Haha! I grew up in a house with a built in buffet and my sister and I lived to flip up the drawer handles too! Your post brought back a memory I hadn’t thought of in a long time.
I literally gasped when I saw the “after” pic. No joke. The trim looks AMAZING!! Don’t get me wrong; I loved your dining room before, but WOW that white trim is fabulous! Well done :)
P.S. aww I just read a few of the other comments on this post. I’m so sorry you have to deal with the occasional snarky/blunt/downright rude comments, especially from anonymous posters. But I love that you always respond so politely! Though I guess it must help to know that your entire home is drop-dead gorgeous. ;)
Well done…again :)
I love the painted trim! It makes your table pop out now and your built-in looks so great. Also, really ties into the wallpaper so much more. Looks great!
(sorry, I’m catching up on blog reading when I should be wrapping :)