Design Dilemma: Can I mix stained and painted trim?

February 4, 2023 Janet Lorusso

Can I mix painted and stained trim? From time to time we answer a design dilemma here on the blog. A lovely reader wrote recently to ask this question. As with all things design, that depends!

She was relieved to read this post in which I asserted that painting over stained trim is NOT a ‘crime’ in many instances. Just because it was stained by the builder doesn’t necessarily mean that was a great idea.

She (we’ll call her Dee) has a house of the same vintage I discussed in that post with a lot of that ubiquitous builder grade 2 1/2” pine colonial casing stained brown that I mentioned it not being a crime to paint.

The previous owners had already painted the millwork in a couple of the rooms and they look very pretty!

Dee’s dining room with painted trim and wainscoting

Dee is about to replace a bunch of windows and wondered if the new ones should be stained again, or painted.

The new windows will necessitate new interior trim and she is taking the opportunity to upgrade it to a more substantial profile. (Yay!)

BUT there is a lot of other existing stained pine trim in the rooms - crown, baseboard, door trim, doors, wainscoting, and chair rail…and painting it all is a daunting proposition.

Dee was debating whether a mix of painted and stained trim would be okay, or if she should just stain the new windows and trim again. She was kind enough to send me photos and give me permission to share them. It is a lovely home with nice light and gracious rooms.

I think the real questions to ask are:

What sort of mood do you want?
What features do you want to highlight and what should be minimized?

Determine the mood

Deciding on the mood, or the emotional intention of the room is critical.

Do you want cozy and enveloping? Playful? Dramatic? Serene? Light and airy? PSA: Light and airy will, by default, require some natural light. You cannot get light and airy by simply painting everything white - if there is no natural light you will just get bleak and depressing.

Determine the focus

Plan your colors and finishes so that features you want to highlight contrast with their surroundings and draw attention, and things you want to minimize blend into their background.

Contrasting stained wood paneled doors can be nice to highlight an entry, for example, in an otherwise completely painted space.

And stairs are often a mix of painted risers and skirting boards with stained treads (these are essentially flooring), and stained carved newel posts with painted balusters, like the entry in this foyer we decorated for a holiday showhouse.

To mix paint and stain or not?

Mixing a stained window sash and muntins with painted interior window trim just feels like some of it was forgotten or (more likely!) too much trouble - painting divided lite windows IS a pain! While I don’t hate it in the image below, it wouldn’t be my first choice and it would require some other stained stuff somewhere in the room to have it make sense.

stained finish on window with painted trim

Case study

Dee’s rooms have wide pine flooring and what look to be authentic antique beams on the ceiling and mantels, and those I would leave as is regardless.

D’s Living Room with wide pine flooring, antique beams on ceiling and mantel, and currently stained pine millwork

Aside from those features, the rest of the millwork is not anything particularly special.

I did a little crude photo editing on the image of the living room to try out some options.

For a lighter, airier look, I would paint all the remaining trim a putty color and the walls a cream color. Both colors would need to be selected with the distressed fireplace brick and the flooring as a reference point (existing fixed finishes are always critical factors in selecting paint colors).

The fireplace, beams and furnishings really stand out against the pale walls and trim and this already felt so much fresher.

Painting the trim all a putty color and the walls a creamy white keeps it light and bright and appropriate for a cape cod style home

I suggested perhaps she could paint the door and window trim, windows and crown molding and leave the wainscoting and baseboard stained - at least temporarily, but for the airy look, my preference is the all painted version of these two.

Leaving the wainscoting stained with the other millwork painted makes it a more prominent feature in the room than is warranted.

Painted walls and millwork, leaving the wainscoting stained.

For a cozier, library-esque vibe, I might opt for a deeper color like a brick red - again, chosen based on the fireplace brick. For this, we could keep all the woodwork stained and paint the walls the deep red (another option would be to paint the woodwork AND walls all in the red for a paneled library look).

I actually like this a lot! It’s cozy and a little bit rustic in feeling, at least with the stained trim. Painting the trim all red too would make it a bit dressier.

I might play around with this and add some curtains and accessories to the image in my next post…

Painting the walls a deep, warm color creates a cozy feel with the stained millwork

Both the light and dark options lower the contrast between the walls and trim so there is less visual clutter and the focus can be directed to features you WANT to highlight!

Mixing stained and painted trim CAN be done, it just needs to achieve the right goals. It all depends on the mood you are after, on the quality of the wood trim, and on the colors you choose for the room.