Paint over or Replace Trim

I have white trim and it looks terrible in the high traffic rooms. DONT DO IT !!!

I am going to call you crazy but hay so was I at one point.
It is a pain in the tush to keep trim and doors looking nice once they are painted at this time I have all painted woodwork and I can't wait to move to our new house that has non painted woodwork .
Come up with something else to paint or change leave the woodwork and doors alone.

I agree with the other post who said to leave it alone. Painted woodwork is very hard to keep nice. Also, if the house is an older home, and even if it is not, the "natural" woodwork is a real selling point. It really adds a warmth and richness to the home. Perhaps painting just one room, like a sunroom or kitchen or even a bathroom would be enough to get the "white painted look" to satisfy! Or even changing the wall color...much easier and "change-able". :-)

I don't know if you have a dark or light stain or what kind of wood it is, but there are options besides traditional painting. I would also say absolutely don't "throw it out" for alot of reasons. We have enough debris in our landfills already. Renovate/resuse. Solid wood trim is also perceived as a quality detail in any home. YOU live in your home and have to look at it every day, so your preferences should be considered. Have you thought about bleaching/sanding the existing trim and then doing a LOW VOC white opaque or semi opaque stain finished with an eggshell LOW VOC varnish/finish coat?
As mentioned in other posts, paint chips when hit with toy cars :) etc, but "stain" penetraits, so nothing to "chip"/touch up. The eggshell or satin finish does not show those tiny fingerprints. This way you get the light finish you want, but it is relatively maintainance free.
By the way, in most cases you can remove the sections of jamb/casing/baseboard/crown. You can work on them in a garage or basement or outside and then re-install.
C., AIA

I have to agree with the other moms... don't do it! I was able to convince my husband at are old house to do it and it was a nightmare. We replaced the doors on our first floor and painted the brown doors white upstairs. The trim by the carpet was so hard to paint. Also, it was hard to keep clean and when it starts to chip it looks so cheap. Our new house has wood trim and doors. I really wanted the white because it looks so good against the deep wall colors. But, I would never paint the trim again! Save your money and eventually buy all new trim.

We just renovated our home. Initially I wanted stained wood in the downstairs but when we did our upstairs, we did everything white. So we ended up painting the stained wood (pine) in the downstairs. It looks just as good as the upstairs trim and it is not impossible to keep clean. BTW, I did most of the painting myself and it is alot of work. We used the Extra White oil-based paint from Sherwin Williams. Although oil is messier to work with than latex, it will withstand alot more. Also, it is possible to paint with carpeting - just take the tape and push it a bit under the trim and make sure you have enough width of the carpet covered that your brush does not extend past it. We taped down a plastic runner along the walls and had no problems.
I do agree that wood trim is better and would be much less labor-intensive to stain a darker color (and may give it a new feeling for you). But it's not impossible if you do want to go white. Good luck!

It depends on the house, but overall, I love white painted trim. If you paint them with a very high gloss paint, they are quite easy to keep clean (wipe with a damp cloth). I have an 85 year old house with painted white trim and I find it pretty easy to clean. There are areas that need re-touching, but it's pretty easy to keep a small can of paint around and touch it up when needed.

I would be in favor of painting instead of replacing, it's a little more labor intensive, but cheaper.

There are some purists out there who believe painting woodwork is a huge no-no, but really it's a little more stylish, brighter, and cleaner looking when painted (just my opinion!)--and it is your house!!

I have painted trim in 2 houses now. One was an 80 year old home that had the wood stripped right before we bought it. The other is my current home in which the previous owners painted all the trim (doors included) cream. It was a HUGE project, but I painted it all back to white. It probably took almost a month or so of working on it after I got home from work. If you have the money, I would recommend buying new doors... I wish we would've!! It would've been such a HUGE timesaver... not to mention we could've had a higher end look with different doors! However, the painted trim/doors actually look nice... :) Good luck!

All our trim & doors are painted white, but the contractor used flat paint, which is terribly hard to clean. Our previous house in Michigan also had white trim, but it was oil-based paint, which was VERY easy to clean. Like the previous poster mentioned, all you have to do is wipe with a wet cloth.

It's your home. If you want white trim, GO FOR IT. Just don't use flat paint ;)

Not really the advice you're looking for but we have white painted woodwork and it is impossible to keep clean with little ones. It also doesn't look very good painted, IMO. If you have carpet it is impossible to paint close enough to the carpet to make it look good. If you do decide to get white I would replace all of your trim and doors with the stuff that is plastic (I think?) and comes white so it will look better.

I agree with most of the other posters. First, it is especially hard to keep clean. Second, all the work you are going to have to do. My best advice would be for you to take a small piece of trim off of somewhere that no one will notice and paint it. I think then you will see that it usually turns out looking terrible. It is super easy to paint trim a darker color and having it look nice, but no to go lighter. As for the doors-try selling the ones that you have now and buy new ones. I dont think you realize how hard it will be to not have any brush or roller marks and you would probably end up upset w/the end result. I can speak from experience b/c I have been going back and forth about painting my trim(darker) or just replacing it. My father is a painter and he is the one that pointed out the reality of how terrible it would look. Good luck!!

I understand the need for the white - clean look but wish you wouldn't paint over your stained wood. If you decide to go that route though, it is very easy to paint over the wood. Do NOT replace the doors as if they are solid wood doors they really do add a lot of value to your home, even if you have painted them.