When I chose the paint for the main levels of the house, I automatically assumed I would paint the trim white since it was already white and that’s what I was used to. But when I noticed that there were spots throughout the house where I would have to repaint the trim anyway, I thought, let’s explore a non-white trim. Contrast trim and non-white is on-trend right now, but when deciding what color to paint my trim, I didn’t want to pick anything too out there for fear that it would quickly look dated.
Also, rooms that I had seen in person with contrast trim looked either too farmhouse or too colonial for the look I was going for so that was a turn-off as well. But, after exploring a lot of different options and scouring the internet for inspiration, I now see that there are so many iterations of non-white and contrast trim ranging from classic to contemporary to modern. There is a non-white trim color for everyone and for every house style!
In the office, I went for a dark trim on dark walls and I love the way it looks! It was a no brainer for me to design the room to be dark on dark after seeing a bunch of similarly painted offices either on Instagram or Pinterest.
But I had a different, harder journey picking out the rest of the trim color. I overthought the process like nobody’s business because this trim color was going to be THE color for the whole house and we have a lot of trim! Because our wall color is white with the tiniest hint of gray, I tried a bunch of different trim colors that kept reading too pink or too dark.
Then I got more samples. Then I went back to my original samples… Argh!
I wanted something that was clean and classic, so I ended up going with the same color as the walls but darkened by 50%. It’s a nonwhite (barely) trim color and it’s perfect!
Here is the trim color in action in the music room.
I also had wanted to try painting the interior doors black because I just think it looks so classic, so I tried ONE door to see if I liked it.
And I did! I love how the black ties in with the balusters both going up the stairwell and in the hall on the top floor. I’m going to be judicious with which doors I end up painting black (pantry doors, no; garage door, no; bedroom doors, yes!).
So, my eyes have been opened to the joys of nonwhite trim! I’ve pulled some other photos that shows just how good a nonwhite trim can look.
Non-White Trim Colors
This midtown trim color is such a nice neutral color to give your eyes a little rest from the busy tile and dark cabinets.
Okay, this a BOLD choice but I love it in maybe just one room. The navy is so pretty with the dark wood. And as a sidenote, those super high baseboards are to die for!
And another winner! It’s such a pretty gray. And the photo makes me long for the holidays!
So what team are you on? White or nonwhite trim?
