Making It Lovely Painted her trim???

[bunnymendelbaum]

OMG, it could be the postpardum hormones, but this literally just ruined my day.
What do you think? I think it was a HUGE mistake. HEr house was so special and cool before, now it is boring, IMO.

[thewop]

Ack! Too much white! It hurts my eyes.

[hesitantbride]

Yeah, she had several posts about defending her decision, because a lot of people, like you, didn't think it was wise.

I think she has made a lot of design mistakes, especially in that dining room. She has new metal chairs (which of course were gifted, I believe) that make it even more terrible. Especially with the white trim, that wallpaper looks bad IMO.

IMO she did not honor the fact that she lives in a bungalow in Chicago. Doesn't she also live in Oak Park? Even more reason to keep the historic trim its original color/stain.

[hesitantbride]

Oh, and I never thought that PB (inspired?) dining chandelier made sense in that room.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Seems like her reason was that the wood trim was not in good shape? Give that white paint one year and it is going to look like shit.
Ugh.

I'm not even one of those people who are completely anti-painted trim (um, hello, I just painted already-painted trim in my house), but her woodwork was so cool.

[FoxInFiji]

Yes she decided to paint all of the woodwork a long time ago. Is just just now getting around to painting it or did you dig up some old post? I stopped following her blog along time ago when she sold out and turned her blog into one big stream of advertisements but her decision to paint the trim didn't help keep me there. That was one of the reasons why I used to love her blog. I always pointed out ,"Look you can have a stylish house and still have wood trim." She painted (or maybe repainted?) the upstairs trim a long time ago but that was actually common to have lower quality and more plain trim on the bedroom level so it also often got painted at some point. But her first floor trim. That stuff was beautiful. Now it just looks like trim that any house could have with a bunch of painted pieces from a big box store and some small accent pieces.

[crispnclean]

I'm usually not a big fan of wood trim, and a big proponent of white trim. But her wood trim looked so pretty, and I don't think white trim was the right choice.

I, too, stopped following her blog when it became like one giant blog of ads.

[bunnymendelbaum]

I was looking for a photo for Boiler and came across this.
I stopped following her a long time ago too.

[boiler717]

Oh wow that was so pretty before! You don't paint that!

[simpsongal]

Making it Ugly.....

low hanging fruit, I know.

ETA: It may have been said, but I consider this a design rule. You don't paint wood trim in a historical home. If you don't like it, don't buy it. They've done this on Love it or List it and it always makes me cringe.

[munkii]

What an unfortunate thing to do. That's pretty terrible.

[Blueper]

Yuck.

[pitterwoo]

Wow, my stomach just dropped! I like painted trim most of the time too, but hers was beautiful the way it was.

I remember reading a post a long time ago, like 2 or 3 years ago when she had done some updates to the kitchen and in that post she said she was going to paint the trim and that it was in bad shape. I unfollowed her shortly after that. I just didn't care for the things she was doing.

[wawa]

Jan 11, 2013 9:35:45 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Making it Ugly.....

low hanging fruit, I know.

ETA: It may have been said, but I consider this a design rule. You don't paint wood trim in a historical home. If you don't like it, don't buy it. They've done this on Love it or List it and it always makes me cringe.

Exactly. Paint all the trim you want in typical houses from say...the 50's on up. But you paint trim in a house that has a defined style that hinges on the woodwork? You are dead to me.

[Deleted]

I'm not opposed to painted trim at all, especially because I live in the South and it's common here. But I agree that if it is an older historic home you either need to leave it alone or not buy the house. Bloggers who think you can fix anything by just slapping a coat of paint on it kind of irrationally annoy me.

[pitterwoo]

Jan 11, 2013 9:55:20 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jan 11, 2013 9:35:45 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Making it Ugly.....

low hanging fruit, I know.

ETA: It may have been said, but I consider this a design rule. You don't paint wood trim in a historical home. If you don't like it, don't buy it. They've done this on Love it or List it and it always makes me cringe.

Exactly. Paint all the trim you want in typical houses from say...the 50's on up. But you paint trim in a house that has a defined style that hinges on the woodwork? You are dead to me.

:-( but my house already had the trim painted! I did scrape the layers of paint off (mint green, mauvey pink, then gray-white) but we decided to paint again instead of refinish. It was a tough decision, but the house is really dark and the stupid vinyl windows pretty much dictated that the trim be painted.

I hope I have successfully pleaded my case. I don't want to be dead.

[wawa]

Jan 11, 2013 10:00:48 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

Jan 11, 2013 9:55:20 GMT -5 wawa said:

Exactly. Paint all the trim you want in typical houses from say...the 50's on up. But you paint trim in a house that has a defined style that hinges on the woodwork? You are dead to me.

but my house already had the trim painted! I did scrape the layers of paint off (mint green, mauvey pink, then gray-white) but we decided to paint again instead of refinish. It was a tough decision, but the house is really dark and the stupid vinyl windows pretty much dictated that the trim be painted.

I hope I have successfully pleaded my case. I don't want to be dead.

already painted trim gets a pass! Stripping and sanding existing trim is such a giant pain in the rear that I totally understand just keeping it painted.

And older houses where painted trim fits the style totally exist - I don't deny that - for the person who mentioned painted trim being common in the south.

Oak Park bungalows are not one of those styles though!

[pitterwoo]

thanks wawa, I knew I could get a pass for extenuating circumstances.

[wawa]

Jan 11, 2013 10:16:55 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

thanks wawa, I knew I could get a pass for extenuating circumstances.

Of course. Especially with my approval being deeply important to your emotional and mental well-being.

[Deleted]

+o(

[TBM]

Jan 11, 2013 9:58:05 GMT -5 downtonali said:

Bloggers who think you can fix anything by just slapping a coat of paint on it kind of irrationally annoy me.

I don't think that is irrational....quite the opposite.

[Deleted]

Someday when her blog is just a distant memory on the radar of her life, she's going to deeply, deeply regret that decision.

WhoTH does that? Painted trim in old houses or new isn't my style, but I can appreciate it in a lot of instances. This is not one of those instances!

[peach]

:-(

I LOVE white trim. LOVE IT.

But her wood was nice. And if it was in bad shape, doesn't that just add to the character of the home?

If it was 70's orange stain, ok .....mayyyybe. But that was some amazing woodwork. And the stain color and wood grain were really nice and not dated looking at all.

[kaylie]

I hate the wood trim in my 80s house because it's poorly done and lacks character, but hers was really nice. It doesn't break my heart or anything, but I would have stayed true to the home's history.

[salsaverde]

I am a sucker for white trim but in that house, her trim was so beautiful. I hate the wallpaper with both trims though. I like her home office and her backyard the best.

[tarheels]

It's official. I was sort of on the fence, but this seals it for me. I HATE GRAY. Why now? Bc if warmer colors had been in style, it's very likely she wouldn't have gone for this icy prison inspired white; wood like that looks gorgeous with the warm jewel and nature tones that house was built for.

[TBM]

Jan 11, 2013 11:13:53 GMT -5 tarheels said:

It's official. I was sort of on the fence, but this seals it for me. I HATE GRAY. Why now? Bc if warmer colors had been in style, it's very likely she wouldn't have gone for this icy prison inspired white; wood like that looks gorgeous with the warm jewel and nature tones that house was built for.

Don't blame gray for her inability to choose a gray that would look good with the wood. There are a zillion tones/undertones out there, and the right shade to go with anything. There are grays in nature too.

I do agree that there are so many other actual color choices that she could have made that would have been beautiful in that room though....definitely not the color that is on the chair seats. ;p

[amblor]

The trim in our 1930's house is that same style (baseboards and everything) and it's white and I think it looks nice - BUT - it was already painted throughout the entire house when we bought it! Layers and layers - seafoam green, pale blue, lavendar and then white. haha

I do not like the wallpaper. I think the very first photo looks better than the other two. I also think that the wood trim and wall paper do not look good together.

[tarheels]

Jan 11, 2013 11:22:53 GMT -5 TBM said:

Jan 11, 2013 11:13:53 GMT -5 tarheels said:

It's official. I was sort of on the fence, but this seals it for me. I HATE GRAY. Why now? Bc if warmer colors had been in style, it's very likely she wouldn't have gone for this icy prison inspired white; wood like that looks gorgeous with the warm jewel and nature tones that house was built for.

Don't blame gray for her inability to choose a gray that would look good with the wood. There are a zillion tones/undertones out there, and the right shade to go with anything. There are grays in nature too.

I do agree that there are so many other actual color choices that she could have made that would have been beautiful in that room though....definitely not the color that is on the chair seats. ;p

I don't think there's a true gray that makes wood look truly fantastic like some actual colors can. There are situations where wood and gray are fine (not great, not bad), but prison gray, Soviet gray, I'm going to throw myself off a bridge gray needs to die.

[Deleted]

I just realized that the room looks half color and half black/white in that photo. It's like a scene out of Pleasantville.