Painting - Moulding Madness!!!

Hi,

I just moved into a tiny (300 sq. ft.) studio in Manhattan (it's a Columbia student apartment - actually pretty cheap!). Anyways in attempt to personalize my new home, I've painted the walls and purchased all new furniture.

First my place - it's basically one room with a very small kitchenette. Although the horizontal space is limited, the ceilings are decently high at aprox. 12ft+. The floors are hardwood, in a natural color with a poly (I think) coat. My furniture is all either hand stained or bought from IKEA (I'm a student, remember?) and is all a VERY dark brown - similar to a teak or even ebony color. All furniture has a satin finish.

I painted half of my walls a light sage color and the other walls (long entrance way to back of studio a light brown-gray color (I think this is sort of a taupe but the official name of the color is beach pebble). The walls truly look great - a big improvement over the off-white before.

My frustration stems from the moulding that encircles my floors. It's about a foot high, off-white and has been painted many times over. It also has a lot of imperfections because of all the sloppy paint jobs beforehand (drips, etc..) I heard that i should try to match this with the furniture so I've been looking in the very dark brown direction. I've bought about 4 different colors and cannot find anything that is dark enough to match my furniture. Finally I tried a color called Obsidian which looked sort of brown compared to the 30 other blacks but when applied looks...black.

I am really going for a contemporary, minimalist and Eastern theme but this moulding contradicts all 3 of those directions. Can anyone suggest a color that would help me achieve this look given the colors of my walls, furniture, etc...? I've heard darker than the walls is better but I have also heard you can paint the moulding the same as the walls (but in a semi-gloss or satin finish) to de-emphasize the moulding. Any thoughts?

My apologies for the verbose posting - I appreciate your input!!!

Matt

the baseboards should be treated the same as the rest of the woodwork around your doors & windows, and the doors themselves........which are what?

in the event that all the other woodwork is stained & someone stupid painted the baseboards at some point, and you don't want to strip them, then i'd say they should be painted out to blend in with the walls. i can't see having super dark baseboards with lighter wood floors. it'd be like this wierd dark stripe going around the room. in this instance, i'd vote for painting the baseboards the same color as the walls, or a color just slightly darker than the immediately adjacent wall color above them, and in a semi-gloss finish.

Annette,

Thanks for your reply - I'm leaning in that direction (same color as walls). All of the rest of the woodwork is the same as the baseboards - and I also need to repaint that (Doors, closets, windows, etc..). Does this change your opinion of painting the moulding the same as the walls or do you still think I should go with the same color? By the way, it is all currently painted off-white which I definitely think needs to change...

Thanks again,

Matt

yippee!!!! i was hoping that was the situation! good......now you can just choose ONE color and paint ALL the woodwork the same.

so....which color?

i'd keep searching for that perfect dark chocolate brown. it'll contrast nicely with the floor & anchor everything else.

i can't believe finding a dark brown is that difficult! are you simply trying to find the color on a paint chip or color brochure? instead, ask to see their color book or have them computer match something that's the color you want.

Anettte,

Well I tried this color called "night horizon" from Ben Moore - the chip looked nice and dark but when applied came out more of a milk chocolate than a dark chocolate...I might try agian with two coats b/c that semi-gloss paint over a white primer seems to really darken up with another coat...

It's also hard to match my furniture b/c it looks almost black when at an angle - that's why I was looking at almost black paint - but I do want to at least try to emulate wood so it would be nice to find something more natural - do you happen to know of a good dark brown Ben Moore color that would work here?

Again, I truly appreciate your input!

Matt

don't try to imitate wood, it won't work. just go for a dark brown paint. and yes, over white, it'll take 3 or 4 coats - is it too late to have your primer tinted? and yes, paint always dries darker.

sorry, i don't have a paint deck, so i can't help with a specific color. but you've got me thinking....maybe black would work. can you incorporate some black accessories & go that route? that'd be a really simple, contemporary look.......

I have already painted some of it black but I don't really like it - I want a more natural look...I think I'm going to run down to the Ben Moore store and look at some colors I found on their website - Mocha, Java, Chocolate Candy, etc...

I might also try to pick up some tinted primer - I assume that would eliminate the need for a 3rd or 4th coat, right?

Matt