Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - With stained trim in house, is painted trim ok in bathroom??

I am "redoing" my son's bathroom: wallpaper to paint, new toilet, vinyl to tile, new vanity top, etc. My entire house has stained trim, and there is a lot of it - chair rail, crown moulding, and windows, I like the look, and would never paint any of it in the main rooms. However, I pulled off the old baseboard trim in the bathroom, and wanting to make it a brighter room, I plan to either have tile (no matching bullnose so not sure I can find a tile that looks right) baseboard, or a wide, smooth wood one, and paint it a color that accents nicely with the tile (tile is cancun blanco - mostly white with pale grey swirls in it).

Both my son and my boyfriend think I should paint the door trim in the bathroom to match the baseboard color. They think leaving it stained will be an odd-looking contrast to the baseboard. But since the door frame and trim looks like one piece (okay I know it's not but it LOOKS like it), I just can't picture having stained trim on the door frame, and then having the inside painted. It just sounds odd to me.

I was just wondering what you folks thought...if this was "normal" to do for such a room renovation where the house is full of stained trim, with no desire to change it. :confused:

Absolutely. Start thinking white and work from there to get the match you want. I would paint the interior casing and the jambs up to the stop. I have a hallway with hardwood floors and matching stained oak moldings. All the doors, jambs and window casings are stained to match the floors and oak stair railing. The doors and trim on three of the four rooms off the hall are painted on the opposite side.

On edit - a good choice for base molding in a bathroom is some of the plastic stuff sold at home centers. It's easy to work with, paintable and holds up well in a wet environment. I used some for the first time in a guest bath and I was pleased with how it came out.

There are no rules about stained or painted trim if it makes sense and works - at least that is my personal opinion.

I have a townhouse with really bad looking trim that I painted to fit our decorating style.

In one bathroom we went the opposite of you and put in nice golden oak trim to fit with the vanity and contrast with the walls. - Dark teal walls and tan ceiling in a small room!!!

White (or very light) trim is especially good to create a bright modern appearance and make windows appear larger.

I agree, there are no set rules! Unless you intend to sell soon - do what pleases you! My house is half painted trim and half stained - doesn't look odd at all :D

If you do decide to paint over stain/poly be sure to sand first and use a solvent based primer. This will help to prevent any paint from chipping later.

Thanks guys!! Guess I'll be painting!! :)