Decorating advice

[Patti]

We plan to wallpaper part way up our wall put up chair molding, sponge
paint and border at the top of the wall. Our trim is all a blond color
which is not our favorite trim we plan on redoing it in time to come. So,
do we buy the molding to match the trim or paint it to match the paint? I
need decorating advice on this one.
Thanks,
Patti

[Sarah A. Novak]

I would recommend you paint the baseboard and the chair rail the same
color. Perhaps, pick a color from the wallpaper. What do you mean by
"re-doing" your trim? Do you plan to replace it or refinish it or
what? If you just want to get rid of the blonde color, but the trim is
in OK shape, paint should be fine. If you want to replace it, do it
now, while you're doing the rest of the project. If you wait, your
wallpaper could get messed up doing the baseboard.

We did this in our living room. The house had "clamshell" molding on
the baseboards, which I thought was pretty ugly. What was even uglier,
though, was replacing it (I'm really not very good at mitering) and it
really was in pretty good condition. Painting the baseboard made it
look good in the room, and you didn't really notice the shape too much.
Also, I painted the trim before I papered, so the wall got a little
paint too, and then I didn't have too worry about exactly meeting the
trim, which, of course, we tried to do anyway.

Keep in mind that this advice comes from someone who happens to like
painted trim. My present house has stained wood trim all over and it
shows every nick and bump (like from the vacuum). What a pain, and
refinishing, IMHO, is harder than painting.
--
Sarah Novak
Pickerington, OH