Base and window trim are wood, should chair rail be wood or painted?

The area below the rail will be a sage green, above a beige, should I match the trim to the exiting trim, or to one of the colors? Or could I just paint it white to stand out more, and it would match doors and blinds and appliances in kitchen?

Base and window trim are wood, should chair rail be wood or painted?
Chair rail does not need to be the same as doors, blinds etc. In fact, if you would paint chair rail it would be much more interesting and make your room look delightful. You could go with white, as you said, for the chair rail or you could go with a darker green than you have on the bottom of wall or you could go with a darker beige than you have on the top of the wall. Either of these colors on the chair rail would make it go with the wall and not the doors and trim etc. By doing it that way the wall will be what someone notices. If you match chair rail to the doors etc then that is what people will notice and not the walls.
Reply:You should keep it the same color at least, preferably same stuff you use to stain the base. Trim paint or stain color is really a preference, and depends on your house style (dark is better for Victorian, lighter is more "country" style).



Just be careful not to have too many colors going on at once! It will make the room look "busy" and lack cohesion. SOME people like that...but most people find it disturbing! In general, the less contrast between trim and wall colors, the better.
Reply:wood, it matches
Reply:all your wood trim, including doors should be the same. so if you have bare wood trim, you need to keep the chair rail the same or it will stick out and look awkward in the room
Reply:ALL the moldings should match. . . . or it looks rediculous!





Personally i would paint the base/chair rail/window trim all white. Thats just my preference though. But if you like the wood look to the windows then the chair rail and base moldings should match it.
Reply:A lot depends on the type of home and the decor. A modern home may be mostly paint while a craftsman style should be all natural wood. Country homes can go either way; and so it goes.



I personally like the look of the wood grain and would go that way; I'd stain and polyurethane to match the existing woodwork.



Decorators would probably tell you to paint it, and all the rest of the woodwork as natural wood is "out" these days, but I think that the reason that stained wood is "out" is that it's more difficult to install properly and make it look right.



With painted woodwork you can fill voids and cracks with latex caulk and paint right over it. With natural wood you really need to spend more time doing it right, measuring and cutting to fit. Some wood filler may still be needed, but for my money, natural wood grain can't be beat for warmth and that homey feeling.