Tips to Choose the Best Trim Paint Color for Your Home

Trim colors can make or break your home’s decor. Do you want to paint your room, and you don’t know what trim color will fit best? We’ve put together a complete guide to help you through.

Let’s dive in!

Pro Tips to Get You Started

You can count on a higher shin paint to be more washable and durable than the lower shin alternatives.
You should add durability to those surfaces because your baseboards are close to the ground.

9 Tips to Choose the Best Trim Paint Color

First, you have to find where the trim is going, because your trim tradition continues throughout the space you are using it in.

Note, it is easier to go from light to dark than from dark to white.

1. Consider your space

Think about the color temperature of everything in the room, does it feel warmer or cooler? Try and match that color temperature onto your trim.

2. Trim paint colors and combinations

You don’t have many different options when it comes to choosing the right trim color. The color combinations you choose can create different effects and work to highlight certain aspects of your space.

You might want your trim to blend in with your wall color, highlight interesting features in your room, or create a bold contrasting look to add some more visual interest.

3. Paint color combinations

A good color combination will create a balanced look and feel in your room. Trims are painted with soft neutral and dark colors such as; white, cream, beige, deep brown, navy blue, or even dark forest green.

4. Use a color swatch

From the color of your wall paint, you can choose to go 2 to 3 swatches down. This will give the trim on your wall much more contrast.

5. 30 LRV difference

The difference between your wall color and dark trim color should be around 30 “LRV”.

Without taking you through an entire painting course, let’s quickly describe what LRV means

What is LRV

LRV means Light Reflection Value. It’s a measure of the amount of visible and usable light that your painted surface absorbs or reflects.Simply put, LRV measures the percentage of light a paint color reflects. Its value ranges from 0-100.

The closer it is to zero, the higher the tendency to absorb light (absolute black). The closer you get to a hundred, the higher the tendency to reflect all light (pure white). To get a decent amount of contrast, the LRV of your trim color should be around 30.

6. Go neutral

Neutral color is your choice if you don’t have the luxury of time to further research for the trim color that best fits. Neutral color fits in all. Similar to picking white and off-white you can pick colors that don’t have strong undertones one way or the other.

If you’re going for a color like black you don’t need to worry about undertones. Black beauty seems to do well based on our experience.

7. Treat trim as an accent

Finally, if you want to introduce some new colors to your color scheme in the form of your dark trim, then you just treat the process like you would be picking a dynamic accent wall color.

Colors like deep brown, navy blue, or even dark forest green. They can all be interesting choices in certain cases. And these colors will be more dependent on personal preference.

8. Trim paint colors

You can decide any color you want for your trims, but few colors go with the interior and exterior.

We have classic white, which is a safe choice. White can be a bold look, especially when paired with vibrant colors.

There are different shades of white! You can choose a classic bright white, also a softer shade with warm undertones, or something with cool undertones that is like soft gray.

To find the perfect shade of white, consider your wall color and look for a shade of white with similar undertones.

You can decide to go to the opposite end of the spectrum by choosing black. This may sound wild, but black is a neutral color. Black shades are a great color for adding contrast to white walls or white exteriors for a sophisticated look.

9. Paint color combinations

Always keep trim simple because it allows you to highlight the texture subtly, and also the details of your room while the wall color is the focal point. This color combination is one of the most commonly used for trim because it is timeless & versatile.

If you want something modern & bold then consider using a contrasting color for your trim. This method works better when you have cool details you want to draw attention to, such as doorways, windows, and fireplace mantles. Adding dark trim if you have soft neutral colors on your walls already will add some excitement to your room and create a dramatic feel.

The monochromatic look. This is an interesting color combination scheme that creates a look that blends everything. The trim color is similar to the wall, so the details will be more subtle. This is a common look in white rooms. It works well with any wall color. It feels more modern than the classic white option of white trims and soft neutral wall colors. If you don’t want to use the same color, you can achieve that by choosing a color that is a few shades darker or lighter.

3 Trim Colors We Don’t Recommend

1. Aspen white

Aspen colorado why won’t you want to replicate that on your baseboards because Aspen white isn’t white at all?

It has a very high LRV of 89.08 but it’s closer to a pale yellow rather than white. It’s a greenish-yellow which is not ideal when you are looking for a white trim.

2. Navajo white

It’s much closer to a warm grayish and not quite white. It is advertised as white which isn’t. We see it as a wall color rather than a trim color. It is also too dark.

A Word from Color House Painters

Choosing the right trim color for your interior paint can be challenging, so we offer a free consultation to discuss your color options at Color house painters.

We offer professional painting services for everything inside your home, including stairs, crown molding, trim boards, baseboards, floorboards, & pretty much anything inside your house. We offer professional painting service for all interiors in your home at an affordable price. Reach out to us today.