Painting Garage Int - What Color for Trim?

dodgepolara500 · Feb 1, 2010

All,
I have plans to finally paint my garage. It has been in primer for 4 years!

I was originally going to paint the doors and trim around the doors/windows white. I was then thinking that they would get a bit dirty and it might be best to paint them the color of the walls. I was going to use a semi gloss paint on the walls in either a beige or gray color.

Anyone use this combo yet? Is it too monotonous? Boring? Ugly?

Any pics or comments would help!

Thanks
John

PassnThru · Feb 1, 2010

My trim in my detached garage is white. I don't think it looks any worse in terms of dirt than the walls which are more of a tan color. The same color as the wall would definitely be boring. If you are worried about white, then punch it up a bit with your favorite color. Maroon perhaps? Maybe black? A really dark blue? It's just paint. Easily changed if you don't like it.

Gary S · Feb 1, 2010

My walls are white and my trim is stained and varnished oak. In my opinion, it is a sin to paint wood. Metal or sheet rock need paint to cover them, but wood is too nice to paint.

Kevin54 · Feb 1, 2010

Yep...Like Passnthru said....it's just paint, if you don't like it, just change it.

Currently my garage has stained trim with white walls and it has been that way for quite a while. Once the weather breaks, I'm pulling everything off of the walls, fill the holes from the pictures and lights, then add some color. The trim is then going to go white. Well maybe white. LOL!!! I'm leaning towards orange for a wall color so the trim may just go black.
What you don't want to do is paint everything the same color (trim and walls) It WOULD be too boring and plain.
What I have been doing is saving pictures from the gallery to a folder on the 'puter. I made a "New" folder on the desktop of my computer, and when I see a picture that catches my eye, I just "right click" it and save it to that folder. Then I can go back and start the process of elimination until I get down to something that I like. I do know it won't be identical to what I see, but it will give me a super idea as to how I am going to do it. Spring is still a couple of months off, so I still have time to get my chit together and get the ideas worked out.
It really does help when you have a lot of pictures, because you can start scrolling through them and making mental notes as to what catches your eye rather quickly. So far orange for the top, corrugated metal for the wainscotting, and white trim is what I am leaning towards. And if it doesn't work out when done....welll it's just the matter of another couple of gallons of paint.

TONE · Feb 1, 2010

What about pine?

What about poplar?

Lots of wood looks better painted than stained.

Gary S said:
My walls are white and my trim is stained and varnished oak. In my opinion, it is a sin to paint wood. Metal or sheet rock need paint to cover them, but wood is too nice to paint.

PassnThru · Feb 1, 2010

TONE said:
What about pine?

What about poplar?

Lots of wood looks better painted than stained.

I replaced all the painted trim in my house with clear poplar - stained and polyed. I like to think it looks OK without paint.
And I can prove that if need be. :beer:

TONE · Feb 1, 2010

Actually I would like to see it.

Ive never like poplar stained.

Please post it. Im always looking for new ideas.

Thanks

PassnThru · Feb 1, 2010

Here's a representative one. I don't have any close up pics. This is my oldest sons room. Hence the green paint.
View media item 3315The problem with poplar is getting the 'green' stuff - not as in freshly cut but parts having a greenish tint. It is harder there and doesn't take stain as well. So some pieces end up hidden in closets or cut. But that's only for the really bad stuff - the lighter stuff just adds character.

Edit - cropped this from another picture to get closer and stay within the 850 limit.
View media item 3321What you are seeing is a pass thru door jamb with trim. The fluted part on the left is the door jamb and the piece on the left(edit - the right) is the casing. It is at a bit of an angle but oriented correctly otherwise.

Kevin54 · Feb 2, 2010

View media item 3315
Did anyone mention that is REALLY green? :lol:

A lot of the new homes built around here use Poplar for trim as it is a better looking wood and clear. Another plus about Poplar is the pieces tend to be straighter and have a better mill finish on them than the other woods. Oak is pretty much a dated wood, and pine usually has defects in it.

HIRISC · Feb 2, 2010

My walls are light grey (Behr - Burnished Clay) and my service door/floor trim is black.

During painting:

TONE · Feb 2, 2010

I agree about poplar being a nice wood.

I always use it for doing trimwork. However, it usually gets painted white.

The green room above looks nice. The poplar almost has a maple look to it when stained. Nice job on that!

Kevin54 said:

sammerdog · Feb 2, 2010

fwiw -

I made my baseboards out of el cheapo 1x4 pine. Painted it black. Added some white stripes, hot glued a handful of matchbox cars.......

I suppose you could do the same with other trimwork.

....yeah, yeah, yeah - I know it's dusty and knee deep in cobwebs.

MXtras · Feb 2, 2010

I vote for white with medium grey trim.

Scott

dodgepolara500 · Feb 2, 2010

Thanks for the comments. The trim is pine which was pre-primed from the factory. It is a cruddy, ropey looking primer which will need sanding and another coat of primer, so staining is out. In CA. most people go for a painted trim.

I think that I'll do a white trim with a contrasting gray or beige to accent it. The drywall and finish is of a high quality so there is really no prep work to speak of on the drywall. When I had it installed, I coated it with two coats of primer (PVA) so it looks finished to most people since it is covered pretty well. The trim is another story which looks terrible.
Thanks

Gary S · Feb 2, 2010

TONE said:
What about pine?

What about poplar?

Lots of wood looks better painted than stained.

Both poplar and pine look good varnished to bring out the beauty of the wood. If you don't like the light color, then you can stain it darker too.

I haven't found any wood that looks better painted than natural. Painting wood makes it look cheap like plastic.

bucs012 · Feb 2, 2010

I went with satin grey around the bottoms of each room, but left the door trim, walls and ceiling Gloss white. I have really been happy with it and very easy to whipe clean with the high gloss.

Used the White interior/exterior high gloss paint from pittsburgh paint. You can buy it at Menards. Makes everything look clean and crisp and the light reflects off it well.

what2do · Feb 2, 2010

Almost finished with the paint on ours. I used a color called Desert Suede on the walls w/ white celing & trim. Also, added a grey stripe to break it up a bit. I'm thinking about a smaller red stripe too, but I can't decide.

bluesman2a · Feb 2, 2010

I used a BRIGHT white for the ceiling, down to about 8'. This gives the most light. from 8' down to 4' (what I think of as the "touch zone") I went with a 50% grey, called "crucible" which I thought appropriate for a fabrication shop. This has the virtue of not being too light (to show dark dirt) or too dark (to show light dirt). I used a semi-gloss so it's easy to wipe down, even on OSB when it gets dirty.

For the bottom 4' I will use galvalum or something similar to what TheShrine used on his, for a "wainscotting" effect. That's not done just yet.

dodgepolara500 · Feb 2, 2010

what2do said:
Almost finished with the paint on ours. I used a color called Desert Suede on the walls w/ white celing & trim. Also, added a grey stripe to break it up a bit. I'm thinking about a smaller red stripe too, but I can't decide.

Looks good. I think that the white ceiling is the way to go as well.

PassnThru · Feb 2, 2010

TONE said:
I agree about poplar being a nice wood.

I always use it for doing trimwork. However, it usually gets painted white.

The green room above looks nice. The poplar almost has a maple look to it when stained. Nice job on that!

Thanks. I originally went with poplar because it was at least half the price of oak. Now that it's been done I would do it again. If this makes any sense - it falls in a good place between the casualness of pine and the formality of oak. All three have a different look.

Oh - and Kevin - when people see it they never ask what color green it is. They just say it's green. It doesn't need a fancy name :beer:

mikeyr · Feb 2, 2010

I just did one section with semi-gloss white and I think it looks pretty good, in 2 weeks I am doing the main room of my new garage, does full gloss white really make that much of a difference ? I was going with full gloss but the guy at the paint shop said I would regret it because of glare. I do like the semi I did

HIRISC · Feb 9, 2010

^^ I would not paint a garage with gloss paint.. your guys is correct about the glare

Scotto · Feb 9, 2010

IMO grey or beige would be a little boring. Then again I like bright colors

jvitez · Feb 9, 2010

My current plan is to use white ceiling paint for reflectivity, pale gray for the top half of walls and darker gray for the bottom with a stripe separating the two, maybe blue, not sure yet. Semi-gloss for the walls. Probably use the stripe color for the trim.

I did my previous house with semi-gloss white. The sheen fades a bit within a year, not too glossy even when new, but sure easier to wipe down.

Industrial Concepts · Feb 9, 2010

dodgepolara500 said:
All,
I have plans to finally paint my garage. It has been in primer for 4 years!

I was originally going to paint the doors and trim around the doors/windows white. I was then thinking that they would get a bit dirty and it might be best to paint them the color of the walls. I was going to use a semi gloss paint on the walls in either a beige or gray color.

Anyone use this combo yet? Is it too monotonous? Boring? Ugly?

Any pics or comments would help!

Thanks
John

Do you like bold colors or you conservative? There are a lot of color combinations out there right now. A warm grey might look good with the beige.
Do you work in garage or is it more of a place to hang out? I like the writer from CA garage. You might go to your local paint store, they have color combinations that work together.

lpigg · Feb 9, 2010

jvitez said:
My current plan is to use white ceiling paint for reflectivity, pale gray for the top half of walls and darker gray for the bottom with a stripe separating the two, maybe blue, not sure yet. Semi-gloss for the walls. Probably use the stripe color for the trim.

I did my previous house with semi-gloss white. The sheen fades a bit within a year, not too glossy even when new, but sure easier to wipe down.

Mine is the exact same except that I used a black stripe and white trim. I think it looks pretty sharp. I will post some pics tomorrow for you to check it out. 1 thing that I have noticed is make sure the strip is wide enough. I have seen some that are only a few inches wide. I made mine about 6 inches and I think it looks really good.

lpigg · Feb 9, 2010

lpigg said:
Mine is the exact same except that I used a black stripe and white trim. I think it looks pretty sharp. I will post some pics tomorrow for you to check it out. 1 thing that I have noticed is make sure the strip is wide enough. I have seen some that are only a few inches wide. I made mine about 6 inches and I think it looks really good.

I decided to brave the 8 inches of snow and went and took some pictures. Here they are, just finished it last week just in enough time to host a superbowl party.

I would use a flat pant on the ceiling to hide any flaws and semigloss on the walls so that they wipe up easier.

Painting Garage Int - What Color for Trim?

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