My husband and I just bought a small 1928 bungalow, just under 1000sq ft. Major fixer home. The floors are old growth fir and the trim around the two front windows and window in dining room have fir trim as well. Previously had old cheap apartment baseboard trim as I like to call it, and we ripped that out. We want to eventually have new non-painted wood baseboard trim no smaller than 3.5in high throughout the house. (living room, dining room, hallway and two bedrooms) We don't want to break the bank, but we don't want the cheapest route either. What kind of wood might go well with the fir already in the house. ANy suggestions would be appreciated. We live in the Seattle region.

My bungalow is also all Doug Fir. Basically I would go with Doug fir on your baseboards as well. Mine are a good 7" with trim cap piece. A factor that may come into play is how the baseboards are going to transition into the trim around the doors, etc. IMO, for the trim to look finished, there would need to be the consistency of the baseboards and the door trim.

Here's a pic of some of trim in one of my bedrooms that I refinished.



Diane

Wow! Love the look of your room. Can I ask you what is the height of your ceiling and approximate size of the room? The rooms of our house are not large and my husband is concerned that if we put in a bigger size trim that is say 4 inches or more, the house will start to look choppy and smaller than it is. I don't necessarily agree, but am not confident that it wouldn't do that. Also, did you do any of the wood finishing yourself? And, what did you need to apply to the wood to give it the color and finish that it has? Thank you for your input.

Mindy

Older houses had taller baseboards. 3-1/2" will look too modern for a bungalow. If you use a dark stain, you won't much notice differences in wood, but they should match the window and door casing as previously mentioned.

---mike...

If you can take a piece of the trim you're trying to match to your local home improvement store. We have old pine caseing and had to build new frames for windows. We built the frames out of oak and it was quite a challenge getting the right color. But the nice lady at home depot grabbed a scrap piece of the oak we were using, about 6 different cans of stain and we tested, and tested and tested again. Don't be surprised if you have to use more than one stain to get the right effect. We actually have to use 3. It's a lot of work, but most definately worth it as the end product looks seemless.