Taking on a room refresh is one of the most exciting ways to change the entire energy of your home. Whether you are updating a classic mid-century ranch in Wheat Ridge, settling into a beautiful fixer-upper in Golden, or giving a busy family space in Parker a long-overdue makeover, a fresh coat of wall paint instantly makes everything feel clean and new.
But as you stand back to admire your freshly rolled walls, a very common realization sets in. You look at the edges of the room and suddenly notice the doors, the window casings, and the baseboards.
Next to those pristine new walls, the old trim might look a little yellowed, scuffed, or faded. It leaves many homeowners asking a classic design question:
Should I go ahead and paint the doors and trim while I already have the paint rollers out, or is it better to leave them as they are?
As your local flooring and paint experts, we run into this dilemma all the time. Let’s look at the practical pros and cons of tackling your trim at the same time as your walls, and how that choice impacts the rest of your room's design.
Table of Contents
The Case for Painting Everything at Once
When Can You Safely Skip the Trim?
The Golden Rule: Use the Right Formulas
Visit a Local Simply Floors Showroom Near You
The Case for Painting Everything at Once
While adding doors and trim to your project list definitely adds more tape-masking and brushwork to your weekend, doing them at the same time as your walls offers some massive advantages:
Flawless Color Harmony: White paint isn't just white, it has complex yellow, blue, or pink undertones. If you paint your walls a beautiful, cool gray or crisp modern white, older trim with a warm or yellowed undertone will suddenly look dirty or mismatched. Painting them together ensures the colors complement each other perfectly.
The Power of Contrast: Refreshing your trim allows you to play with modern design styles. You can go for a timeless look with crisp white trim framing a soft neutral wall, or try a contemporary trend by painting your trim a shade darker than your walls for a tailored, architectural feel.
Consolidated Mess: Painting is inherently disruptive to your daily life. Moving furniture, taping off edges, and laying down drop cloths is a lot of work. By tackling the walls, doors, and trim in one single wave, you only have to set up, clean up, and live in a construction zone once.
When Can You Safely Skip the Trim?
You don't always have to paint your trim. If your home features high-quality, natural wood baseboards and doors, like rich oak or warm walnut, that are in excellent condition, you might want to keep that organic wood grain visible. Natural wood elements add incredible warmth to Colorado homes, especially during our chilly Front Range winters.
If your trim is already painted a neutral color, is in fantastic shape, and the undertone matches your new wall color choice perfectly, a simple wipe-down with a damp cloth might be all you need to make the room look complete.
The Golden Rule: Use the Right Formulas
If you do decide to paint your trim and doors, remember that you cannot use the exact same paint can that you used on your walls. Because baseboards and doors take the absolute brunt of household traffic constantly bumped by vacuums, kicked by shoes, and touched by sticky hands they require a completely different type of paint.
Start with the Ceiling: Always work from the top down. Any minor splatter or overspray from the ceiling roller will be easily covered up during the next steps.
Paint the Trim and Doors with a Durable Finish: Use a specialized semi-gloss or gloss trim paint. These formulas dry to a much harder, enamel-like shield that repels moisture and handles repeated scrubbing. Let this layer dry completely.
Tape the Trim and Roll the Walls: Once the trim is completely dry, apply high-quality painter's tape along the top edge of your baseboards. This allows you to "cut in" your wall paint (typically an eggshell or satin finish) with a brush, creating perfectly crisp, professional lines.
Visit a Local Simply Floors Showroom Near You
You shouldn't have to guess how your new walls, baseboards, and floors will coordinate. Come visit us at Simply Floors in Arvada, Centennial, or Aurora.
We traded the chaotic atmosphere of the mega-showrooms for a personalized, welcoming environment where you come first. Bring your trim paint samples into our design centers and talk to our interior paint experts, touch our premium flooring materials, and collaborate with our local experts to build a look that perfectly frames your home.
We Invite You to Call or Visit One of Our 3 Showrooms Today!
Our Service Areas Include: Wheat Ridge, Centennial, Denver, Arvada, Aurora, Golden, and Parker, CO
Arvada, CO
Address: 5945 Ward Rd Arvada, CO 80004
Phone: (303) 731-5380
View More Info About Our Arvada, CO Showroom
Centennial, CO
Address: 8101 S Quebec St. #2 Centennial, CO 80112
Phone: (303) 731-5380
View More Info About Our Centennial, CO Showroom
Aurora, CO
Address: 17034 E Quincy Ave. Aurora, CO 80015
Phone: (303) 731-5380
View More Info About Our Aurora, CO Showroom
About Simply Floors Inc.
At Simply Floors, we believe the best place to choose your new flooring isn’t under the buzzing fluorescent lights of a warehouse, but in the natural light of your own home where your life actually happens. As a woman-owned, family-operated business serving the Colorado Front Range—from Arvada and Wheat Ridge to Centennial and Parker—we’ve traded the high overhead of "mega-showrooms" for a personalized shop-at-home experience that puts you in control.
Our mission is built on a simple promise to enthusiastically exceed your expectations by providing curated, high-quality selections and transparent pricing without the big-box stress. Whether you are replacing well-worn carpet or updating your forever home, our dedicated team handles every detail with "Excellence in the Ordinary," ensuring a seamless, professional journey from the first measurement to the final plank.
