We bought a house a little over a year ago and as we plan upgrades we try to stick with a consistent theme throughout. We’ve decided we want a house that feels casual and beachy but warm and comfortable. We want a coastal inspired house that’s not necessarily on the beach. We’ve recently decided that our small kids/guest bath is the first thing we need to tackle so we’re in the process of selecting materials. Being married to a contractor means I have to have everything in town and then I have to wait for a spot to open up in my husband’s schedule before I can proceed with anything. But with the list of decisions I have to make, I don’t expect that I’ll be ready anytime soon.

You’d think I could select things quickly since I help our clients make selections on a regular basis, but find it more difficult to make selections for myself. My current dilemma is the trim.

I thought, “oh this is easy, how much trim can there be to choose from?” Well, there are a ton of options when it comes to trim and many of the options can take your home from “builder grade” to a finished and stylish look. Someone decided it was a good idea to mix and match trim throughout our home. We have rubber trim in our bathrooms and kitchen and we have wooden trim through the rest of the house. I like trim to match throughout a home, but I don’t really like any of the current trim we have. So at least I can start there, no rubber trim and I don’t want wooden trim, I want my trim to be painted and a taller profile than what we currently have. I think I’ve decided to go with a 1 by 6 trim to recreate some of what I loved about our first home and to try to tie in with the beach coastal theme I love.

I want baseboard in my beach inspired home because I think it works best with the look I’m working toward. In my previous craftsman home, I had a gorgeous trim that was painted and it made a home that came straight from the builder feel a bit more authentic. Though the trim in that house was a neutral color, it but gave the home a warmth that would have been lacking had it been bright white. So that’s another dilemma that I’m dealing with, to paint my trim white, creamy white or a beige color. I think I’ve settled on a creamy white but haven’t selected an exact shade. It’s funny, but I didn’t think the tiny bathroom I’ve decided to remodel would have involved so many decisions. The good thing about some of this is once I’ve made a decision for the tiny bath, on something like baseboard, I won’t have to make it again until we’ve renovated the entire home, since I’m planning to do the same trim throughout.

So if you are planning to replace the baseboard in your home here are some things to consider.

  1. Find photos of homes where the baseboard fits with the look you’re going for, consider color, wood type and size of the baseboard. This will help in getting the baseboard to tie into the theme of your home.
  2. Visit your local lumber store. They have trim samples. If you want to see the samples painted or stained, local paint stores can help guide the process.
  3. When you’re deciding on baseboard, consider how it will impact other trim in your home, including trim around windows and doors and how it will impact the doors themselves.

Making these decisions for myself gave me a much better appreciation for the decisions that my clients have to regularly make. It has also inspired me to create more design boards for our clients to help simplify the selection process.

Just a few more decisions before the bathroom renovation gets under way; bathtub, toilet, sink, wall treatment, surround tile, floor tile and a cabinet. How hard can it be to make these selections?

Susan Stopher currently serves as office manager for Stopher Construction, LLC. She’s an avid traveler, adventurer and lover of art and design. She enjoys running and outdoor activities with her husband and two kids in Southeast Alaska and beyond. She enjoys cooking, canning and the great outdoors!