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Ok, so we have an atrium ranch and all of the trim in our house is wood. We feel lik if we were to paint it all whut, it would update the house. Also, we have wood slab doors right now and to match the trim , it would be very expensive to buy 8 new solid wood stained doors insted of white 6 pannel. ANYWAYS, the issue we arehaving it that we have 4 huge windows behing the banister to the basement, and around the windows is stainedwood frame that would also need to be painted white. My question is, whould it look weird to paint everything white and leave the banister o the basementthe wood color? I know we will need to get a new banister ...something more updated, but im at a loss as to what to get that would look good. Im totally clueless! If anyone has any recomendations or advice I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

Hello, Florissant; I grew up in St Louis and still have a brother and family there.

Your question might be best placed in the decorating forum, but here is my opinion:

I like off-white trim and it is best to use a semigloss oil-based enamel. Latex will also work if you have no small kids!

If I understand correctly, you plan to replace the doors. If they have some paneling I would leave them and just paint to match the trim. In our place here we have latex off-white doors and trim, and no small kids. and this is a relatively new home.

Railings (banister) are best as varnished natural wood; latex paint would be a disaster because of hand prints. Oil enamel would be another choice. We have a banister going upstairs and it looks fine with the white wood trim.

Our banister is the traditional pattern and IMHO it is the best choice. Some "modern" banister shapes are too plain and also hard to grip. The grip is important to a handicapped person or someone recovering from surgery.

The newer molded panel doors work fine in our experience, and I have installed them for customers. They are hollow core, light weight and inexpensive. They usually come pre-primed or even painted.

Unless you have the experience and tools, you would do best by installing pre-hung doors. I have installed many doors and to properly install a door in the existing jamb takes over $200 in tooling, and some experience. With a pre-hung door, life is a lot easier.

A trick you can use if the existing doors are flat slabs is to add trim to simulate panels, and then paint.