What type of finish are you using on the dark trim. Satin?
I like the look of the dark trim and door. I’m guessing that the trim in most of the photos posted as inspiration above is stained wood, or even bronze metal in some cases.
While I understand your quest to find something a little less dark, the idea of painted brown trim does not appeal to me at all. I like white or black painted trim, actual metal (bronze or other), and real wood. I’d be fine with a black paint with a hint of brown, but painted trim that reads “brown” would be a huge turn-off for me.
I was going with semi gloss but satin might be a good idea
Agreed. Semi-gloss is too glossy. While we’re on the topic of sheen, Benjamin Moore’s Aura Bath & Spa paint is designed for high-moisture areas. It’s matte; expensive, but gives a beautiful, rich finish. We’ve repainted two baths using this paint and it’s really nice.
Edited to add – the photos look amazing, cb!
I’ll check out the bath paint.
Agree about the brown. Just put up a sample of brown. Hello 1970s!! Looks horrible. Looks like we are trying too hard to look like stained wood. The type of wood the windows are built with is termite resistant but doesn’t have any grain that lends itself to a nice stain. Besides, the ceiling has too much going on that it would fight with stained windows and doors.
I’m trying to emulate the look of dark bronze metal doors and windows. The exterior of the windows are aluminim clad chestnut bronze.
I was just looking at the Benjamin Moore colors online, and one called Black Bean Soup seemed like a very deep black/brown that might work. They have a lot of blacks!
Mwt wirh roof truss guys today. I am adding 45" from top plates to peak of roof. What this means is ceilings will vault to about 10 ft in center of rooms from the 8ft side walls. I need to decide if I am going to embellish the vaulting with any beams or architecture similar to photos posted earlier. I probably cannot make the decisions until i see the scissor trusses set onto the roof in about 2 weeks
Embellish!
What would it cost to replace the kitchen windows including fixing stucco and baby bull-nose?
Regarding replacing kitchen windows… I need to wait until the walls are painted white and the lighting gets installed to see if they still stick out like a sore thumb. Right now it’s kind of dark in there… not to mention that the 45 boxes of kitchen cabinets got picked up and moved into the kitchen so that the drywall guys could finish up the dining room. I can’t see anything in there, including the windows, because the boxes are blocking everything. Maybe the whole issue will just go away 
It would probably cost about $300 for the windows, $200 labor to take them out and replace them and $250 to repair stucco and drywall
I’m trying to get my agent to stop by today or tomorrow to give an opinion on the doors and windows. Paint crew is returning next Wednesday and I need to make a final decision before then so we can get moving on painting up the existing house. I sent her pictures and she replied back that she loves the dark doors and the dark windows, but it seems to be one of those cases where it looks different in real life. The photo of the black door in hallway looks pretty accurate to the eye. But I think the windows look different in real life.
I like one of the samples after it dried… Espresso Beans which is a Behr Marquee color. I am painting exterior and interior trim in the highest quality Marquee paint, especially because they guarantee that the exterior Marquee ‘will not fade’. I really hate dark colors on an exterior that fade out really quick. Anyway, the Espresso Beans color has a hint more brown than the dark chestnut color. In looking closely at the ceiling there is quite a bit of deep brown/black in the knots but the last thing I want to do is try to bring out the knots in the wood since the knots take the ceiling towards 70s/country look and I don’t want to bring out that feature.
Let us know what you decide on the windows. Less than $1000 doesn’t sound too bad since you’d hate for them to detract from the lovely kitchen.
Interesting Comparable
This house came on the market just a few days ago and is already in contract. At first the design kind of hurts the eyes, but if you look closer the house has great outdoor spaces that are done really nice. The Mid Century type design with the bold black/white details will appeal to a younger couple. Mid Century is the hottest style in the San Diego and Palm Springs markets
3825 Coronado 92107
In contract at $1,395,000
The reason I like this comparable is the high price for similar square footage but house has no view, less desireable location and no garage. They obviously turned a small bedroom into a walk in closet to die for. And it looks like the garage was sacrificed for a large laundry room
Hmmm…I’d get eye stress with all the B&W patterns after awhile. No garage, no view…and looks like needs new roof…no thanks! CB, yours has soooo much more to offer!
OMG, those black and white patterns are crazy! I guess someone loved them and found a buyer who loved them too. I would rather see that early 1950’s wood trim in it’s original wood color, rather than painted white. The ceilings seemed too low where they weren’t vaulted too.
Still, it’s impressive what someone can do with design when they put their mind to it!
Wow! now I have a headache!
Yours will have a much broader appeal. The trendy and stark black and white of the comp can definitely be fatiguing and will turn off a good number of potential buyers.
Well, this other house does have a pool, and cb’s won’t. That’s certainly a nice attraction for some buyers.
Regardless, it suggests to me that cb’s house will be at least $1.5, if not a few hundred thousand higher.
Yes–pools are definitely a double-edged sword. For many it is a positive, for us it was a STRONG negative when considering buying homes. We have several loved ones who are tired of their pools and rarely ever use them but have to continue maintaining them.