Painting vs. Staining Quarter Round & Shoe Molding Trim
We’ve written a fair amount of the past two weeks about installing baseboard and quarter round for hardwood floors, and the right finish nailer for doing this job. One recurring question from fellow DIYers tackling this project is whether you should lay quarter round that matches the wood floor or just paint the quarter round white to match the baseboard.
While there’s no hard and fast rule on this, here’s our thoughts on it:
If you are laying quarter round or shoe molding on hardwood floors, you should lay a quarter round or shoe molding that matches the floor wood grain & stain. Most folks know that hardwood flooring companies generate a lot of profit from trim pieces. If you want to avoid paying the high price for matching trim, but still want a clean, finished look, consider buying unfinished trim pieces at your local big box and staining the to match your prefinished floor. This will save you 50-75% off buying matching trim, and you likely won’t be able to tell the difference (especially if your hardwoods are oak or pine, which are readily available in unfinished trim at home improvement stores).
If you are laying quarter round on a ceramic, vinyl, or stone tile floor, you should paint the quarter round to match the baseboard molding. The most common trim color is white, and so this most often will lead to a white quarter round trim. One exception to this rule is when a ceramic or vinyl floor sits next to a room with hardwood and the quarter round continues from a hardwood area to a tiled area. Another exception would be when the baseboard is an authentic stained wood itself, in which case the quarter round should be stained to match the baseboard molding. The reason for painting the trim white is that a stained quarter round tends to draw the eye to the corner of the floor, instead of framing the floor itself. Stained quarter round on tile floors serve more as a distraction than an accent.
As I said, there’s no hard and fast rule for this. Some people prefer painted quarter round even on hardwoods. Lay some sample pieces in your own room before making a decision.
What do you think? Which option did you choose in your room?
Comments & Conversation on this Article...
38 Responses to Painting vs. Staining Quarter Round & Shoe Molding Trim
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November 6th, 2008 7:50 am
Here in New England it’s traditionally painted to match the baseboard. The reason for this is the shoe mold is actually considered to be part of the “base” trim assembly.
Then again….we’re pretty old fashioned up here
November 6th, 2008 9:37 am
I’m leaning toward painting it white to match the baseboard too. From a money and time perspective, I think it’s the right choice.
November 6th, 2008 9:50 am
We painted ours to match the baseboards also when we tore up the carpet to reveal the hardwood underneath.
To me it looks like the floor is going up the walls if it’s stained.
I like Todd’s explanation that if painted it’s one cohesive unit.
(I actually wondered what you were doing when I saw your picture a while back!)
November 6th, 2008 11:02 am
Hahaha. Three nays for our preferred treatment! You guys are terrible! Anyhow, it is certainly an opinion matter, and in many cases white will yield you a quicker, cheaper install. Nonetheless, we still like the quarter round to match the floor. Maybe we’ve fallen prey to hardwood flooring companies’ marketing
November 6th, 2008 12:22 pm
Sorry, Fred. i’m in the majority, too!
When I put laminate in the dining room and livingroom last year, I had to get quarter-round to put over the laminate. (It was carpeted before that.)
Bought pine and painted it the color of the baseboard which is a very pale yellow.
November 6th, 2008 12:40 pm
I prefer the quarter round to match the baseboards, no matter what color they are! Otherwise, it doesn’t quite look right…
November 6th, 2008 1:24 pm
Fred….at least the hardwood flooring guys will be happy. The one thing I will say about painted vs stained, painted shoe molding does get dinged and marked up easier than stained molding. However, I still choose painted because of my conservative/traditional architectural preferences.
November 7th, 2008 11:02 am
First I want to say a HUGE thank you for all your hard work on this blog….I love it! Now, I am going to have to go with the majority and disagree with you and say it looks wrong…sorry, I really do love you anyway.
November 7th, 2008 11:19 am
I am just blown away. I had no idea how popular it was to paint the quarter-round. Obviously I am in the minority (the picture is from my house), but I really like the way it looks. I wonder if it’s somewhat of a regional thing?
Kara, thanks for the compliment. Glad you enjoy the site.
December 2nd, 2008 12:01 pm
If the floor is dark walnut, the kitchen cabinets are golden oak and the baseboard is painted white, should I paint the quarter round against the baseboard white and stain the quarter round under the kitchen cabinets? If so, should I stain that quarter round the color of the cabinets or the floor?
December 2nd, 2008 1:52 pm
@Donna, Did you put walnut in your kitchen? Or are these different rooms?
It depends on how each room is connected. If the quarter-round is separated by things like door-jams it’s easy to paint one area and stain another. If the quarter-round flows from one room to the next, I think painting it all white is the way to go. It provides consistency between the rooms.
If your kitchen has walnut floors I would paint the quarter-round white to match the baseboard rather than highlight one stain over the other.
Try out the different scenarios to make sure you like the end result.
December 17th, 2008 11:00 pm
I guess I’m in the minority too! I love the stain grade so much, I’m getting ready to do it in my house!! Thanks for all the comments. Oh, I’m in Texas, maybe that accounts for my taste.
December 31st, 2008 2:08 am
I have both the white and matching quarter round for hardwood as it seeems I have different tastes in different rooms. Frankly, I prefer the quarter round to match the solid 3/4 hardwood floors or to be a shade darker. I say it is up to you.
Just like some like a brad nailer for quarter round, I use a stud finder and a finish nailer.
It is your home. Do what you like and what you feel comfortable with and have the time to do.
White quarter round does have an advantage if your other molding is white. It is easier paint the molding above the quarter round without being an expert painter.
February 13th, 2009 1:50 pm
I am struggling to figure out what to do. I have already made a deposit on Brazilian Cherry hardwood. My living room is paneled with dark paneling – probably the color of walnut. The living room merges into a foyer that is a painted sheetrock wall. What do I do in this situation?
Lets take the living room first – what color of quarter round and baseboard should I use there?
Now the adjacent area that is painted sheetrock – what color of quarter round and baseboard should I use?
How about one more question: The living room goes into a kitchen that I plan to tile and a dining room is off of the kitchen. The dining room will be in the same Brazilian Cherry hardwood. This is a painted sheetrock room. What quarter round and baseboard would be good here?
Thanks very much. I have been putting off getting the job done because of this issue.
Mike
February 16th, 2009 10:49 am
[...] recently received this question on our painting vs. staining quarter round article that seemed fit for a whole new article. So here you have it. Mike writes: I am struggling to [...]
March 11th, 2009 8:56 am
This recently came up in conversation with a friend. I chose to go with the stain (shoe mold is the color of my wood floor) and it looks really nice; she says it should be white as are the baseboards. To me, that looks as if the basboard is leaking onto the floor. Thanks for the blog. From Texas.
March 21st, 2009 9:55 am
Actually like like both approaches depending on the room. In the house I am building for my family it will ,match the pine flooring whatever color it may be. Even that will vary from room to room. We like color on the floors and walls. Definitely a personal choice.
April 10th, 2009 10:35 am
I’ve seen the shoe molding painted to match the baseboard as well as stained to match the flooring. They both looked good. I think here it depends on your preference.
Question:
Is there a problem with painting stained trim and molding white? Is it better to keep the trim including baseboards, door and window trim stained? Are there any advantages, aesthetically or otherwise, to having trim that is white as oppposed to trim that is stained?
Thanks for your input.
May 18th, 2009 1:31 am
I usually use a white painted quarter round. However, Once I remeodeled a bathroom and I palced a stained quarter round that matched the stained baseboard that I used from another room. It was great. I still get comliments on it everytime soembody look at it. It brings warmth and class to the room.
May 28th, 2009 11:35 am
I have a similar question that I have been struggling with for several months and so nothing has been done. I tiled my kithen and matched the baseboards (no quarter or half round) to the chair rail and cabinets which are a medium cherry. Now in the living room, hall and area that connects to the kitchen, I have just laid down a natural Amendiom hardwood. My questions is: how do I proceed with the baseboards? The Cherry is much too red for the Amendiom, so I don’t think I want to use that. If I wanted to go with painted white or matching a stain to Amendiom, how do I decide where to cut off the Cherry baseboards and switch over to that? Is that even ever done or should the whole house be the same? Any help and thoughts would be appreciaed.
Sue
June 1st, 2009 11:00 pm
Hi Sue,
This is a very personalized decision, but in your case I would probably paint all the baseboards white. In one of our friends houses they have wood trim throughout and it severely limits which hardwoods can be installed. If you go white, you’ll eliminate the issue. The other option is to pick a matching hardwood, chair rail, and baseboard so that everything matches.
Alternatively, if there is no visual link between the two rooms, maybe keep the wood trim in the kitchen and put the white baseboards in the other room.
That said, I’d prefer white in your situation.
Fred
July 1st, 2009 9:02 pm
I too am in the minority (quickly becoming the majority). I’ve owned 2 “older”, turn of the century” homes here in Dallas…hardwoods throughout. In my last home, my quarter round was painted to match the base moulding. In my current home, i elected to stain the quarter round to match the floor and i do not regret it. In my opinion, a dark stained quarter round against the white base moulding (in my house) adds a more formal look and really dresses up the room.
If i had a combination of tile, carpet, hardwoods, etc. i’d probably paint my mouldings throughout but with hardwoods throughout (and in an older home) i think it is a much better look. just my 2 cents….
October 27th, 2009 5:38 pm
Shoe molding is attached to the baseboard assembly, so it should be the color of of the baseboard. To me it seems illogical to make a piece of molding look like flooring. I started trimming custom houses in Ohio and installed 2,3,4 and even 5 piece baseboard. When I moved to south carolina I was very supprised to see stained shoe on painted baseboard, to me it looks tacky. Floors are supposed to be flat. But that is my two cents….
October 30th, 2009 11:33 pm
I am really struggling with this issue. We are getting hardwood floors in our entry, family room and kitchen. I prefer to match the shoe molding to the white baseboards, but what do we do in the kitchen where we have oak cabinets. The white molding would just stand out. Also we have some white baseboards in between cabinets where our pantry is located. Should we just go ahead and match the molding to the floor? help!!!
October 30th, 2009 11:46 pm
I always match my shoe molding to the baseboard. If your are putting shoe around a cabinet, I would stain the pieces of shoe molding to match the cabinets. Make sure you use the same type of wood as your cabinets (oak. maple, hickory etc.) so you get a professional look. Also I cope my shoe molding and the results are always better than just 45-ing the inside corners.
November 3rd, 2009 9:09 pm
Oh, I’m so glad to find this article. I’ve been pondering on which to use too. I just pulled up carpet and found these beautiful oak hardwoods. A guy who built me a closet in a spare room, said I should stain the shoe molding. Well, I’ve looked around and see alot have theirs painting. Then someone said if I stain it, I should buy the oak shoe molding. Well, I’m wanting to get this done before a bunch of bugs may get in during winter – don’t know if they will, but it is a concern of mine. One thing is 2 rooms are stained the same; had been refinished. Then there’s the spare room that’s a little darker but beautiful, and the middle room is yucky, and darker (maybe nothing had been done to it, but waxed). So, when you stain the shoe molding, it might look funny if it’s not the same stain? I’d hate to buy 2 different stains to do these. But the extra bedroom is a notty pine paneling, so it would have to be stained. Which stain should I buy? I may be leaning more on painting the other rooms to match the trim. I may decide to try to sell the house later, and purchase another one. This is an older house built in 1950. So I wasn’t, at this moment, wanting to spend alot more money on it.
November 3rd, 2009 9:13 pm
Oh, BTW, I’m a Carolina girl, so it doesn’t matter to me which I use, but I may like the paint best too, except in the notty-pine paneled room. Please someone respond to my comments above. Thanks,
November 3rd, 2009 9:15 pm
Oh, I just read a few more responses, prior to my comment. It seems the men are leaning more towards the stain – is there a reason? I haven’t read all comments yet.
November 3rd, 2009 11:01 pm
Hi Wanda,
This is perhaps the most hotly contested article on this blog
Thanks for joining in. When I originally wrote the article i was very heavily leaning towards the stained shoe molding…
Now I’m definitely more on the fence about it… I am starting to see it more the way Dave H. does (match the shoe molding or quarter round to the baseboard). For kitchen cabinets, I think it is appropriate to match the cabinets. For paneling, I would try to find shoe molding that matches the baseboard. I also might paint the paneling….
November 4th, 2009 12:25 am
Does the paneling run all the way to the floor?? If it does I would match the shoe to the paneling. How I look at things is this, I look to what I am nailing to (cabinets, baseboard etc) since I do not nail the shoe to the floor. Also note that paint grade shoe molding is dirt cheap, so changing a room or a whole house is pretty cheap. To make things easy prime and give your shoe 2 coates before you cut and nail it. Then all you have to do is fill nail holes and touch up (the same can be done with shoe you stain: stain, seal, and give 2 coats of finish then cut, nail fill nail holes with matching putty). This should kill a weekend…
November 7th, 2009 1:02 pm
Well, thanks for all the info. I do plan on getting it stained where the room is notty pine paneling (wished there was a man around to pull it down and put up sheetrock, but I won’t be doing that – seems alot of men like this room though). OK, got someone to put it down for me, but he said not to paint the shoe molding until he put it down. I was getting the already primed kind – so that might work for me. Then the room with the notty pine, I’m at a loss – but I will stain it…just don’t look forward to doing it though; it’s getting colder here.
Painting the notty pine: Well, I had a friend do that and we even primed it – she said it started to bleed thru. So I didn’t want to paint this room. The other room I had that was just regular paneling, I did paint and love it so much better!
Thanks for all your help.
December 20th, 2009 10:34 am
Isn’t the original purpose of quarter round to protect the baseboard from getting nicked, scratched, etc? So why would I paint the quarter round white, just so it can be nicked and scratched? Aren’t I just going to end up painting the quarter round year after year?
I’m so struggling with this. I have ceramic tile (yuk) in my kitchen, white baseboards and no quarter round. I know it will look bad to add a natural colored wood quarter round to the mix, but I don’t want to end up painting the quarter round every year.
March 31st, 2010 10:11 pm
Currently I have carpet and stained baseboards as well as stained trim around doors and stained doors. We are having all carpet taken up and hardwood installed. My question is, I love the look of white baseboards, but it is very costly to replace the doors and door trim…my installer insists that it would not look bad if I go ahead with white baseboards and leave the doors and door trim as is. Right now it does match the color of my cabinets and stairway handrails, but I can’t picture the rest of the house trim white without replacing the doors etc. Would greatly appreciate any thoughts!
April 1st, 2010 4:23 pm
In my opinion all your trim should match. I believe this gives a more finished look. If I were in your situation I would buy shoe molding (same wood species as the rest of your trim) and hire a good painter to match the color of the stain. After it is stained sealed and has its coats of poly. all that needs done is to be installed, which you could easily do yourself. Just take your time.
April 6th, 2010 7:24 am
I just did cherry shoe molding in my front entrance way. It matches the floor. It looks great. My white baseboards are 8 inches high. The height of the baseboard my be a consideration when choosing to match the floor or the baseboard in color.
June 2nd, 2010 4:12 pm
I Own a flooring Company in Florida and with all our installs we add in for shoe molding instead of quarter round. I think quarter round looks tacky unless the base board is over 3 inches . shoe molding is also cheaper and saves the home owner money .We always paint shoe mold to match base board . 9 out 0f 10 is white.
June 2nd, 2010 6:17 pm
Further to my Dec 17, 2008 post, I followed through with the stained molding. I used it n the wood floors in the living room, formal dining room, and halls, carried it through the tiled kitchen, breakfast rooms and bath rooms, and finally through to the wood floor den.
The results were fabulous! Friends and my realtor love it! I really appreciate all the valuable comments on this website.
August 27th, 2010 12:42 am
Remodeled my house 5 years ago. No quarter round was mentioned by the subcontractor. We went with white baseboards and a chestnut stain on the original oak floors and caulked and painted the gaps. Thinking of adding quarter round. Why do people use quarter round? You have to caulk both at the bottom.