What color/stain for the baseboards?

Sbeazley
by Sbeazley
I have just finished laying a new maple floor. I purchased the flooring on sale and could only get enough if I bought 'natural' and 'cherry' so I laid them down using a design. I will also be adding new baseboards, unfinished pine. I need ideas as to whether I should paint or stain, and what color. Would appreciate any ideas you may have. I would love to use a light moss or sage green for the walls.
natural in center with a cherry border.
Any ideas for the baseboard color/stain?
Original floor was gouged and marked up.
  5 answers
  • Cornelia Schott Cornelia Schott on Jan 07, 2015
    I have to chime in and say how cute your white dog is with his/her coloring. Your floor is going to look awesome when it is done.
    • Sbeazley Sbeazley on Jan 07, 2015
      @Cornelia Schott Thanks for your comments! Both the 'little' white dog and the floor were a handful...had to keep 'sweeping my bed' every night as she'd steal pieces of wood to chew on..
  • MaryStLouis MaryStLouis on Jan 07, 2015
    I would go with either the darker color in stain or white/cream paint if the rest of your trim will either clash or is already painted. I love the way you trimmed the maple floor with the deeper cherry. Since you're planning to use pine trim, which is notoriously difficult to stain evenly, I suggest that you consider using gel stain. It will help a lot with evenness and depth of color...and it's super easy to use.
    • See 2 previous
    • Gail Salminen Gail Salminen on Jan 09, 2015
      @Sbeazley there is a pretreatment you can get at home depot that enhances the woods ability to accept the stain. Another option would be to paint the same colour as the wall colour. A soft taupe or coffee colour could be nice as could cream - depends on your decor.
  • Sbeazley Sbeazley on Jan 07, 2015
    I've considered white. Most of my furniture is antique, as I refinish them. What I may do is paint a small length of pine and try it up against the flooring to see how it would look. Thanks for your interest!
  • CK CK on Jan 07, 2015
    If your entire room has a cherry border, that's what I'd stain the baseboard. However, do keep in mind that different species of wood (in this case your pine base boards) take stain differently so your color may not look exactly the same as the floor boards. Still, it'll be close enough and having it dark like the border will extend the eye and make the room look wider/larger. :-)
  • Tracy Tracy on Jan 10, 2015
    I would definitely paint the trim. I think adding a third wood would detract from the 2 you have so beautifully married. Three would be a crowd! I have stained pine many times. If you are going to try to match the stain I would definitely go with a gel wipe on stain. They do not penetrate the wood the same as "liquid" stain and you can control how much you wipe off. I too would love to see pictures!
    • Sbeazley Sbeazley on Jan 10, 2015
      @Tracy Thanks Tracy. I have a bundle of the wood so will be doing different treatments to see what I like the best.