• When you are building or renovating a home, the trim is an important consideration. Wood trim decorating ideas changed with the architectural styles. The exterior trim of the house is important because it is one of the first details seen on your house. When you choose the wood trim, it should tie into the overall architectural style of your house.
  
  

Colonial Exterior Trim

• The colonial style of architecture, which includes the early Spanish, English, French as well as Georgian, is one of the plainest of styles. The architecture is marked by symmetry. The Georgian style, for example, is influenced by Renaissance architecture. When considering wood trim decorating ideas for colonial style houses, think understated and symmetrical.
  
  

Romantic and Early National Exterior Trim

• The architectural styles included in this era includes Adam and Federal, Greek and Gothic Revival and Italianate or Italian Villa styles. The wood trim for this era is more elaborate. For the Federal and Adam style of trim, you will see fanlights over the doors, Greek-influenced details and symmetry. On the other end of the spectrum, the Italianate or Italian Villa style has trim that includes eaves with decorative brackets beneath them, a combination of straight and curved windows and pillars.
  
  

Early Victorian Exterior Trim

• The architectural styles for this era included the Second Empire, Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne and Stick, as well as Folk. This trim is more elaborate than the preceding era. Wood trim decorating ideas included brackets that are decorative, cornices that are molded and details over the windows and doors. By the Queen Anne and Stick era, wood trim decorating ideas include sticks that go on the house itself, either diagonally or straight up and down. By the Folk style of the Victorian era, the trim decorating ideas are more subdued, while still more elaborate than the colonial style. According to Tom Paradis, Ph.D., at Northern Arizona University, the trim style became more subdued, and the "working-class or middle-class versions of Queen Anne" could be prefabricated and shipped cross country to order.