Should New Windows Match Exterior and Interior Trims?

Question

My wife and I are replacing the windows in a house we bought a year ago in Nebraska. Due to the volatile climate, we want a window that will last. After much research, we chose the Pella Impervia fiberglass product that only comes in white, tan and brown for interior and exterior colors. Our dilemma is that the house has a fair amount of wood, including the baseboards, current windows, trim around the interior of windows, cabinets, doors etc.

Our question is, from your experience, does a white window look visually appealing with wood trim around the window along with the same stained trim serving as the baseboard? Or is it very common to see this in general? (from Cody, Boys Town, NE)

Answer

Cody, we're glad you did your research! You could have selected the Pella Designer Series windows if extreme climate protectection was not as important a goal as color matching (the Designer series offers a variety of factory-primed pre-finished window colors to help you do the matching). But the Impervia fiberglass product sounds like a good choice.

But we want to share this Window Rule with you and your wife: Windows should match both exterior and interior trims as closely as possible.

The goal in fitting new windows into both the exterior and interior schemes of your home is to pick the window color that's closest to the trim to create an architectural continuity. We called Pella's customer service and, unfortunately, it is NOT possible to have different colors on the exterior and interior sides of an Impervia window, such as a white exterior and a brown interior for the same window. This is a problem as it's customary to have the window color relate to the relevant interior or exterior trim color.

You can't paint the trim of the Impervia window due to its fiberglass composition. If it was a window in the Pella Designer Series, you'd be able to more closely achieve the exterior and interior color matching.

The white, tan, and brown window color options are standard factory products. You could swallow hard and ask what custom windows would cost. Pella or a group like HomePro USA might be able to custom-create windows that more closely match your exterior and interior trim colors.

More expensive homes always have custom windows to preserve architectural integrity, but we are keenly aware that in today's economy, every dollar counts. Sometimes you might have to throw architectural integrity right out the window and go for the insulating window factor. (But we'd be less than honest if we didn't share what's best from a design perspective with you both. Good luck!)