Working With Oak Finishes
Several years ago, I discovered an article on Pinterest that really helped me solidify my thoughts when directing clients on making selections based around an oak finish. This could be anything from oak cabinets, trim, doors or flooring (or really any orange, yellow or red undertone wood finish). At this time I was working as a salesperson/designer for The Home Store in Parsons, KS. The Home Store had a cabinet shop, a granite/quartz fabricating shop, and sold flooring. I would often suggest paint colors as well or cabinet hardware with my customers there.
Several of my customers that would walk in the door had golden oak cabinets they had planned to keep (and not paint), but wanted to upgrade their laminate countertops to granite or quartz. I knew that my go-to countertop with oak cabinets was always black pearl (or any darker color). When you would hold up an oak door to a darker, richer granite sample, it would always make that oak really pop! There were also some lighter colors of counter selections that looked pretty with it, but they always needed to have a warm, rich undertone to truly do the wood justice! If you just tried to put a more on-trend gray top with it, it did absolutely nothing for the oak. It just looked like you never gave any thought to what would look best with oak, and instead went with a color that was popular at the time. A lot of times the pieces we are working around in a space are overlooked, or just thought to be fine with anything because they are just “neutral” anyway.
A before and after of a kitchen that we painted, installed oak floors to pop, and left the trim and interior doors oak. The soft white drapes help soften the look of the oak and the wooden blinds.
So I knew what I liked with the oak tones, I just had a hard time putting it all into words for my customers to understand and envision. In the article I mentioned, the author explains the history and status oak once had (it is true!) It was an upgrade, and as a very strong wood with a gorgeous grain, it’s the makeup of several historical homes with big, chunky & magnificent woodwork we hardly see done today!
Where we went wrong with using oak finishes was in the 80’s & 90’s. A time when literally everything was oak with the same exact stain! The cabinet, the interior doors, the trim, the floors… all sort of ran together. Once you have created this big oak mess, you cannot see each detail of your home for its own thing or notice the beauty of each of them. The author of the Pinterest article suggested just breaking up the oak in your home! Because let’s be honest; no one has time to paint ALL that oak! And labor to have it done for you can certainly be pricey. Or, even just doing little changes to it can make it more manageable to enjoy until you can do that big remodel!
A couple of items I like to start with: let’s say you have an all-oak staircase banister. Just paint the spindles to break it up! You can always go with the safe white! But a black or dark charcoal color could be beautiful, or even a deep charcoal/almost black blueish or greenish color could also be quite pretty! Then you can do the same thing to your oak fireplace surround! Maybe the entire room has oak trim and oak mantle/surround; well, just paint that mantle and surround! You will be so surprised how much more updated it will look! And honestly those rich colors accenting the oak may ACTUALLY make you like it a little!
A proposed project of painting this clients staircase spindles the same color as the bathroom vanity.
Of course, another big change would be to paint your cabinets! Here usually I would go with a lighter color (not always though!) If you have good natural light and can handle a darker color, do it! Do the black. This is usually a heavier price tag because of the labor or it can be a daunting task to take on as a DIY project. You can always even start just by painting the island.
A lot of time in these 80’s & 90’s homes, the interior doors are the inexpensive, hollow-core, flat slab doors. One simple update would be to purchase white Masonite slab doors (you could go solid for sound, or even a solid pine or poplar door), and paint it a nice shade of white (creamy is one of my favorites to use with oak tones). Then change out your doors with painted doors, with your oak base and casing around them. Again, you’ll be surprised how much of a change it will make!
Next week I will go into more of the tips I learned from this article and how to select paint colors to go with rooms that have oak tones!
-Sara Fink