Hello and Happy Thanksgiving to You!
Oak cabinets. How many of us have oak cabinets and for whatever reason are stuck with them? It’s a common dilemma where you want to update your kitchen but can’t afford to change the cabinets. Some of you are brave enough to paint them….yes that really does work if you do it right. But most of the time we have to surrender the fact that the oak cabinets have to stay for now. So how do you update around them? Here’s a few quick tips…
1) Change out the pulls and knobs. As you can see in this kitchen the gold polished knobs were swapped out with oil-rubber bronze. Polished nickel works too or you can get really creative and do glass knobs.
2) Blend in a contemporary wall color next to the cabinet. It this kitchen a contemporary gray is used. Because the gray is not a high contrast with the cabinets the cabinets blend into the background. Avoid using a high contrast paint color or the oak will become more pronounced.
3) Add a texture focal wall.The wood planking on the adjacent wall draws the eye from the oak and adds texture and interest.
4) Add large art work. The large clock on the other wall creates a focal point and captures the eye away from the cabinets.
5) Start adding other color wood where you can. In this home the white ship lap wall is added on one wall and really makes the kitchen feel cozy and up-to-date. Today you can blend all kinds of wood tones together and you don’t have to have everything match perfectly anymore.
So friend, as long as we are stuck with the oak cupboards, let’s make the best of them…clean them well, spruce them up and then blend them in!
Thanks for reading and happy decorating!
Betsy Lavin
