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A Little Bit of Sanity and A Lot of Chaos: Oak. Glorious Oak.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Oak. Glorious Oak.

I feel a little weird about this. I am not an interior designer. I don't even know if what I have "goes". But, I just pick what I like and if it matches, it matches. If it can withstand the terror of my boys, then it stays.

I would love to have all white furniture and trim and white, white, white. And a nice grand entry with a round table and a ginormous bouquet of flowers that are flown in fresh daily and fresh fish every day and fresh veggies that Queenplinker sends me 'cause she has award worthy veggies, and cake that she decorates....and a kitchen just like Kat's... oh, I could go on and on about what I would love to have if I won the lottery. Some day we'll play..."What would you do if you won the lottery?" Tom and I play that game a lot. But then we remind ourselves that we actually have to play the lottery to win!

Now, a reader named Kari (hope that it's okay that I used your name!) emailed and made a special request for me to show some pictures of my house in all it's oak glory. It's hard to find/take pictures that focus on the trim! So, I'm going to show you a few things... I am so not an interior designer, so I feel a little weird about this, but here goes. I scrounged up some pictures. Remember, I'm not a designer. I don't even play one on this blog. Have I mentioned I'm not an interior designer and that I feel weird about this. Let it out - show them what you've got....you can do it!

I mix my wood tones. Okay, I said it. The reality is, I don't want to paint all the trim in the house. Plus, as Tom so kindly pointed out, I'm not very neat about my painting. I did a good job on the stairs, but painting walls and trim, eh. Remember the boys floor? Not neat at all. And once I dumped an entire gallon of mustard yellow paint in our guest room of our first house. That time I had plastic down. And we just don't want to spend the money to have someone come and do it. Not a priority. So we live with the oak. And I'm...embracing it.

I stained the stairs dark brown. Planning that we will eventually put dark stained floors down in the carpeted rooms. But stick with the oak. I like the mixture of the two tones. Dark and honey. Ooohh, dark chocolate honey truffle....hmmm....I may have to try that....

We're trying to be consistent so things flow. I guess. I really don't know. I can't really paint the trim in just one room, because things are so open it has to stay pretty consistent from room to room. But, did anyone see that bathroom where they painted the trim, moulding and beadboard black? It was so freaking cool. Someone remind me who did that...please.... So, the oak stays, the stair color will be in the front room (the room with no meaning) and the stair color will also be in this room on the floor and on the mantel:
 
 The trim on the windows will stay the same, but we are building a ginormous box to go around that mantel and it will be the same color as the stairs (more about why I have to build a new mantel to go over the existing one later). And the floor will match the mantel, but the oak trim will stay....Have I mentioned that? The oak trim will stay. I'm really just trying to convince myself of this fact and be okay with it. (See my "t" pillow - it isn't even rightside up!)

The kitchen cabinet color is the laundry room cabinet color and the boys' bathroom cabinet color. But, there's that oak trim again!



  

The color of the peninsula (Like that? I don't know what else to call it!) and the island are the same black as the master bathroom cabinets. See that trim around the window? Not changing it.


(Funny, we don't have those stools anymore! I kept getting annoyed that the boys twirled on them and would bang the back of the chair on the counter...it drove me absolutely batty. )

 
But the trim in the bathroom is still oak. I think it makes the cabinet look more like furniture. 
Can you see my theory. I'm not mixing lots of different wood tones. Just a few. 


This mirror, which I adore, is the same color as all of the trim around the house. The table matches the dark wood, the white on the legs and the lamps (which by the way were one of the greatest GW finds EVER. used to be hideous) match the cabinets. This is in the family room. Across from this is the fireplace. 

Here are the stairs again, 'cause I love them. To make the railings coordinate with the stairs and pull it together (See how I sound all fancy and interior designerish? (I know it's not a word. Don't care.)) I am going to paint the runners up each side of the steps. I really think it will contribute to the continuity of the whole thing. Again, that's what I keep telling myself....

I say, pick what you love. It's your house. Who cares what other people think. (Umm...not going to lie, I do. Just a tiny bit.) Now. Some people, not naming names...are concerned with resale. And that is completely understandable. But I decided that if someone doesn't love the house the way it is they will change it on their own or they won't buy it. Why is it that we can't just live in our house and do what we want to it without constantly having to worry about what the next owners are going to want?

There's a little tour of our house. I'll try and get some pictures of the upstairs. My favorite room is actually the guest bedroom. Is that weird?

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7 Comments:

Blogger Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

Oh you made me laugh! What am I in the middle of doing? Painting my trim, yes, yes I am. I have lived here for less than a year and I tried to live with it, I did. Its wimpy pine that I'd rather rip out and replace with something beefier. But other things are higher on the list. It's around each door, doorway and the doors are the oh so 80's flat panel variety. Some need to be replaced do to holes in them but I refuse to buy a NEW flat panel. So, for now they stay. With the white trim. I need to do something with the mantel. It looks like yours only I have a faded oval right in the middle from where the other owners had a brass plate with the last name on it!And trim down the sides! I may try to sand and re stain it. Can't wait to see what you do with yours.(if I could get a blog going I'd show you) I think I'm subconsciously trying to make it look like my old house since I miss it so much. My son mentioned this and then hugged me. Teenagers can get you sometimes :)I'll stop rambling now...

March 11, 2010 at 7:22 AM  
Blogger molly susan strong said...

Here, here...if you do what YOU like, you will be happy. I think a good design starts in YOUR heart. If you love it, it shows. I so do love your stairs.

March 11, 2010 at 7:37 AM  
Blogger Kelsey said...

I know what you mean about the oak trim. It'd be a huge job to paint it all. We have oak trim in our house too....ALL oak trim. I'd love to get my hands on it with a paint brush but since were renting...thats not gonna happen. Your kitchen island is so gorg! I want it! I wish I had room in my kitchen for an island!

March 11, 2010 at 11:15 AM  
Blogger Sabrina said...

So glad you are embracing your oak, as I have the same issue in our house. We actually LOVE white trim but there is just way too much oak to start the process of changing it all to white...well at least in this gal's lifetime.

So embrace the oak. Love the oak. Live with and be one with the oak...ok that was a little much. Basically, I hope you share more tips and tricks to making a typical suburban home look less oak-a-lishous. ;)

March 11, 2010 at 5:26 PM  
Blogger Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures said...

Funny you should write about trim. I follow your blog daily. My house is from the 70s. Someone painted my trim for me in most of the rooms a cream color. It is not white but it is not oak. My kitchen, gameroom and den are still oak. My kitchen will stay...I did a post about my kitchen. I didn't want to change my oak cabinets so I worked with them instead. My breakfast area in the kitchen has oak paneling part way up the wall. I like it. My gameroom does too. My family room is a different story. I have lived here for 6 years. I painted the paneling in the den about a year after we moved in. I thought I could live with the oak trim and I have, but it has been really getting to me lately. It is suppose to be my spring break project. I bought the deglosser so now I am committed. Thanks for posting about oak trim. It makes me like my kitchen and gameroom trim even more.

March 11, 2010 at 7:25 PM  
Blogger Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures said...

Forgot to say someone painted the trim for me before I ever bought the house.

March 11, 2010 at 7:27 PM  
Blogger Sara @ Russet Street Reno said...

Kirsty, I think that painting the runners going up the steps would definitely finish the stairway project. I think it's fine to mix wood tones, as our dark espresso stairs meet up with our cedar stain in the downstairs area. Who says it all has to match? It looks great!

March 18, 2010 at 11:45 AM  

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