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Hello,

We live in an old farmhouse that we are slowly remodeling. Currently the main bathroom, which is on the smaller side and no storage, has oak trim, walls are a tan/beige and the shower curtain is blacks, tans, creams and rugs are black. The vanity is currently oak and also the door is a solid oak door and mix matched cabinets/table to hold towels. I wanted to do a new vanity in Expresso with a white sink and a floor cabinet to match and one that goes above the toilet but my husband said we can't have the oak trim with the expresso. Is this true? I feel the oak trim is somewhat neutral and would leave just enough "light" color to accent the Expresso color. The flooring would already work with tans, expresso, browns and so forth. My husband said it is a decorating Faux Paux to mix oak with Expresso. I am not a decorator so can anyone shed some light?

IMHO, there are no rules - do whatever you like.

You didn't include a photo but, based on your description, have to say that white trim might provide a nice contrast to your espresso vanity. Some people abhor the thought of painting trim and you do have an old farmhouse so don't know how you feel about it.

Sounds like a terrific, contemporary, updated bathroom, BTW - so I'm envisioning it with white trim. You can always leave the oak, complete everything else and live with it for a period of time - then, paint the oak at a later date, if you so desire.

As an aside, do you have another accent color? How about some red towels and accessories? Or another color to flow with your adjacent rooms and/or the remainder of your home?

Good Luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AguaBella,

Thank you for the reply. As far as accent colors, once the furnishings are decided on, I was planning to make that decision at that time. Just trying to decide for sure what to go with before spending the money and then hating it. Will post once we decide and I will also try to get a pic on here to help with suggestions. Thanks!

Any time, deezhd67.

WRT the accent color(s), because you describe this as a "main" bath, I would probably coordinate it with your overall color scheme for the home and/or adjacent rooms to create and/or enhance the home's overall flow.

You're correct - no need to rush out and buy anything at this time but if you happen to see something that's perfect, you might want to pick it up. Sounds like you won't need much, given the bath's small size.

Will look forward to your photos. Take care -

Here a couple pics to give an idea how small of a space and colors so far. As you can see, pretty darn small. After some more discussion and thought, the expresso may make it feel even smaller because of so much dark in a small space so going with oak cabinets and new vanity. Thoughts??

Nice...the pic is upside down. I am not very technically inclined

Now sideways lol

Got dizzy before breakfast checking out your photos, deez, lol. (No worries.)

Hard for me to get a good sense of the bathroom's size from the photos but that's o.k. What I did notice, however, was a high degree of contrast. BTW, good to see the photos b/c I misjudged your description as contemporary.

IMHO, contrast makes spaces feel smaller. You feel constricted or closed in as your eye darts from color to color, e.g. from the oak towel holder to the green wall to the multi-colored floor to the black accessories to the ...

OTOH, if you selected the most predominant color from your floor and painted the walls in that color, your eye would keep moving, giving you a larger sense of space. Doesn't matter if that color's on the darker side, either, IMHO. If that color is the same or flows naturally from the adjacent rooms, all the better.

So, I still don't feel that you're restricted to light oak cabinetry. What color would you select from the floor, if you followed that method? Depending upon what it is, your espresso may still work very well, if that's what you'd prefer.

Good Luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AguaBella,

Hello again

The wall color is actually a tan/beige but does give off a hue of "green", hard to explain. The bathroom is 10x4 so not very large at all. I really like the look of Expresso cabinets but hubby really likes the look of oak so we are sort of at a stand still. As you can see from the pics, we have NO cabinets at all. Just a plastic rolling storage rack ad old table. This bathroom needs help! The wall color is the same throughout the other rooms in the house. My husband really liked the color. So at this point open to ideas and suggestions of all kinds. Thanks!

The colors can be tough to read in photos. Wasn't sure it was green but took a guess -

So, if you selected the predominant color from the multi-colored floor, what would it be? Trust me, the color police will not hunt you down if you paint the bath in a separate and distinct color from the remainder of your home. If the floor worked with/flowed that paint color, the new paint should, too.

In addition, using a distinct paint color can make the bath special. And, eliminating the contrast (between the floor and walls) may both enlarge your space and hasten your decision on the vanities.

So, good luck - it's JMHO.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AguaBella,