15+ Paint Colors That Go With Honey Oak Trim
If you want to modernize your home but need to maneuver around the stretch of honey oak trim and woodwork, a few applications of the proper shade of paint may instantly transform your area. The most important thing to remember about honey oak is that it has a distinct color: orange or a yellow-toned orange. So, what colors would be a good match for honey oak?
When following color theory guidelines, honey oak trim is best paired with lighter shades of beiges, blues, greys, and cooler whites. These colors help accentuate the warmer honey oak tones. To cool the orange and red tones, the best paint colors to use include darker tones of blues and greys, light mint colors, and deep peach tints.
While the honey oak in your home can seem like a nuisance, it’s rather easy to work with. Therefore, we’ve constructed this guide to show you some colors, explain color theory, and help you choose how to style your colors around your honey oak.
Is Honey Oak Outdated?
Honey Oak is not and will most likely never come back in style. It was used in virtually every house from the 80s and 90s and probably won’t be used nearly as much anymore.
However, just because you are stuck with the honey oak woodwork (unless you want to pay in some cases tens of thousands of dollars) does not mean you are limited. There are plenty of things you can do to work with your orange-yellow woodwork, such as painting your walls.
Before you begin slabbing paint everywhere, it’s essential that you have a basic concept of color theory. This will help you choose the right paint colors.
Understanding Color Theory
Any existing component in a home can either be minimized (neutralized and concealed) or elevated (utilized as a central focus). With its distinctive orange color and prominent grain, honey oak needs to be either scaled back or incorporated, with a color that complements it.
To do this with paint, either build a harmonic color palette using colors comparable to the prevailing undertone (orange) or construct a contrasting palette using complementary or opposite colors.
Whichever color palette you choose, paying attention to the undertones in your wood can help you identify which paint colors would work best.
Should You Accentuate the Orange Tones in Honey Oak?
Whether you want to emphasize or hide the orange in your honey oak trim is primarily a matter of personal taste. Some individuals choose orange because of the warm earth tones it provides, and others prefer more neutral calm tones.
Do you prefer the warmer, cozy tones? Or when the sun shines through your window, illuminating the undertones of your wood? If so, play up the orange in your honey oak trim.
Would you want a more neutral atmosphere in your home? Perhaps you’d want additional alternatives in terms of furnishings and design. In that case, you’ll want to conceal the orange undertones.
Video: Sherwin Williams Paint Colors To Use With Honey Oak Trim
Paint Colors That Go With Honey Oak Trim
As we just mentioned, the colors you choose with your honey oak trim will depend on whether you want to accentuate or neutralize the honey oak undertones.
Therefore, we categorized the paint colors so that you can choose the one best for your home. As long as you know what you want to do with the honey oak, you can browse through the paint colors with that end goal in mind. It makes the process much easier.
1. Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan (HC-81)
Around five years ago, Manchester Tan (HC-81) was one of the most popular neutral paint colors. It appears to have fallen out of the race in favor of more modern grays and greiges. However, it is still a lovely warm beige that pairs well with orange or yellow-toned woods.
2. Benjamin Moore Pale Oak (OC-20)
Pale Oak (OC-20) is a beautiful soft taupe with a faint purple undertone. Because of the undertone, it pairs well with honey oak cabinets that are more orange-toned.
It not only blends in with them because of its warm beige color, but the purple also serves to tone down the orange in the oak cabinets, trim, and flooring.
3. Sherwin Williams Repose Gray (SW-7015)
Gray isn’t the first color that comes to mind when it comes to honey oak cabinetry or trim, simply because it might look ashy and lifeless.
However, if you’re keen on painting your walls gray, you’ll need to go with a warm gray like SW Repose Gray (SW-7015). It’s a fantastic color that works with everything.
If you want a similar tone but a little lighter, try lightening it by 50%. Consider SW Mindful Gray, the color card’s next darker color, if you want more saturation.
4. Benjamin Moore White Dove (OC-17)
White Dove (OC-17) is a warm, almost greige white that pairs well with orange-toned wood and lends warmth to walls. It will appear white in bright natural light, but slightly warmer, greige undertones will emerge in darker areas. This white goes well with oak trim. Its warmth will be amplified when paired with a brilliant white border.
5. Sherwin Williams Debonair (SW-9139)
Debonair (SW-9139) will amplify the warmth. The darker blue-greens tend to restore the wood’s vivid, earthy tones. It also allows the orange and yellowish hues to shine through without becoming too overbearing. So while it amplifies the warmth, it acts to tone the orange down just a touch.
7. Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray (SW-7016)
Mindful Gray (SW-7016) is excellent if you’re trying to bring out the lighter beige and brown tones of your honey oak. While highlighting the other colors, it doesn’t necessarily dull down the orange hues. So, this is a perfect color if you’re looking for balance.
9. Sherwin Williams Mineral Deposit (SW-7652)
If you want a color that will make your honey oak stand out, Mineral Deposit (SW-7652) is the way to go. What’s magic about this shade is while it highlights the honey oak, it won’t make it stand out like a sore thumb. It brings out the darker orange tones to make the orange less overwhelming but also visible.
10. Benjamin Moore Gettysburg Gray (HC-107)
Gettysburg Gray (HC-107) will help to highlight the darker orange shades of your honey oak, as well as the lighter browns. This is great if you don’t want the brighter oranges standing out. It will make your trim look like it’s a cooler shade of orange.
11. Sherwin Williams Chamomile (SW-6399)
The SW Chamomile (SW-6399) is perfect if you want the original honey oak to stand out with all of its glory. Remember that not all honey oak is made the same, so perhaps this color wouldn’t be a good idea if you have an especially orange tint to it. However, this can turn out great if you use neutral furniture coloring to tone down the room.
12. Sherwin Williams Choice Cream (SW-6357)
If you’re a big fan of the orange and you’re into that sort of ’70s retro vibe, then Choice Cream (SW-6357) would be the perfect fit for you. It plays down the browns of the wood while bringing out the orange and yellows.
Throw in some green floral furniture, and it will transport you straight back to 1971, except with a bit of a modern edge. But this color is the perfect base to control just how retro you want to go.
Paint Colors To Contrast Honey Oak Trim
Use the color on the opposite side of the color wheel if neutrals aren’t your thing and you want to tone down some of the orange-yellow tones in your honey oak or maple woodwork.
Colors that are opposite orange or yellow on the color wheel might be used to soften the overall look of your cabinets, trim, or floors. Particularly in kitchens with a lot of oranges in the cabinets, shades of blue-green paint go well with the honey oak.
1. Benjamin Moore Pleasant Valley (696)
BM Pleasant Valley (696) is a cool blue with a warm green undertone. It’s a gorgeous transitional color that looks great with warm wood tones. While no paint color will ever make your woodwork appear stain-free, it will give it a softer, more balanced look.
2. Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray (SW-6205)
Despite its name, Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray (SW 6205) is a light blue-green paint hue with a gray undertone. It’s a great paint color for adding a coastal feel to any room.
This color looks great with honey oak and other wood tones (even dark mahogany!) as well as crisp white trim. It looks great in the kitchen, but it would also look great in a bedroom or bathroom.
3. Benjamin Moore Salamander (2050-10)
Salamander is a paint color by Benjamin Moore (2050-10). This isn’t a hue anyone generally gravitates toward, but it can also add a lot of character to a room and do wonders for honey oak trim.
Salamander looks great in any space, whether it’s the kitchen, the bedroom, or the office. It’s a dark, ominous green that makes honey oak look simply beautiful. It’s not only fantastic on the walls, but it’s also a lovely cabinet color if you wish to paint your oak cabinets!
4. Sherwin Williams Sea Salt (SW-6204)
The Sea Salt (SW-6204) will mainly tone down the orange. This will allow the browns to mix, creating a beautiful finished look. This helps to bring the browns out more than the orange so that you can cause the darker, cooler tones of your honey oak trim to stand out.
5. Benjamin Moore Silvery Blue (1647)
On the other hand, Silvery Blue has a deeper blue tone to it. The silver tone is what helps to cool the area down a touch. This reduces the orange in your trim without completely erasing the warmth.
If the warmth is still too much for you, you can place furniture in the room that cools down the honey oak tones. This will help offset the tones and create a more even feel.
6. Benjamin Moore Dune White (968)
If you want to completely wipe out the orange or yellows in your honey oak trim, then BM Dune white (968) would be the perfect color for you. It dulls down the wood as well, so if you want to add any sort of warmth to your room, you can do so by getting creative with your furniture choices.
7. Sherwin Williams Irish Cream (SW-7537)
At first glance, it seems like SW Irish Cream (SW-7537) would almost surely bring out the orange tints, right? Actually, it does the opposite. Adding this color to your walls will actually pull out any browns and hidden grays in your trim, which automatically fades out the orange without omitting the warmth.
What Color of Wall Paint Goes with Honey Oak Floors?
Choosing a particular color of wall paint when you have a whole floor made out of honey oak wood can be overwhelming since it covers more than the trim. So you will have to be careful with reds, and yellow in particular, as these can create too much warmth with the wood.
If you want the honey oak to stand out, then the best choice for your wall colors would be a shade of white that includes a yellow, pink or red tint. This helps to highlight the honey oak, but the wall color is cool enough to where the warmth is not overwhelming.
On the other hand, if you want to dampen the warm tones of your flooring down, you can choose between the green and blue shades. You can use a neutral color as an accent to help even out the tones throughout the room. This creates a nice mixture of cool tones and warm tones.
Paint Colors That Go With Honey Oak Cabinets
Sometimes homes come with honey oak cabinets, which can be overwhelming if you already have honey oak flooring or trim. The best color choice of wall paint would be blues and greens. There is just enough space on the walls to help tone down the warmth of your cabinets and flooring.
However, you do always have the choice of painting your honey oak cabinets. You will need to make sure your cupboards are nice and clean first.
Then, work on priming them well so that the tones don’t come through the paint. You’ll want to apply at least two coats of paint if you choose to paint the cupboards.
What Type of Paint is Best to Paint Honey Oak Cabinets?
Not only is the color of paint important to consider, but so is the type of paint. The best paint you can use to paint over your honey oak cabinets, or any cabinet, is high-quality latex paint. They make latex paints that are specifically formulated for use on kitchen cabinets.
The kitchen cabinet latex paint is typically 100% acrylic. Acrylic latex paint seems more durable and easier to work with, especially when painting something like cabinets. Oil-based paints have a habit of streaking, and enamel-based colors are not nearly as durable.
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