We are having the interior of our home totally updated. Moving from the 1980/1990s and honey oak cabinets, doors and trim and the reds/golds. I want lighter and fresher. I’ve always gravitated toward warmer colors however when I see homes done with fresher palettes I love those too. My style leans toward traditional but love a more modern feel and like the look of mixing things up.

What I’m leaning toward in the kitchen is white/off-white cabinets painted the same color as what we’ll use for the trim throughout the house, soapstone on the perimeter counters (more black but with a deep greenish in it with light whitish veining) and white carrara on the island and then also for the bathroom countertops to utilize the slab and thus cost savings. We are installing solid hardwood flooring and looking at a medium stain brown possibly Provincial or Walnut or English chestnut (not sure if this might have too much red though). The majority of our upholstered furniture will be replaced. We have a mahogany dining room table and sideboard and a walnut grand piano. I have a number of pictures/accents that are rich and warm in color that I’d love to use with the pretty warm gold frames and muted rich colors. We have ceiling fans that are in a med/dark wood.

One thought is to bring in some warm brass into the kitchen (knobs and pulls and light fixture) with the marble and soapstone and bring in some warmth I desire. Do I need to bring in some black? We are also redoing our staircase with wood steps/white risers and will do white spindles same as trim color and then handrail we could either stain same color as the floors or paint in say a black. I know carrara is a cool tone so will that limit the other things in other rooms? Changing the doors and trim to white vs stained is going to make a big change to freshen up things and I want to go neutral on the walls but will have the warmth of the wood floors.

So how do I marry the richness and warmth I love while attaining fresher and lighter especially with having the white carrara on the kitchen island and bathroom counters and make it tie together with some of my existing things so that I have that collected over time look with a mix of new and old. Or do I scrap the white carrara which I love and look for something else that is a warmer white if that would make things flow better?