A Coastal Style for a Home with Lots of Orange Tone Wood

I have another email consultation to share today, this one is all about bringing a lighter, more coastal style to a home with lots of orange tone wood.

Will there be some paint involved? Yes. But this home will also be filled with lovely soft furnishings that help telegraph the style they are going for.

I answered some questions too, so read on to see how I tackled this consultation.

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Pics of the newly purchased home with orange tone wood

Here are the pics she sent me. You can see the wood tone rather dominates the space, especially since it is empty and there is nothing else in the room.

A Coastal Style for a Home with Lots of Orange Stained Wood - An eDesign Consultation | carlaaston.com

A Coastal Style for a Home with Lots of Orange Stained Wood - An eDesign Consultation | carlaaston.com

A Coastal Style for a Home with Lots of Orange Stained Wood - An eDesign Consultation | carlaaston.com

Painting The Orange Tone Wood

One of the big questions to start things off was about paint. They were going to remodel the kitchen eventually, but not right now. They were planning to paint the walls, trim and doors a soft white. The main paint question for now was, should the fireplace wall cabinetry and mantel be painted too?

This homeowner also wondered about changing up the fireplace some, to get a new look there.

Here was my response:

First of all, in terms of the bookcase/fireplace wall, I'd definitely paint all that wood. That will lighten things up a lot and since you are already painting the trim and doors, then that woodwork will feel dark and a little overpowering left on that wall.

I'd go for some white marble tile around the fireplace, that's such a good dependable choice these days for fireplace surrounds, you can't go wrong. It would work with whatever you finally do in the kitchen.

You can go with a white, the color you are painting the trim (BM White Dove), or go with a soft gray. I would think about what you are wanting to eventually do in your kitchen.

For example, if you want a white kitchen, then you can go with the white cabinets here. If you want a soft gray, then do soft gray on this wall on the cabinets and mantel.

For a more beachy vibe, you could do a warm neutral grasscloth in the back of the bookcases. I like the warmth of that with white or gray and it just helps cabinets feel a little more customized.

I have some jobs where we left the mantels, painted them, and just redid the tile surrounds. This proves how they can really look different, once lightened up. Check out my blogpost and scroll down to fireplace #4. They even used porcelain tile that looked like marble, so it was pretty cost effective.

I like to use real marble if possible, as there isn't usually much material involved anyway. It is really more about the labor cost. Here's the post.

Another big reason for painting is that your floor is such a strong statement. I actually like it, it's really a beautiful material and I like the variation it has. The other wood in the room, the cabinetry, doesn't seem to be at the same quality level there. They are rather flat looking and slightly darker overall.

I'd rather see your floor kind of stand alone and be the star here.

A Coastal Style for a Home with Lots of Orange Stained Wood - An eDesign Consultation | carlaaston.com

Furniture, Furniture Placement and Lighting

She also asked about furniture for this space and I did a quick floor plan sketch, below.

This room was not going to be used for tv viewing, but needed some comfortable seating that would be good for entertaining and hanging out.

Furniture plan sketch for eDesign Consultation - carlaaston.com

My response:

I've done a furniture layout with a sofa/chair arrangement and a storyboard of all the elements put together, attached.

I like this modern style in either a sofa or sectional in a light, textural fabric. Go with a performance fabric to get durability and stain resistance.

I love this barrel style swivel chair and it would work well with the boxy look of the sofa. I would do it in a blue fabric, much like it is pictured here and position two of them over on the side by the stair railing.

A small table between the two chairs is nice. I like the light color and the modern style.

I have an ottoman selected instead of a coffee table. I like the idea of blue patterned fabric to sort of cement the coastal look and give you a blue, sand and white color scheme.

I like this chair beside the fireplace, in front of the bookcase. It will present a comfortable feel in the room and with the blue fabric, makes a nice accent.

This small table beside it has a nice coastal vibe and the simple design works well beside the chair.

A neutral wool patterned rug would be a nice base for a coastal style look. You could also do a jute rug to save money.

Here's an end table option and I like a blue ceramic lamp to bring in some color.

Pillows in blue on a neutral sofa are nice. The “Awash” pattern mixes nicely with the more trad floral print.

I have used this ceiling fan before and it looks great. You can get it with a light in the center if you need to. I like the koa wood as possibly being a similar color to your floor. I want to not ignore that in the room, but I don't want to put too much of it back in either. An accent of that color up on the ceiling, might just be all you need.

New pendants over the bar in a white paper shade to introduce lighter elements will work nicely with the new kitchen remodel.

How does this coastal look tie with the orange wood tone floor?

With the dominant wood floor, I think the lighter furnishings will soften the space and the paint will minimize the orange tone. The richness and variation that is in that flooring will be appreciated even more, with less of that color overall in the room, having only the best of those orange tone finishes remain.

And here’s the room, all put together.

A Coastal Style for a Home with Lots of Orange Tone Wood - An eDesign Consultation | carlaaston.com

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