Sometimes life comes around in ways you didn’t expect. Maybe I imaged I would be the doting mom to a small 4-pack of little girls with french-braided hair, but what I got was a duo of boys that wrestle and ride dirt bikes. (Which, it turns out, is pretty awesome but I didn’t see it coming.)

Maybe you imagined you would be making green smoothies with a $700 blender in a gleaming white farmhouse kitchen with marble counters, but here you are living the dream making the ‘easiest weeknight casserole’ recipe you could find on Pinterest in an oak kitchen you are trying to make the best of. (Which, as it also turns out, can be full of style and character and be pretty awesome in it’s own ways as well.)

So here we are again, with me singing from the rooftops (sorry it’s bad, but at least I have heart): your oak-filled house can be stylish! It really can.

I’m happy today to share some design boards I created, showing three ways to style an oak kitchen that will make it look beautiful. By styling what you have in new ways, you can elevate and transform the room without the renovation.

These boards include three very unique modern updates for oak kitchens. They take a good look at some simple styling: some accessories, some new details in the lighting and faucet, maybe some new art and, most importantly, a fresh coat of paint. My hope is that they inspire you to look at your own oak kitchen in a new way - you absolutely can update it without painting the cabinets.