I'll give you my Golden Oak spiel. :) When you look at oak the thing that stands out no matter which kind of oak it is, brown, orange or golden, there is the grain. Heavy, dramatic grain.

Often the color focus is on the color of the oak, brown, orange or golden. One option is to shift focus to the grain. If you can get a wall color to harmonize with the lesser real estate of the oak which is the grain, it's likely going to harmonize with the main stain color.

It's a different approach that opens up new color thoughts and considerations about oak trim and cabinets. Often folks who have oak, feel like they are stuck with a narrow band of wall color choices because they exclusively look at the bigger part of the oak which is the stain color and not so much the smaller portion, the darker grained areas.

There's a color from Ellen Kennon called Powdered Pebbles. It is a taupe color. Now, a standard color belief is that you can not put a taupe with an oak. Powdered Pebbles was born out of flipping the focus to the lesser real estate of oak which is the grain. Powdered P. *came from* the colors in oak graining.

As always, nothing in color world is one size fits all, but Powdered Pebbles' provenance (as they say) is directly related to an oak experience and it is an option to consider for similar oak situations. It might be worth grabbing a large chip from Ellen to see what you think.

A *traditional* color option for oak to snag from Ben Moore might be Powell Buff HC-35.

Here is a link that might be useful: Powdered Pebbles

My favorite golden neutral is SW Ivoire. Another possibility - SW August Moon. Is there a chance to you can get a couple $5 sample jars of a couple of colors you like and paint a foamboard? That might help you visualize.

It might be helpful for you to take a sample of the trim (do you have a scrap?) to either SW or BM and ask for advice there? They both have color consultants on site to help you (call ahead to make sure the consultant will be there to help).

Eight days?!!! It took me eight weeks before I finally calmed down enough to pick colors with any confidence. Then it came down to splitting hairs. :)

Funcolors brings up a concept I'd never even thought of, surrounded by lots of grainy oak in my house. All along it was right in front of my nose!

I'll repeat the old mantra of watch out for too much yellow which, for me, doesn't look good at all next to the gold/orange of oak.