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“The honey oak did not need to be ripped out; we just needed to learn how to design around it,” Aubrie Taylor tells PEOPLE
NEED TO KNOW
- In 2024, Aubrie Taylor decided to keep the honey oak wood in her newly purchased home instead of replacing it
- The decision saved her thousands of dollars while giving the house a warm, timeless feel
- Now, the 39-year-old hopes to inspire others to see the beauty in the homes they already have
When Aubrie Taylor and her husband, Alex, traded suburban life for a quiet countryside property in Illinois at the beginning of 2024, she imagined the move as a fresh start for their growing family.
But as the couple settled into their traditional 1990s colonial home on six wooded acres with a creek winding through the property, one feature immediately stood out for all the wrong reasons.
“The home was absolutely beautiful, but it was dated,” Taylor, 39, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “The honey oak was the biggest eyesore in my ‘millennial’ mind, and I was ready to rip it out and paint over it.”
Like many homeowners, Taylor’s first instinct was to modernize by removing what felt outdated.
But during the chaos of moving, a close friend who had embraced honey oak in her own home encouraged her to pause before making an expensive decision she might later regret. That conversation completely shifted Taylor’s perspective, inspiring her to see the home's original features as something worth building around, instead of tearing out.
Rather than replacing the wood, she focused on changing everything surrounding it to create a more balanced look. Taylor carefully developed a design plan that softened the warm tones while preserving the home's character.
“I started by creating a three-color palette to visually neutralize the orange in the wood,” she explains. “We added architectural interest back into the home with picture frame molding, painted the walls a beautiful warm white, added gold and black accents and purchased warm wood furniture.”
The decision also reflected a larger change in the way Taylor thought about decorating.
After following trends in her previous home, she realized she wanted something that would still feel welcoming years down the road, instead of chasing whatever style happened to be popular at the moment.
“I think our generation was taught that updating a home meant removing all the traditional, dated elements and following the trends,” Taylor says. “I was guilty of doing this in my previous home. But this time it was different.”
Instead of trying to erase the home's history, she leaned into it. Inspired by the warm, timeless interiors she loved growing up, she focused on highlighting the house's existing charm rather than disguising it.
“This house had all the good bones of a traditional home but was just lacking the design elements,” Taylor says. “I am so glad we decided to work with it instead of against it and brought it back to life.”
The transformation proved that preserving original features didn't mean sacrificing style. Beyond creating a look she loved, it also completely changed the atmosphere of the home itself.
“The oak gives our house warmth and character that is difficult to find today. I love that it doesn’t look like every other house and it has its own unique style,” Taylor shares.
Keeping the honey oak also came with an unexpected financial advantage. Instead of spending thousands replacing floors or refinishing woodwork, the couple redirected that budget toward updates that had a much bigger visual impact.
“Replacing or refinishing the wood would have been a huge expense,” Taylor reveals. “The only thing we had to do was remove the carpet runner and give it a deep clean.”
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When Taylor began sharing the transformation online, she expected the honey oak debate to spark criticism. Instead, she found that people connected with something much deeper than decorating trends.
“It has been amazing to see that this topic has brought people together!” Taylor says. “It has tapped into nostalgia. People miss homes that feel warm and lived in, and honey oak reminds a lot of us of our childhood.”
And for homeowners feeling pressured to renovate simply because a feature is considered dated, she believes the answer isn't choosing one extreme or the other.
"Many homeowners feel like they cannot afford to replace everything all at once, and flooring is very costly. I am hoping to inspire people to fall in love with their existing homes and see the potential in honey oak instead of the problem."
She hopes more people will embrace thoughtful design over passing trends.
“You don’t need to keep everything and you don’t need to paint over everything,” Taylor tells PEOPLE. “It is all about balance and not getting stuck in one design trend. It is the art of mixing old and new to create a timeless design.”
Read the original article on People
