Better Looking Than Plain: Erin Napier's Gorgeous Cabinet Choice Transforms Any Kitchen

HGTV star Erin Napier is known for her warm, classic design style, which she's used to transform countless homes on her reality show "Home Town." She applies the same design taste to the Napier family home, right down to the cerused wood kitchen cabinets. Napier says this limewashing treatment is a good way to keep tall, solid wood cabinetry from feeling dark and oppressive. 

Ceruse gets its name from the Latin word for white lead (cerussa). Ceruse was a white, lead-based pigment or paste that became a popular cabinet finish during the Art Deco era (1920s and '30s). It uses a contrasting pigment or wax, commonly white, to highlight the natural wood grain. Luckily, today's ceruse treatments don't include lead, and the whitewashing effect comes from diluted paint or white lime wax.

On HGTV, Napier walks viewers through her home and highlights her cerused wood kitchen cabinets, saying, "In a craftsman home from the 1920s, the cabinetry would probably be a little bit darker. But, because this is the 2020 version of 1920, I wanted a ceruse finish. And if you look really closely, you can see in the grain of the wood, there's just a touch of white. So, ceruse means kind of a lime finish. Or, like, whitewashing. But really, really lightly done. And I love that because it keeps our kitchen from feeling heavy, and we have solid wood cabinets that go up to the ceiling. I don't want it to feel oppressive." 

A ceruse treatment showcases the wood grain without damaging it. Ceruse treatments are most effective and striking on ring-porous wood species that have distinct wood patterns, such as oak, ash, elm, and chestnut. The white pigment settles into the unique wood patterns and grooves of these species, highlighting their natural beauty without overwhelming them. 

There are many good reasons to consider a ceruse treatment for your kitchen cabinets. For example, painting open-grain woods like oak makes it hard to get a smooth finish, but many types of wood that can be challenging to paint because of their strong grain pattern are the perfect options for ceruse. Ceruse treatments offer homeowners a way to refresh dated wood styles without replacing them — a ceruse wash can even bring '80s cabinet designs like golden oak into the present.

There are different application options for ceruse treatments depending on the product you use, your wood type, and your end goal. However, in most cases, you will need to strip any existing finish and sand the wood, then wire-brush it to open up the grain. You can then apply your ceruse stain, letting each coat dry before reapplication.