Here's Why Home Town's Erin Napier Loves Ceruse Finishes In The Kitchen

The number of available finishes for your kitchen may seem endless, but there are a select few that are both beautiful and impactful. A notable candidate that hasn't received much attention as of late is ceruse, and "Home Town" co-host Erin Napier — whose new season premieres April 23 — has revealed why she loves using it on kitchen cabinetry.

"I wanted a cerused finish, and if you look really closely, you can see in the grain of the wood — there's just a touch of white," she explained as she and her husband Ben Napier led a tour of their kitchen, per HGTV. "So ceruse means, kind of like a limed finish or like whitewashing, but really, really lightly done. I love that because it keeps our kitchen from feeling heavy. I mean, we have solid wood cabinets that go up to the ceiling. I didn't want it to feel oppressive."

If like Erin Napier, you also love the look of ceruse, we have a bit more information on the finish and how to create it.

In order to create a successful ceruse finish, you'll need to choose a wooden material that's part of the ring-porous species. This means the pores of the wood are more prevalent, allowing contrasting colors to be more distinguished. So, your options would include red oak, white oak, and ash, to name a few. Then, you'll need to choose a base color, which is the dominant hue. There are different types of coloring options to choose from, such as water-based wood stains, which can create a cohesive look, and pre-aging options that'll make your wood look older and are a great option for rustic homes.

Next, you'll need to apply a contrasting hue, which will appear in the graining. For example, if the base color is white, you could choose black or dark brown as your contrasting hue to make the graining stand out. There are also many options for this step in cerusing, such as a hard wax oil wood finish.