I love your color paint. I really do. It looks like a paint color called Sangria by Benjamin Moore. A favorite of mine But... Your space is crying out for more lighting and someting to lift it from the heaviness of the cabinetry. You can transform this space with a new paint color. You are blessed with a light counter and this means you can do anything you want. Your kitchen What is your favorite color? What colors make you happy? Not sure, look in your closet? What color do you see lots of? What makes your heart smile when you put it on? Sunshine colors like this are always light. This can warm the room but not turn it to fire. PaleDaffodil by Benjamin Moore a super soft yellow that is creamy when it goes up and if you don't have a lot of undercab lighting can brighten the space. Sassy Blue Sherwin Williams is a soft blue that gives off lightness but will make your cabinets really rock. In a gloss finish this can bounce light around the room to reflect. Cooking Apple by Farrow and Ball paints. This is a great color with dark woods. Here is an example of a medium paint with white trim. Lenox Tan BM with white trim makes the dark cabinet in the room really stand out and give the space a lighter feel. Not oppressive. From a Gardenwebber. Yes, this kitchen has large windows which bring in the light, but notice the painted ceiling and the bright choice of color with dark cabinets. It helps to give this space a freshness. And this person kept a little red around the windows as clearly they love red. Don't rule out red accents for your space like your pretty picture on the backsplash. Use that as your guide. Lastly paint the ceiling if you can. White or one shade lighter than the wall paint. It really is the 5th wall in a room . Some other colors that I would love to put on your wall.... Pear Green by Benjamin Moore Chiffon Blue by Benjamin Moore. This is a great color with chocolate cabinets.

My mother is one of those people who loves to give gifts, but unfortunately, has no sense of what the other person likes. She orders junk out cheap catalogs, re-gifts (for instance, a make-up case where an eyeshadow or two was used), or wraps up prizes she won at bridge tournaments (keychains or BBQ tools marked "Delta Dealin' Regionals"). She is well-to-do, (maybe because she doesn't spend much on presents? ha) so she's not giving inexpensive items out of necessity. She just doesn't get it. Christmas is tricky--but my family chuckles. (My husband got a Humane Society calendar this year, the one they send for free if you've donated. He also received a plastic Thomas Kincaid corkboard/keyholder thing in a busted box that he immediately took to a "Dirty Santa" party.) But then I am left with boxes saying "As Seen on TV!," useless kitchen gadgets, hideous plastic decorative items and heavy sense of guilt for wanting to get rid of it all. "Gosh, it may not be much, but she chose it with love and wrapped it with me in mind. I can't just put it in a yard sale." I was wringing my hands over my quandary, as my closets slowly filled with unwanted items ("but my MOTHER gave me this!"), when a wise friend had a talk with me. She reminded me that when a gift is given to me, it is now mine to do whatever I like with it. It is not Mom's, with strings attached or say-so about what should be done with it. It is MINE. I own it and I have the authority to decide where it goes. And it is perfectly okay if I think it should be donated to Goodwill and be enjoyed by someone else who might love it and think they found a treasure, instead of sitting unopened and disliked in my closet. So I no longer feel bad about "recycling" her unwanted presents. The only time I've ever spoken to her about the issue was when I had to gently ask her not to give me clothes anymore, since her taste was so different than mine. Now I thank her And sometimes she does hit the mark and I am delighted by her gift. You cannot control someone else's desire to spend money on your presents. They enjoy shopping for you and they like thinking they found the ideal gift, even if it's expensive. Of course, if you don't like it, it makes you feel bad that they invested in it, but every so often you might get something you want and then the cost doesn't bother you, right? I think you're being very gracious about trying to decorate with this item to spare your mother's feelings. But it's not up to her what you do with it, because she transferred ownership when she gave it to you.

I've been following your post because this past month, hubby has been preparing me for the dreaded "R" word (relocation). We'd just finally finished our basement and I used COLOR for the first time and I love it. I also just painted our front LR-turned-"library" (light sage). We had all blandish light smoke gray walls throughout, but I was adding in sages, pumpkin "spice", and SW Blonde. I think I'll hold up on my other paint projects in the main living areas and let them remain neutral. Now that I know how to paint, I don't think I'd let one or two bright rooms scare me (if/when house-hunting), but I wouldn't want to have to paint a large area--like several rooms/halls that flow together--soon after moving in, so if there are other houses in the market that would be other than this scenario, they'd have the edge. I just saw in your last post that you live in Durham. Small world--it's the RTP area that we would be relocating to from central IL. I think your area has higher home prices, so that scares me. I'm in my dream home now, I can't stand the thought of leaving.... :-( Ah well. If you have any links to good realtor sites that have pics, etc., in your area, please share! Thanks. Good luck with your upcoming relocation. When it's what you want, things usually go better. Like someone mentioned above, it's time to stop thinking of the current home as "yours" and to distance yourself from it--changing color back to neutral will help with that. When you do this, something about the "energy" of the home changes (weird, I know). I like the LR after Lindy photoshopped it. I also think I would do the kitchen cabinets all the same (not light on top, dark on bottom). What about some "antiquing" of them--in the cracks? Can the kitchen be a different color from the rest of the "fun space"? I have a friend who did her cabinets cream with some glaze in the cracks to antique them and then painted her walls a ruddy color (terra cotta-like). It was gorgeous and did well with the neutral colors of the rest of her rooms, but still gave her some "pop". A good muted orange (since you like that color) is Laura Ashley 'Spice' (at Lowes)--I'm not an orange person but fell in love with this and used it in a basement area and planned on it for my kitchen. I love how wrought iron looks against it. It seems very popular right now. Good luck and have fun! Tracey

I agree that late 20's into 30's is more common in a lot of areas outside of the South and Midwest, which tend to skew younger. 21 seems VERY young to me to get married. I was a completely different person at 21 than I was at 31, when I did get married. Though plenty of people have married young and made it last, I think it's less common these days. My grandparents married at 18 and they are still together, but I think back then divorce was a much less viable option, especially for women with children, so there weren't many options if there were regrets or if one or both spouses had negative changes as they aged. I'm watching a lovely little Netflix series set in the 50's and the married woman had a husband who cheated on her and abandoned her with 2 small children for his mistress, and still divorce was such a stigma for a woman in those days that all of her family and friends are encouraging her to do everything to win him back home where he belongs. That wouldn't fly these days with most people. I only know a couple of people who were married before 30 (counting marriages in the last 10 years).