Thanks for posting the pics! The hutch is lovely and would be great painted as would all the other pieces. But, since you're hestitant to paint, why not leave it as it and make some painted or fabric covered boards to go behind the shelves and the area between the hutch and the bottom. Change the hardware to something a little more cottage/shabby - maybe glass ones. That, and the right accessories would really lighten the piece up. An easy fix for the tile table would be to have a round piece of wood cut to fit the tiled part and either paint it to match the color in the hutch or cover it in fabric. Then get a glass top to cover/protect it. The detail on the table edge is very nice. You could also remove the tile and do your own fun, shabby tile treatment. Tile can also be painted. Just protect it with a glass top and felt protectors. Are you using those chairs? I really like them and they would be perfect covered in the same/coordinating fabric as the valance as they have a very nice, romantic look. And yes, you can paint formica. It takes some prep work but it's easy(I painted my counters and it lasted for years with some care). Clean very well Lightly sand Clean again Prime with Kilz, use a light hand, let dry and give it one more coat. Let the primer cure for a day. Paint with your choice of paint After the paint is dry, apply 10 to 15 light coats of Minwax's Satin Finish Polycrylic. It dries very fast and you can usually apply another coat in 15 - 30 minutes but only if you applied a light coat. And that's pretty much it. I used pledge to clean and protect it. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of using what you have and making it the best it can be. :-D Here is a link that might be useful: Glass Pulls

pupwhipped - getting the type of aged appearance that you are speaking of is fairly easy. For the rubbed back look some things that you can do are the following: After you have a base coat on and prior to putting a top coat on - choose which areas that you want to have that 'rubbed back' look. They will be areas that are naturally handled, touched and bumped over time. Don't think too hard about where these areas are (too many people over think this and end up w/ pieces that are over done) - just simply pretend that you are walking by or putting something in a drawer - where did you just naturally touch or handle the piece? Now grab a candle and simply rub wax on that area. Use whatever topcoat you are using and paint over top. When it's dry buff back where you waxed over the base coat w/ a soft cloth or brown paper bag. I've always found that it is much easier to control how much top coat I take off by using a paper bag. It will also buff up to a nice subtle sheen and knock done any raised brush strokes. DH uses brown paper bags at work too when he's working on a piece. Glazes are nice over top to age a piece. If you are not using a top coat (for instance you just want your white or cream basecoat to look aged) after you paint your base lightly sand back to the raw wood in the areas that you want to rubbed back and use a glaze, stain, shoe polish (whatever you are using) and paint all over the top. The raw areas will hold the topcoat more than the painted areas and give a nice aged look. The shinier the base caot finish that you choose the more stain/ glaze top coat will come off and you can build up your 'aged look' to how dark you'd like it to be. Matte paint sucks up the glazes a bit more right away. If you use crackle medium there's a bunch of tips that I can give for that too if you'd like. The worst think in the world is when I see an entire pice w/ crackled paint on it. No piece EVER ages like that. EVER! But that's a whole 'nother pet peeve of mine. Use a phillips head screw driver to replicate a small patch of worm holes. Sometimes I'd go into my dad's shop when he was aging a piece and he'd use a heavy chain to make dings here and there. They would also use a handful of keys wrapped in an old t-shirt to make smaller dings. Making dings follows the same principal as rubbing back: Think carefully about where the piece would get naturally knicked over time. Don't ding it all over. I hate when I see that too. Sometimes I'll take a hammer to a piece (w/ a lighthanded approach of course - not everywhere!) and ding the edge here and there. My dad has a friend who makes beautiful reproduction furniture - some of it aged - some not (he will never divulge all of his secrets to me but I've gotten some out of him since I've known him since I was a child and he worked for my dad) and he used to tell me how they would tie brand new chairs together part way through painting, and throw them in the running creek behind the shop and just let them bob around and bang into rocks and smooth down from the running water. Then they'd haul them out and finish them up. He is so good at aging furniture that he has a reputation for fooling antiques dealers and has been named to the Fine Woodwoking magazines top 200 list for the past 10 years. Use as many or as few of some of these ideas as you'd like to get the look you want. It's so much fun!

Joyce, I don't know if Cheeptrims.com has craft ribbon or not, but I use them and ribbonsandbowsohmy.com for ribbon and trims. Good Luck, Susan

The photos make it look pretty hopeless. I am in the process of painting the walls accessible beige SW. It is half done. Also i have to go back to cut in at the ceiling. I ordered a border sample but i think that might be overkill and make the ceilings look even shorter. Things are laying around until the paint is finished. The footstool under the window will be recovered. The dog likes to sit there to look out but it also slides in front of the sofa for a footstool/coffee table.