Our house was a new build in 2007. It was a spec home so we didn't get to pick colors. Colors when we bought it- SW 7036 Accessible Beige on Walls and ceilings throughout Trim-SW 7008 Alabaster Dining room-SW San Antonio Sage Powder Room-SW Rookwood Blue-Green Trim and Wainscotting in Bonus Room-SW Tavern Taupe Hated all of the colors but loved the house. We have redone about 50% of the interior so far using BM Aura matte, but with some SW colors matched in Aura. Dining room is now BM Aura Pomegranate with ceiling in SW Alabaster Powder Room walls/ceiling are Valspar Belle Grove Light Amber (fell in love with this color and it was a one gallon job so I used Valspar paint-it came out pretty good but this is a low traffic room with wainscotting 4 feet up the walls so the walls won't get any hand contact) Kitchen is BM Aura Matte in BM472 Aganthus Green-ceiling remains undecided (still Accessible Beige) Great Room including coffer inserts is BM Aura Matte in BM473 Weekend Getaway Bonus room became a playroom for my 4 year old-walls in SW 6715 Lime Granita-all of the trim was converted to Alabaster from Tavern Taupe. I used Aura Semi-Gloss to get the right coverage. 4 Year old's bedroom is SW 6849 Partytime with 6848 Panache Pink on the ceiling 4 year old's bathroom is SW 6716 Dancing Green with Alabaster on the ceiling Master Bedroom and bath will be SW 7621 Silvermist with Silvermist on the bathroom ceiling and an undetermined lighter shade in the bedroom's tray ceiling ( I sampled a 25% mix of Silvermist but it screamed "It's A BOY!") I'm working on this room now. Still to come is the foyer/stairwell/upper hallway, a bedroom we use as a home office, and the entire finished basement which has a playroom/theater, bedroom, and full bath. I may hire out the foyer and stairwell as opposed to renting scaffolding but I'll be doing the rest myself.

arcy, I can reposition the island. Funny you mentioned that because my mom hopped on the wagon to help me figure out what to do with the kitchen and she, too, suggested I reposition it. She also pointed out that the otherside of the island is much more attractive than the side that's exposed to the dining room. I will turn it next time I'm at the house and see what it's like. Thanks! Also, thanks for the wallpaper suggestion. I'll check out the collection at SW for ideas just in case. :) annkathryn, your cabinets are GORGEOUS! Thank you for the inspiration photos. They are gentle reminders of ways I can live with what I've got for now until I'm able to do what you did with transforming them. Great job! As promised, here are better photos of the kitchen: Here you can see the two green samples as well as a TINY bit of the Toasted Cashew I tried to sample peeking through Backsplash details (there is some splattering from cooking, that's not the tile) Close up of the tile in the kitchen (the grout will be cleaned when we move in so it'll lighten up a bit, the tile that will be installed in the dining room and living room will be similar in color to the lighter tile in the dividing strip shown here) Looking into the kitchen from the DR Someone requested a photo of the view from the back of the kitchen looking out to the DR -- pardon my lovely SIL, she was rinsing paint from her hands and the mini rollers, and my hand wasn't very steady here My mom suggested I take advantage of the side of the island shown in the above photo and turn it outward towards the DR. She also mentioned the idea of painting the island as some suggested here. I really like that idea! Hope this helps you all more than the previous photos did.

lisa_a: Oh, I was an avid poster about 1 year ago and went by 'hydragea'. I couldn't stand the typo in my name anymore and switched to littleprince2. I remember that you were trying to choose a honed granite last year. It was a light colour with a bit of red in it, IIRC. Did you end up with that? I remember completely approving of your choice, btw ;-) Actually, I remember crl_, funkycamper, practigal, willtv, localeater, mama goose, and bpathome, and romy from last year. <Waves>. I stressed and fretted on this board about layouts and styles quite a lot and likely drove you all crazy. I didn't choose an ideal layout, but site lines and symmetry were important to me--and that's the type of thing that's hard to see in an online birdseye plan. I do regret putting in the seating at the counter, which several advised against. Oh and Lisa, thanks for saying the kitchen looks good in the house. I worried about that a lot. Anyway, to answer some q's. 1. range is Bluestar, from Costco. 2. soapstone. I don't know what it is but it looks like barroca (the softest kind) to me. It gets water marks, so I think it might not have been honed properly. I didn't do a built-in drainboard, so the water marks are not as much of an issue for me. Has there been any update on how to solve the water marks problem other than having it rehoned to a lesser grit? 2a. Yes, it scratches easily. I think about 100% of soapstone owners (myself included, obviously) don't care though, because the scratches blend in. I was definitely worried about it, but I don't care anymore, in the same way that I don't care that my pine harvest table gets scratches. So I would say, if you think you can handle scratches in wood, you can handle scratches in soapstone. 2b. I would say there is no green undertone. I would say it's a completely neutral black with caramel lines. (Did I mention it's really, really nice?) 3. The bin pulls and glass knobs are Rejuvenation. The latches, metal knobs, and pulls are from Cliffside industries. They're all polished nickel and all match. 4. Cabinets are Laurysen Kitchen, a local cabinet place. They're spray-painted birch. The cabinet 'innards' are not as good as IKEA, but they're good enough. 5. Hood is NXR from Costco. 6. Dishwasher - a mid-range Bosche. 7. Fridge - a lower end KitchenAid. 8. Faucet - Grohe in chrome (not a fan) 9. Sink - Kraus 30" Single Basin Undermount 16 gauge steel from Amazon. Came with a basin protector. Love it! 10. Glass cabs next to range - because of the hood fan, there is zero grease or build up. I've not cleaned these cabinet doors since getting them last year (well, except on the frame, where you get dirt from your hands). As far as having so many glass cabs: it's not ideal, and I'm extremely happy to have the lone non-glass upper there for bread and spreads and a few other breakfasty goods. What I do is put all my dishes in the glass cabs and anything that looks a little good. All mismatched cups and mugs go in a drawer. I find the glass really opens up the smallish kitchen. As for things like baking goods and spices, they're all in drawers between fridge and stove. 11. The piano got transferred to the back sun room :-) Kids love to cook! It's amazing what a nice space will do. Thanks for looking, and again, thank you for your feedback!

I have most of the colors in this thread on my walls now. I tested Gray owl and Stonington Gray in the bathroom and am going with Gray owl. Stonington is too blue. I have Revere Pewter, Edgecomb Gray and Balboa mist on a few walls now and am leaning toward Balboa Mist for the living room and dining room and Edgecomb gray for the bedroom. Revere Pewter is too dark. All the colors look different depending on the amount of sunlight in the space. Have you considered changing out your lightbulbs to a 4100K or 5000K colors?