Thanks so much for all the reassuring responses! Pages turned- I was thinking the same thing with replacing the shelves with glass in the hutch. :) maybe add some pieces with color in there I am going to look at a round table today but if it doesn't work I have found a nice bench at Ballard I can use with the table for extra seating. Once I finalize the table I plan to add a rug. I mocked up the lights above the island & hated it! I still feel like it needs more light though. Any suggestions? I was thinking above cabinet lighting. I got a sample of BM Rustic Taupe to try. There is so little wall space to paint but I think a bit darker taupe color may help the cabinets pop. Feedback please.....other wall color suggestions? Great suggestion to darken the grout! I actually read online about using stain on travertine to darken it. I will have to try that out on some samples before I could commit to possibly making that situation worse. I'll try to post pics of the rustic taupe sample on the wall...and any others suggested. At some point this year we plan to paint the family room & entry hall maybe BM Texas leather or Cabot Trail. They are both two stories tall so we are hoping to choose a warmer color than what's there. At any rate, I was thinking rustic taupe would compliment either of those choices for the adjoining rooms yet add a pop of interest. Thanks for the suggestions & please let me know what you think for wall paint & extra lighting. :)

That is a lovely kitchen on the Velvet and Linen blog. It's quite true as Tina mentions above that there is no black and in fact no strong contrast in it at all, and as such I think the main thing you would need to do to move toward the look is to mitigate the strong contrasts you have. I don't think bringing in more black or white will achieve this effect. Rather, perhaps you need something between black and white to mitigate the difference between them into a gradation, and not a sudden jump, and - this is where my understanding is too amateur to be certain - maybe one method would be to use things that have both black and white in them, like the chair or a variegated marble. I do think too that more wood would help. The other thing that might be worth considering is to change your knobs and handles to something that doesn't contrast quite so much. I think the green transparent pulls in the blog have a lot to do with the overall softness of the look. Maybe grey would have a nice effect for you. In terms of softening the counter contrast, one advantage that you have is that your counter is soapstone and not shiny granite or marble, which I think would be much harder to soften. Thanks for mentioning that, by the way, I wondered what it was and I really like it. Regarding the beadboard, I also have wood that gets wet often but is in fine shape. It all depends on how you finish it. We did our wood floors with a water-based clear coat, and that is definitely harmed by water - a mistake in our kitchen and bathroom. However, we did our bathroom window sill and our wood kitchen cabinets with diluted paint - I think it both cases it was oil-based but might have been latex in the bathroom. That window sill is right next to the tub and has gotten wet every day for 16 years and looks like new. And to repeat something I've said elsewhere, mocking up ideas is often not that hard. You could put coloured tape or fabric on your pulls and knobs to see how that would look, or put a few pieces of coloured paper on the backsplash. I find I can often rule out certain things really quickly doing stuff like that. KarinL

We are looking at houses today, including the one that we had previously placed an offer on. Oddly enough, they wouldn't counter our offer, but they have already lowered the price 10K. But I have already talked myself out of it for issues such as the easement and the street that it is on. I don't know if this was a self protection, my way of dealing with disappointment, or if these things are still really valid and need to be strongly taken into consideration. I'll see what my reactions are to it this time around! Check out this beauty of a room at the house I loved but my husband didn't. This is a master bedroom with gorgeous wall and ceiling moldings and bay window nook. I can just picture it with a vintage chandelier in place. We are revisiting this one today to see if the second impression is different (for either of us) and bringing a friend who is a contractor to tell us about the feasibility of remodeling the bathrooms (vintage yellow and black tile that is probably fabulous but has my husband running away screaming) and the dining This post was edited by kellienoelle on Sun, Jan 13, 13 at 11:14

I think that what happened during the building is that the original builder's design was tweaked to open up the kitchen wall so that you could walk through past the fridge. That looks like an archway that was an addendum added to the work contract. Maybe there was even a wall separating the kitchen from the dining area too that was removed to really 'open the space up'. The island looks like it was just the original cabinets that were to be installed along a wall that they then added a larger countertop to. That is why the island looks so plain from the LR view. A cheap solution is maybe put some large, square, decorative wicker baskets with lids, under the counter overhang. They would become "part of" the pole and island by eliminating the empty space under the overhang. And they could be useful too for tossing recyclables or storing pet food! I am wondering if extra lighting is really needed over the island? I might put a large, flat, wrought iron rack up there to hang pots. It would help define the area and help the pole not look so obvious. If lighting is really needed in the area, I would NOT do little itty-bitty, pendant lights. Having long hanging strings of tiny pendant lighting on such a vast expanse of ceiling would not look right. I would get something large and substantial with the smaller lights as part of it. This style is called 'billiard lighting' or 'island lighting' sometimes. Something like this maybe: Here is a link that might be useful: Island Lighting