All the decor and little knick knacks are going - these are pics I was able to snap in secret during our last visit. Anything grandma leaves behind is going in storage before we move in. The lighting will absolutely be replaced - the room will be much brighter, but I'm still dealing with dark orange/brown cabinets and walls. I'm not sure about the measurements because I was trying to be conspicuous and not look like I was thinking of taking a demo crew to the whole thing while grandma was around. But raising the cabinets is a challenge due to the fact that removing the extraneous high cabinets is a job that is a bit beyond me and I am trying to stick with DIY projects. Moving is going to cost us a lot, so I'm trying to keep home improvement projects as cheap as possible right now. And I'm doing any and all projects solo because my husband works out of town for months at a time. I can paint, I can't remove cabinets yet. I basically want to paint all the wood in the kitchen and dining room. There are some built ins opposite the kitchen - I figure I'll either paint or stain them depending on how the kitchen and dining room turn out. I love wood, I really do! I just hate knotty pine with a passion. If I can keep the wood grain but lighten things up, I'll be a happy homemaker.

The final result of anything is dependant on the preparation that went to getting that final result. Don’t halfass a job just because it’s more work to do it right. And you might not want to paint that pine. MCM interiors and wood are making a huge comeback. Valuable unpainted knotty pine raises the value on a great MCM home. Think Ward Cleaver’s den as the everything old is new again.

I have read that if you use a primer like BIN and paint all the knots on the wall first that it is possible without sanding the wall. I just bought a new home and will be attempting the same thing.

I think your ideas are spot on. <---written by a person who hasn't had a scrap of natural wood trim or walls in decades. I'm a white paint person that prefers to have my color in cabinetry, floors, furnishings and art. I'm also a person who lived in northern Wisconsin for 10 years and "selling and rebuilding" isn't as easy there as it is in other places. Little cabins sell but it's a tougher row to hoe with a large home. Large homes of any style. There are only so many buyers. It's too painful to talk about how I know this, lol. Since you have your own painters, maybe consider whitewashing the ceiling and painting the rest? If you don't like it, you can always paint over the white wash. I like the cable railing ideas.