I have been reading posts here for ages and I have finally decided try it out! My husband & I just recently purchased his childhood home. The style of the home is French Provincial. It was built over 20 years ago and they used a ton of Ash wood throughout...floors, mouldings, cabinets and windows! It is a large home and somewhat of an open floorplan. I am pulling my hair out over what to do as we start our remodel.

In our previous home we used a cabinet recoating method to redo our kitchen on a shoestring budget and it turned out amazing! We plan to do the same with our current kitchen...we would like to have white cabinets with dark countertops & island.

We will be removing the large black box that you see hanging down as well as the pot rack and pendant lights so it will really open up to the family room. There are also built in bookshelves in the family room and the living room (sorry I don't have a picture of the living room, but it is very similar to family room).

Here are my questions:

1. Can we keep the crown molding in the kitchen natural wood? Our plan is have white subway tile above the cabinets.

2. If we need to change the crown in the kitchen can we just change it in this room as well as the window or does that mean we would have to change it throughout the house?

3. I would also like to change the built-ins to white and have a white mantle with a smoke or black glass subway tile. Same question about the crown, do I change it to all white or leave the natural crown. If I do it all white, can I leave the rest of the room natural?

At first I just wanted to go through the house paint all of the trim and doors white, but not only is it super expensive to have done or time consuming if we do it, I started to doubt getting rid of all of the wood. The doors are really quite attractive (not as yellow as the pic) and while I know it would look sharp to go all white(doors, windows, etc) , I am looking for a compromise.

I am also planning to get rid of the dark paint you see in the pictures, so any suggestions you may have would be appreciated!

OH, I almost forgot! If I can find a compromise for keeping most of the natural wood, would it be possible to go white with the crown in the dining room? I really want to do a warm orange in here and think that white would look much better here.

I would like to go for a younger, fresher look but dont' want to lose the warmth. I really hope this all makes sense...after looking at the pictures please let me know what you think...or if you would like to see more pics, please let me know!!

THANK YOU!

http://s611.photobucket.com/albums/tt192/caskeller/?action=view&current=026.jpg