My first thought was to do it all in the deep brown.

Then I thouh, hmm, what if you did it in the gold and painted the raised trim pieces in the deep brown. That might look nice.

Then I thought, thinking about your style, how about doing it in the deep brown but painting the raised trim sections in a more metallic gold?

Or, paint it dark brown, but leave the inset panels the gold (or vice versa).

Changing it will definitely make it work better, that's for sure.

Oooh, another thought is to doe it all in the brown but paint the backs of the open bookcases gold (or vice versa) to show off your stuff.

I think this one could use photoshopping to see!

Celticmoon gel stained her oak kitchen cabinets to a dark color, and it looks great. Not sure if she frequents this thread, but you might check over on kitchens -- she's posted lots of pictures and detailed instructions. Might also be pretty to go with a cream (going toward the tans, not yellows) paint on the built ins and a dark walnut gel stain (or dark brown paint to match the window trim) on the mantel shelf.

I think it depends on what style you are planning on decorating the room.

I like the wood wall but I could see you doing a darker gel stain over the orange.

I think with the slate on the fireplace, and just the massive size of this unit, darkening the entire thing would be too much. So, my vote goes for painting it in the cowslip, then doing the raised portions, and the backs of the bookcases in the dark to match your trim.

I'm guessing the beams are painted dark, right?

I'll check out celtic's info. I searched here and didn't find it (I didn't remember it was kitchen forum).

Jersey, the room is "eclectic" in style. I don't have a picture of it set up since we've been remodeling for two years LOL but here's picture of the sofa (we have two of these that face each other, with the box (bible box from a Quaker church that was torn down) in the middle as the coffee table. There are two 1840's chippendale style hairy claw arm chairs flanking a table made of goat horns and a 1940's radio as well as an 1820's amoire in rosewood. The carpets are huge fluffy sheepskins. It's a very eclectic space...used for entertaining mostly and drinking port with a book by a cozy fire :) (We use it three or four times a week).

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It's more formal than not, but not so formal you can't relax. It's the first room you see when you enter the house so we like it to set a tone somewhat.

Such an amazing room! Good luck with whatever you decide~

1. The sofas are tdf. I'd do what it takes to set them off well.
2. Could you reface the oak built-ins and paint the rest of it? Like, for ex., paint the backs of the shelves in the Cowslip, but make the faces and doors ebony (or ebony-looking)?

Oh, and I meant to add, you could go dramatically dark--if you add more lighting, of course.

Only 2 years. LOL. What's your rush?

I would go with something to work with the window trim. Would hate to see you lose the wood tone. It's hard to tell from the lighting of the picture what the window trim color actually is. I don't see anything creamy at all due to the dark window trim.

I saw a makeover dining room in Colorsplash where they simulated wood walls for a deco style. The remaining walls were painted a similar in color to yours. The room was not too dark at all. It was rather cozy and intimate.
With the sofas being red you can get away with it.
I would love to see some chrome lighting with those sofas. They are pretty contemporary. It will be interesting with the rest of your furnishings, add additional eclectic interest, keep the room light, and add the unexpected.

Also, keep window treatments plain and clean. Anything ornate will be too heavy due to all the wood.

Faux tortoise shell!!!!

Hi I just wanted to show you my cabinets just finished with Minwax gel stain in Walnut:

I agree with the post of doing it all in walnut and then the backs in the gold or an accent color. Of course that would be alot of work.

Thought about this last night -- and I vote for the very deep walnut stain to match the trim.

I did think about painting them -- my first thought as always! LOL! BUT I think that the dark stain would work better with the deep visual weight of the fireplace.

Jan

mlraff...is that one coat or two? Or seven LOL the debth of color is great, but how much work am I in for?

The room is filled with light year round so I don't worry too much about going dark. But the trim is painted dark (a very deep chocolate which I might shake up and go with a tint de negre to get even darker). The beams and all windows will be painted that shade and there are open stair rails on two sides of the room that are also to be tint de negre. Painting that color though would be a HUGE wall of oppressive I think (It's 15' high at it's highest point and about 9 at it's lowest.

Tortise shell LOL Ya right :oP

Jersey girl...ya crack me up :) The lamp in the room is all chrome :) Shades on all thelighting are white, (just a bit off white actually, but not cream) the lamp has crystal accents. Not fancy, actually quite modern and streamlined. The hanging lighting is an art deco style ceiling fan (chrome and white) and the down lights are skyscraper style deco lighting hanging from chrome.

The room has a few unifying themes in the decor. White, Silver, Red and Black. Everything is rectangular in tone, including the lamp and lighting. Mostly rather cold looking surfaces, lots of leather, but that's juxtaposed with the suprise of the fluffy white sheepskins which are also free form, verses following the clean lines of the room. It's probably my favorite room in the house so far.

The walls are that cowslip color to compliment the art which are some HUGE animal shots taken by a famous photographer that DH knows. We have a lion who will sit on one wall, a cheetah on another and a cheetah family (mom and five cubs) on another. They're all framed to be about 5' x 6' in size, give or take a few inches, so this room really was meant to be a show case for them :)

Currently it has three toilets, pallets of wood, tile and a couple sinks sitting in it....so I've a long ways to go to realize my dream LOL

Ok so I'll pick up some gel stain this week and do a light sanding on a spot and see how it goes. The worst thing that can happen is that it does not work (I'm not going to sand to death...it's too much work, so that might be the deciding factor) and then if that's ugly...we'll add it to the painters list :)

I have this odd desire to leave the wood, because it's wood paneling...even is it's just ply, it's a well done wall. I don't want to have it rebuilt in walnut becuase "ACK" it's beyond expensive, and would be a total waste when we buy the unit next to ours and remove this wall to expand. But with the whole house coming together the way it is...I just can't find it in my heart to leave it orange...I just can't!

Mlraff53, those gel-stained cabs are fabulous! Can you please tell us how you did that? Sanding, number of coats, etc.? Thanks!

Igloo, maybe this has already been suggested, am not reading carefully. But to save yourself work if the stain doesn't do what you want: how about staining or teint de negre just on the raised molding, and painting the larger panels? You'd get a bit of the wood look, keep the formality and geometric nature of the space, but it'd be a damn sight easier than sanding and staining the whole shebang.

I really enjoy your posts and your decorating style. Gorgeous house, great furniture. want to come over and redo mine when you're done?

I did two coats of stain and two coats of poly. In the pics, I hadn't done the poly on the doors yet.
It was a lot of work but so worth it. The cabinets were alot easier than the doors.

First you have to remove the doors. Dont fight it just take them off. Clean them really well. Years of grease and dust.
I didnÂt sand. If I had to do it again I would consider applying a dark primer (maybe black since my stain is so dark).
I used a sponge brush to apply and a regular brush to spread. It worked better for me. If you have real wood, apply the stain heavily with the sponge, wait a few minutes, then wipe off with a rag. The more coats you do the darker it gets.
If you have wood/plastic or whatever it is that they make cheap builder cabinets from then:
Apply the stain heavily and as even as possible with the sponge brush. Wait probably about 5-6 minutes. Then using a dry brush, make even straight strokes. This will even out the stain. You can keep brushing until it looks good to you. Sometimes I needed a second coat but not heavy just really a light coat with the sponge.
Then I applied two coats of polyurethane. This was the fun part because you canÂt mess it up. ItÂs clear!
I highly recommend that you practice somewhere. The more you practice the better you get.
I did my master bath. then started on my kitchen and didnÂt get my technique down until halfway thru my cabs.
I just hope it lasts and doesnÂt chip. Some ladies here told me that the poly takes about a month to cure (to make it strong). So be careful with them.
Also be careful when you tape your walls. As I removed the tape, it pulled some of the stain from the cabs. I have to retouch. DonÂt use tape or come up with a different plan.
I hope I answered all the questions. I hope to post finished pics next week.
Mariana

Tear it down and bring it to me! With some alterations if would be PERFECT for my library instead of the *sob* white melamine bookcases from Wallyworld (that I can't afford to replace for a looong time). And I don't mind orange oak at all. :-)

LOL johnmari :oP I guess I should have come for easter dinner...with my wall heh heh

Mariana...you said the magic words...no sanding!!! I'll see what I get. I probably will bite the bullet and make the painter actually do the work if it looks good on the samples. (I have a two year old...it would take years for me to get it done and I have four rooms to plaster still).

Walkin..if it works to just gel without sanding, I'm going to go for that option, but I like the double color idea with the deep colors as well. I have some concerns about mixing the light and dark because I don't want this wall to be a "focal" point any more than it is on it's own. (Does that make sense?) It's the fireplace wall, and while that's a focal point, we compete with the view, on the opposite of the fireplace, which is of the lake. Also, (I wish I had a full pic of the room but I can't find one) the other two walls (of the loosely...four) are mostly open stair railings, so you have that window wall (above) than the HEAVY wood wall, then one half wall with a staircase on it, and open railing to the hall and dining room below (it's up 4' from the balance of the floor) and on the final "wall" it's another stairway down to the main level, and a stair railing, so again, open basically). I have to keep the balance of the weight from becoming "wood wall" heavy LOL If that's possible.

This would be so much easier if I didn't have any taste :oP My old step dad would have just painted it black or white and hung some racing car pictures in the boxes....

Maybe he had a point...hummm LOL

Here's a pic with one of the rail walls (above the entry) and these were taken mid construction so don't pay attention to the pink and the mess LOL (The entire room was four different shades of pink when we purchased it).

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and the view opposite the fireplace...

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Oh umm Walkin...sure I'll be "right" on over to do yours...I'm ummm in year two of a three month remodel, and I've been working on the room for five years LMAO so if I time yours the same, you could have a finished room in the year 2015? Maybe??? heh heh (but thanks)

The picture above contains the horn table and the chippendale chairs. Just incase you don't know what a "horn" table looks like (when DH told me he bought a horn table the pictures that went through my head....well they were funny!!!) LOL I was so worried!!!!

Maybe Johnmari was joking, but I really was wondering... why not tear it out? If you don't like it, and you're already hip-deep in this remodel, just pull it all out and put up new drywall. You can never go back from painting it... If you stain it darker and then hate it? You still can't sand it off.... Those clipped arches over the shelves kind of fight with the soaring angles in your windows and ceiling. I vote for just pulling it all out. I bet it would feel so good to do that! (says the girl who is in year three of a whole house renovation. heh.) Come on! Doooo iiiiit! ;)

I've been working on this room in my head all day today. It's a hard call to make without more pictures of the room and with all the boxes and piles of stuff in the pics you do have. Your views are gorgeous and that artwork sounds fantastic. I love eclectic and I love that wall of built-in bookcases, too. I'm vacillating between a darker gel stain on the cabs and a lighter version of the Cowslip. Maybe do away with some of the shelves to give you more tall dispay areas in there, though, no matter which way you go. That would give the area a less busy look. The darker gel stain could might make the room look too heavy on that one side with nothing to balance the heaviness on the other walls, though. But, if the backgrounds on these huge photo prints you have are dark, they could give you the counterbalance you need with a dark shelf wall. Another option is to use a lighter shade of the Cowslip. BTW, what's behind all those room mock-ups on your mantel? It almost looks like more cabinet doors. And, what do you plan for above the mantel, art-wise? One of your animal photos or something else? Are you planning on using some faux animal print fabrics in there, too?

Okay, I must need new glasses; in the pictures above, I can see two people in a canoe, a cat, a Christmas Tree, a pair of chairs, a wardrobe with mirrored doors, and many boxes, but no table, goat horn or otherwise. I've had goats for years but never seen a goat horn table; I'm imagining something with sweeping curved goat horns for legs, but obviously that's off the mark. Is it the footstool thing with the inverted cone?

LOL littledog it's the footstool looking thing with the inverted cone (if you ever put your feet on the table you'll be shot). The top is horn and the base (black) is like hoof or something (I didn't buy it). It's actually a really lovely piece in person.

Ok for you "rip it out" people...nope. That would be more than a huge expense, it would require we redo the floor as well (the floor has a band of walnut that goes around the room...if part of this goes, we need to add more to the floor and redo the band). If you are facing the fireplace, on your left side, what looks like wall is actually a very deep built in area. On the right there's a little jog around the chimney. Take out the wood...and you have exposed chimney that was not meant to be seen. We'd have to rebuild the wall, redo the floor and build something on the hearth, which wraps most of the built in shelf areas. Moula Moula moula! And not something we'd do given that we want to rip the whole thing out when the neighbors keel over.....umm I mean move to their next abode. At that time the wall goes, but not before.

Here's a picture of one of the cats:
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You can see the "jog" around the hearth a bit here. It's a good 3 feet deep so there's a lot of space to deal with.

Lynne, when we began the remodel this room was supposed to be storage only, and I ambitiously thought I'd paint it myself, so we crammed a bunch of things from all over the house onto those shelfs. They are normally carefully balanced out, and are going to be used to display some books (but they sit quite far back into the shelfs and don't crowd like they are now) and art glass as well as some native art we're beginning to collect. Although we're thinking of a phonograph collection instead, but either way, not much on each shelf so that it's not a huge pile of mishmash as they are now.

There are no doors behind the design board. I've so far kept that fairly simple (the original owner had a picture of a lion slautering a lamb and a saint of some sort...). I have a picture of our basic decor (plus christmas) somewhere....(Running to photobucket):

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Normally it's just the mirror and the crystal candlesticks as well as uncle charlie or whoever makes the cut that week when I'm dusting the mantle. Obviously this is a weak attempt at Christmas (DS was just born and we'd spent 2 weeks in NICU then right about mid month he started getting sick...I barely got a few things up that year). The white snowmen are replaced by a simple white marble lion resting.

I went with the basic mirror (who was it who hates mirrors?) anyhoo, to reflect the lake view and not to compete with the animals. I have since then picked up a larger one, but fairly similar. I want to keep that area "less done" verses more so that the focus really is on the other art.

The art is fairly large and has great presence. The lion who will be over the lake view wall (the slanted wall above the chairs and horn table picture) is a great big old guy who captivates you when you see him. He adds weight to that side of the room. The above cheetah will also be on that side of the room, and he's a good heavy piece as well. The other cheetah is mounted horizontally on another of the walls, opposite the windows and provides balance. The windows will have either a deep colored matchstick blind inset or a roman shade, again inset. Very crisp and clean.

I'm shooting for color on that wall that isn't as deep as the cabinets we see here...more like the landing:
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If it were as dark as the cabinets shown, it would be in effect the same as painting it brown...to much given the size of the wall and I'd lose the fireplace.

It's a dilema isn't it :) I just can't leave it undone...it looks like an afterthought. Even painted cowslip would be better than nothing. I'd probably want to stain the mantel though in a deep shade, but that is actually "wood" so it can be stained easily.

Makes a broken day bed seem like a simple task huh? :oP

Great Print. I love leopard, cougar and lion prints. They will fit so well in that room "when you get it finished" LOL.

When I saw the print, I was smiling because I have a big Leopard fake oil by Raymond Waites (Homegoods fine)that I plan to use in my deco inspired LR when I get it started. It was from my last LR and is just waiting in the basement for me to reuse. Maybe this summer. Still finishing up with accessories for my FR. I promised myself, one room completed before I start another.