luckygal - Wow, so many great suggestions, I don't know where to begin! Thank you so much! I like the idea of marrying the colors with the fabrics, and carefully bringing in the secondary colors - I have a feeling it's going to take some trial and error to get the right balance of color, but that's part of the fun - right? The blue mason jars, fabric valance, and wood blinds all sound lovely! I'll play around with fabric prints and colors some more too. As for my style, as I look through my inspiration photos, it seems to be simple, clean traditional (lots of white kitchens), with some cottage and french country touches - nothing too fancy, fussy or rustic. I think modern traditional/cottage would be a good description. The rest of our new fixer upper house is a blank slate right now, so I think I need to be careful to keep the same feel in our fairly open first floor. Thank you again for your fantastic ideas! :) nosoccermom - That is a Very good point! My mockups were probably not very fair to H and I. I've added some "beadboard" to the mockups below. (Well, to the best of my ability!) Fun2BHere - So glad you like it! I'll definitely take a trip to the fabric store before committing to anything. And thanks for the ikat link! lavender_lass - You changed your vote! So, green walls/backsplash with tiny touches of blue - got it! :) I have so many different combinations of colors to try! (The key for me is going to be keeping it fun instead of stressing about it!) I'm 99% sure we're going to keep the butcherblock. :) Thanks again for your suggestions! andreadeg - You are too sweet! Thank you! :) I agree with you completely about the beadboard width. I think we definitely need a wide beadboard or v groove plank since our cabinets are so chunky. Do you think the width of the backsplash planks should match the cabinet stile and rail width exactly (3.5") or should be a touch bigger or smaller? That's a great idea to get the lighting installed and let things "brew" some more (I am itching to get the chandelier hung!). I think we'll definitely do that. Ah! Painting the inside of the glass cabinets! I love that! Thank you!!! The windows trim is Definitely getting painted, either Simply White to match the rest of the trim in the house, or Cloud White to match the cabinets. (The trim around the sink window will touch the cabinets, so I'm thinking maybe the kitchen trim should match the cabinets...what do you think?) Thanks again for your wonderful ideas and kind compliments! :) work_in_progress_08 - Thank you for your advice and vote! I too am a lover of soft colors. I'm strongly leaning towards keeping the kitchen palette light (with the exception of the black, of course). I think we will keep the butcherblock. The black counters are temporary (and budget driven), they are butcherblock that was stained black with india ink and sealed with poly. I want to eventually change them out with soapstone or granite. loribee - Thanks so much for your vote! teresa_nc7 - Thank you for your advice! I will be sure to visit the fabric store before making a final decision on the fabric. Where can I find examples of cottage geometric prints? That sounds intriguing! geokid - Thanks for your vote and that rug is very pretty! It might be a bit too saturated for the kitchen, but I'm going to keep it in mind for the den/living room. :) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * You are all so wonderful! Thank you again for your terrific ideas and advice! (I am so relieved and grateful to have your help to figure this out!) Some decisions made: 1) We are keeping the butcherblock! 2) I don't think I have the guts to go for the blue backsplash (my apologies to the G lovers!), so it will be green, or....perhaps even white (see below) 3) Green will stay as the main color, and I'll try my best to carefully weave in some blue (plus tiny touches of something in the red/pink family for a bit more warmth) 4) I think we need to go for a wider beadboard or v groove backsplash to balance out the chunky cabinets, instead of the traditional skinny beadboard. Backsplash width example: A great point was made that the white backsplash needed beadboard to get the true feel. I tried to add beadboard below ("try" being the key word!). We will be sure to try Both the green and white in real life before deciding. What do you think? Very rough Beadboard Mockups: If we go with "I" below, I think I'd like to have green beadboard for the butcherblock counter, and paint the back of the glass cabinet blue so the kitchen isn't too white: Thanks again, everyone!! :)

Very cute! Like almost everything. Not a fan of the zebra rug at all. Looks like it came from another space where they no longer wanted to use it. I would do the ceiling the same color as the wall color. I think the white ceiling (or a coral pink one) cuts off the room - if it were the same color as the walls, the ceiling would disappear. You could also run the tree up onto the ceiling just a bit, again to blur the visual line between walls and ceiling.

I am confused by chijim's comments because all of the pictures that are on the walls now are black and whites and are framed in black. I think that does tie them together. I am not focused on anything on any flat surface at the moment. That is a bunch of stuff from different rooms, or is cat food to be honest, because that is where the sick cats eat. At my DR table. I never actually eat there. :) I have just been working on the wall color, drapes, and wall picture layout. At least that is what my focus was meant to be with this thread, and trying to see if the rug I have will work with it all. I feel like it is coming together in my head. We shall see what the end result is. ;) No worries Punamytsike. I don't mind the comments. It helps to hear other opinions. I can't wait to see what you do with your new spaces which will be so different from your last house. I know it will be fabulous. I think it is interesting that Chijim mentions crown molding. I have to say I was really against it, but DH voted for it, and my parents brought it up yesterday too, so I guess that is a battle I am going to lose. I just think it will bother me to have painted molding when all the other trim in the house is stained. Of course my dad said I should just paint all the trim, but the stained trim has grown on me and I don't really want to do that. If I had my way I would probably do some kind of stained funky trim, but I am sure that would not get many votes either. I think I have convinced DH to do this room next, and he just finished tiling my bathroom, so hopefully we shall see some progress soon. I will keep posting updates in case anyone is interested. It helps me to type out my thoughts too. I know orange/blue is not everyone's cup of tea, and I guess I have a quirky style.

No, kids are gone (YEAH! Love them, but I've done my job)No grandkids that will visit anytime soon, no pets, only a man that can behave like a kid (you know that one). I really don't think the door would be an issue, it's not like we would fling it open and I could put one of those stoppers where it won't fling open all the way - we had that on our front door in our old house. Had a console table right behind it, and it never hit it, so that could be an option. I have so much wall space in this house I will NEVER be able to fill it with pictures. I have a corner of my living room that will be a gallery, and a really long and wide hallway that needs lots of "stuff" on the walls - they're empty! As for what I'd be putting on there, more than likey it's going to be breakables, but what about using the sticky stuff they use in museums so if it gets bumped it stays? Never used it, don't know the name of it, but know it exsists. The opening from the kitchen is 48", the unit is 50"w, so basically, you'd see the entire piece, so I thought it would be nice visually. The piece will come out the exact depth that the floor vent that's next to the bathroom (seen in 2nd pic). The door to the bathroom when fully opened is right in line with that same vent. I wanted to make sure if someone was coming out of that bathroom that we've yet to use would knock in to the piece. They wouldn't, unless they're a very large wide person (if I don't stop eating, that person may be ME!) I want to say THANK YOU ONE AND ALL for all your insights, thoughts and ideas, I appreciate everyone taking the time to reply. I'm a bit torn, I see what some of the problems could be, but I really like the look of this and think it could work. Here's a few more pictures I just took, so this is as it stands now. Sorry about the messes u see, still working on this house (and will be for quite a while!) From the kitchen Coming from the den - straight ahead is the bathroom, right is to the kitchen Wall in question and door that opens up against wall Wall opposite from wall for the piece with the doorway to kitchen Wall in question, just another angle Full doorway coming from the kitchen in to hall View from the bathroom looking in to the den straight ahead Sorry for the junk in the background! ...