All the colors are in a very tight value range. My guess is the old roof color was darker than the new one, and that's contributing to your feeling like the new very middle of the road roof color was a mistake. All the elements on their own are perfectly lovely. The house is perfectly lovely. The landscaping is perfectly lovely. It's just it's all bleeding together, and nothing is defined. The brick stays. They roof stays. All you can do is experiment with lighter/darker trim color, door color and shutter color. It's going to be like going to the eye doctor. . . 'which is better a or b'. This post was edited by funcolors on Thu, Aug 29, 13 at 14:15

Thanks Becky - I have Paint too, never thought of using that (though my hand isn't too steady). I hope mom2reese dones't mind, here's a pic that has a good expanse of EC on red oak, which is what my rail and newels are. I don't think I'd try it on the pine risers. Maybe I should either leave them Honey, or paint them the wall color if paint won't be constant maintenance. I'd like to leave the treads golden oak to tie in with my DR furniture - I think that looks good with the cherry floor. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c113/mom2reese2/dining5.jpg I'm still looking for 6" pieces of rail that were left over - can't find them in burn barrel in yard or trash box in basement, so maybe cousin took them (? for what?) or DH threw them in regular trash (gone already). I wanted to try the stain on the same pieces of railing rather than some other scraps of oak I have to make sure the color was accurate. But if I can't find them I'll take some pieces of crown we have left so you can see the color and maybe capture it. Can't do anything about risers since I only have white pine scraps, no yellow pine in house except for the stairs. I can't believe you got those chairs for $20 each! I took my mom last week to town an hour away to see a pair of green ones that were $150, but they had been snagged a bit by dog's nails and cushions weren't comfy. Hers are OK structurally, one cushion could be replaced, but they *really* need to be reuphostered (dirty, worn, 20 yr old cigarette burn in one seat cover) and she's afraid it would cost too much. Of course, now she's talking about going to Macy's to buy a pair - I can see *that* costing $1000 the pair! I guess I could find fabric at Walmart and try to do it, but welting on arms and backs seems too hard. My aunt could easily make new cushions for seats.

I prefer site finished. It is easier to refinish when it needs it. Your friend has probably done "buff and coat" procedures. This is normally done ONCE and then a FULL sand and refinish. If your friend has been doing the buff and coat MORE THAN once, then she's doing it "wrong" (could be "right" for her, but it isn't the regular way for hardwood). Traditionally the FULL sand and refinish occurs around the 20 year mark. So the floors, after 20 years SHOULD look like this. That's kinda what tells you "it's time". A buff and coat only adds a coat of finish (to freshen up the floor). It doesn't "correct" anything. The FULL sand and refinish will do 10 TIMES more for the look of the floor than a buff and coat. The sand/refinish will strip the old finish off and then carve off 1-2mm of WOOD. That means 99.9% of all dings and gouges will be taken care of. The "dirt and food in between" (the planks) is MUCH MORE likely to occur with factory finished floors. These floors have bevelled edges (a little shoulder on every plank that creates little valleys between each plank). But it can occur with floors SHRINKING from LOW humidity. The floor can create little gaps between planks. That's normal if the humidity is too low or is uncontrolled. The THINNER the plank, the LESS the wood will/can shrink. That's why narrow/strip hardwood is the BEST option for uncontrolled humidity. Those big, beautiful, expensive, wide plank products that are SUPER trendy = not an option for uncontrolled humidity. A factory finished hardwood (with Aluminum Oxide = AO) is going to be SUPER expensive to refinish and here's why. The AO finish is SOOOO tough (how tough is it SJ?). It is SOOOO tough it takes 2-3 TIMES the amount of effort/material to strip it from the wood floor. Once the AO is gone, the wood turns into a normal hardwood floor. And just for fun, the 'refresh' buff and coat is almost IMPOSSIBLE to do. Even the toughest finish looks tired around the 15 year mark. Sadly, AO finishes often prevent a recoat (the finish is chemically very slick...almost nothing sticks to it = HELL to add '1 coat'). The average cost of a full sand/refinish = $5/sf. The average cost of a sand/refinish of AO = $7-$9/sf. Yes. It is THAT TOUGH to remove. A traditional buff and coat = $2.50 - $3/sf. So if you do the math, the site finished hardwood may cost a bit more on day 1....but by year 30 it will be MUCH cheaper/easier to deal with/live with. It allows you to freshen up the finish around year 15 (if you wish). It allows for a routine sand/refinish without adding a HIGHER COST of labour. So "cost effective" today can be much more costly by the time you plan on refinishing. In fact, so many people look at the extra costs and figure a new floor is cheaper....and they are right. Sigh...so there goes the idea of using up all the life on the hardwood (3/4" solid hardwood). That goes out the window when the owner realizes the costs are much higher and they choose to rip it out and throw it out; thus negating the benefit of a solid hardwood!

Your rug is marvelous and a classic, if you get rid of it, send it to me! Seriously though, please keep the rug, and don't fall prey to that monotone monotonous one color bleached out look that is the trend these days. You do need throw pillows for the chairs and sofa that pick up the colors from the rug to unite all the upholstered pieces. I am not crazy for the coffee table for it's look, and it is undersized as well. A larger table and one that is glass would look well in that space, as it would show off that gorgeous rug.