...I like Fori's "antiqued black" suggestion! It would tie in your hardware, counters, etc, and still be a great focal point.

Eliz

and I agree with RHome. Gee, we were all posting at once. Must be after dinner ... :-)

I scanned everybody's comments tonight -- thanks for all your responses. I'll zero in on everything in the morning. I mentioned to DH that a few of you have suggested black or matte black. I thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head. I think that's a no-go. I've thought about trying to stain the wood a darker color (we live in a 100 year old foursquare and the woodwork in the entry, living room and dining room are dark stained chestnut; only the breakfast room and the kitchen have white painted trim). Does anyone know if I can stain over poly?

I feel like I have to at least try to find a color that will work that isn't white, since that was DH's only request. My current thinking is to try to find a color halfway between the cabinet and trim color (BM- OC13) and the wall color (BM-HC98). I used BM HC 82 in the toe kicks and have most of the quart left. Maybe that would work for the sash of the window?

Just to clarify, the white trim around the mahogany window is the same color as the back window. It is just the mahogany portion that bothers me and that I'm thinking about painting. I would keep the trim around the mahogany window the same as it is now.

I probably gave bad advice. I think stain has to go on bare wood...

I think it looks great. If it were me, I'd replace the other window frame to match this one as someone else suggested.

Sigh. I have two big cast-off mahogany bookcases that somebody gave us that are too dark for my living room, that I've always wanted to paint. But because of the whole "you can't paint a beautiful wood like mahogany" thing, I have never painted them. So I know how you guys are feeling.

If you do paint them, I'd use white. Honestly, I think they'd look better painted white (easy for me to say since I haven't painted my bookcases!). Since you're keeping the trim around that window white, maybe a matte black paint or stain would work (you'd have to sand the poly off, I'm pretty sure!).

Good luck -- gorgeous kitchen and breathtaking window!

I think the mahogany is gorgeous. The glass and stain color make your kitchen unique and a step above others. Although if you don't want to live with it, it is yours to change.

OK, I love that window but see why you don't. Maybe you need to bring in some wood accents that will tie in the window to the kitchen. Like a wooden fruit bowl, wooden pepper grinders, etc. (I'm making this stuff up off the top of my head) to bring wood features into your decor.

Go hit the antique stores, flea markets and Ebay. I bet you could make that window rest a bit if you have some wooden things around, KWIM? The other option would be to just paint the outside wall trim white and leave the windows brown. Too bad the other windows aren't wood.

Beautiful kitchen. Beautiful window.

I would go buy a bunch of white tape and go at it and See if it is want you want.. I think youmay keep from making a big mistake!

I see what you're trying to do and I understand wanting to honor DH's one request. So rather then try to convince you to keep the wood tone... how about BM HC 115? I think the 82 may be too violet against the greens in the window.

Here are a couple of attempts at photoshopping two of the suggestions; I hope this helps give you an idea. I really like tzmaryg's idea of keeping the wood "frame" around the stained glass. JMHO but I think all white just makes the stained glass float and doesn't give it that special attention it should receive.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

well, i'm with you in that i don't like the stained wood either. and like so many others, i vote for white. as for gray, i wouldn't introduce a color that is not found anywhere else.

white makes sense and it will look great! good luck and please post a pic after you decide.

Lyno, you're amazing!!! Thanks you so much for the photoshopped versions. Once I see it, I really don't like the all white. It looks kind of bland an washed out. But I AM intrigued by the top picture with the frame left wood and the rest painted. Is that the answer?

Golddust -- I always love a suggestion that involves flea markets and ebay! We do have some other wood elements in the kitchen already, they're mostly just on the other side of the kitchen. Next to the fridge, we have a butcher block table and next to the stove I have an old walnut cabinet for spices. I also want to add something on the wall above the microwave, maybe a small cabinet or shelf unit. I just haven't found the right thing. Whatever I find could be wood as well.

A couple of you have suggested bringing in color or patterns elsewhere to tie things together. I guess I have really plain taste. I feel like there is SO MUCH going on in the kitchen already. I've been collecting ironstone plates and platters that I've thought about hanging on the walls in the kitchen and breakfast room, but they're all solid white, LOL.

I really appreciate everybody thinking about my space. I'm definitely going to take peytonroad's advice to mock up my ideas in advance before pulling out the brush.

Here's a link to more pictures of the kitchen and breakfast room. I'm still far from decided, so keep the input coming if you have it! Thanks guys. GardenWeb rocks!!

Here is a link that might be useful: arlosmom's kitchen

Lyno's first picture is the perfect solution, imo..... showcases the glass piece well, it looks like it was intended to be that way from the start.

I'm thinking that the trim around that window needs to be mahogany rather than white and that a green wall paint would be more complementary to the red shades in the wood. Or a khaki paint color that tends to green & that might tie everything together. (The current wall color reads as bending towards grey/ black tones on my monitor.)

Another vote for Lynn's first rendering. It really showcases the beautiful stained galss.

Arlosmom, your home is really spectacular! Thanks for sharing more pix.

Eliz

I don't have any solution because I love your window. Painting pine is okay, but Mahogony is so expensive and rare in comparison. Your kitchen is my dream kitchen, including the window. Perfection.

I'm with ci_lantro. I think that, before you paint the window, which would be nearly impossible to undo, try painting the walls a different color. I'd go with something a little warmer. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the current color, but I think it clashes with the mahogany. Perhaps if you had a wall color that didn't clash, you'd like the mahogany trim better. It might be worth a try, and you could always go back to the current wall color and paint the mahogany instead if you didn't like it.

Of the photoshopped versions, I prefer the one that leaves the stained trim around the stained glass.

Hmmm. Painting the kitchen would be a LOT of work, with all of that cutting in around everything. I'm not ruling it out though. If I do decide to repaint, what would you suggest? I might be open to a rich dull gold that would pick up the reds from the heart pine floors and the mahogany window and pull in the oranges from the stained glass. Could that work with all the green in the glass though? I gravitate to dull and muted colors...I'm just not a perky-color person.

Also, the beadboard in the back of the upper cabinets is a robins-egg-aqua-ish color and I definitely want that to stay the color it is. I'm also not up to painting the cabinets again. They were enough of an ordeal the first time around.

I had a lot of color picking the wall color I have now. As much as I love the stained glass, it's hard to match with wall colors that I want to live with. I find picking colors to be extremely challenging so I'm open to suggestions. I have both Ben Moore fan decks, as well as Duron's. Other people collect fine china. I collect paint fan decks. :)

I see 2 options: 1) paint it white (a "shame" but called for if you don't do option #2), or 2) stain the floor and the other window(s) the same color as this one. By repeating the color it becomes a design statement rather than "I didn't have the heart to cover the wood." ( Sorry if I repeat myself, there were too many posts to read). By the way, it's ABSOLUTELY gorgeous.

Actually, sort of a "rich dull gold" would be exactly the direction I would go. I agree that it would be a lot of work, but maybe you could just test it out on the wall immediately surrounding the window? If you like it, keep going, and it you don't, there's less to repaint. Perhaps some paint color photoshopping is in order! :)

Just butting in to say: (a) gorgeous kitchen - I remember it from when you posted your pics a year or so ago because of that gorgeous window, (b) I second your decision not to paint at least all of it since figure 2 in lyno's rendition looks too "cottage"/"housewife decoration" and is not particularly appealing. I hear you that the window as it is might be a little too something, I don't know what. But painting it white is just disappearing the window - as you've already said.

I don't actually have much of a suggestion for what you should do but I'd like to weigh in on some of the suggestions:
- that mahogany window is a different style (casement vs. double hung) and with a different grid than the others. So I don't think painting/staining the other windows like the mahogany will help matters.
- Repainting the walls : I'm NO colour expert but I think ci_lantro's suggestion was to go the green-toned way.

Lastly, my one suggestion is to try to see if you could lighten the mahogany - either with a stain or a wash or a bleach (not sure there is such a thing but whatever it is that is used to lighten stained wood).

I know you've already decided to paint it, so I should just keep my mouth shut, but I think you have a beautiful kitchen, and the window, exactly as it is, is magnificent, and is a large part of why your kitchen is so beautiful.

It is not because you "don't paint mahogany" that I wouldn't paint it. It is because I think the darker, warm wood brings out the beauty of the stained glass, and accentuates the beauty of the custom window in a way that the other combinations you are considering don't. It is like a frame around a piece of art.

I think it warms up your kitchen, makes a real focal point, and I just love it. I think in the photoshopped versions, the window goes from extraordinary to ordinary. Sorry, I don't usually say something if I don't have something nice to say, but I have experience with painted beautiful wood, and I just have to say it. I think for sure, as you thought also, that painting it all white would be a mistake, but I think even in just painting part of it white, while better, it still diminishes the beauty of the whole tableau.

I live in an old Victorian house, where over the course of its 115-year life, most of the beautiful wood has been painted over. I can understand where the instinct comes from -- when I go into houses with all their original dark woodwork, there is something a bit dark and dreary about it. But I wish the previous owners hadn't painted all of it, so many times. We thought over time we'd be able to strip a lot of it back to its original beauty, but I doubt it will ever happen.

We have a room that has a beautiful huge bay window with a window seat, with incredible woodwork all around it. We had it professionally stripped. Unfortunately, it cost a lot of money, took a lot of time, and the quality of the wood underneath is not as nice as I would have hoped. Not the quality of the actual wood, I don't know the species, but it is nice. It is just a little beat up etc. Maybe that's why it was painted, or maybe the paint did the damage. Anyway, despite the damage to the wood, it still looks wonderful, so much nicer than the white painted wood that was there before. All the rest of the wood trim in that room is white, and I worried at first that it would look out of place, but we couldn't go through stripping the rest of the wood, at least not yet. After a while, we decided having the different color wood trim offset the beauty of that window and its seat beautifully.

To me, that is how your kitchen window looks, like its own element in a kitchen with a lot of beautiful elements. Like a painting on a wall.

I'm sorry to be obnoxious, but I live with the fact that once wood is painted, it is awfully hard to unpaint it and truly return it to its original glory.

I assume 37 followups already represent a lot of yes-no votes, so I'll throw another one on the Paint-It Pile. For sure. Handsome as it is, it looks like your contractor accidentally installed a part meant for another home on yours.

I'm so glad to read that you are open to repainting your walls a different color. I know what a pain this is. I'm the painter in this house and I'll be repainting the kitchen soon. And the ceiling for the first time. I'm not looking forward to this but it must be done.

Do any of your local paint stores have a color expert/designer on-staff or have recommendations for someone? I couldn't be happier with the woman I found through my local paint store. She came to my house and looked around, listened to my concerns and wishes, and then picked 3 colors for me: a rich red, a soft gold and a deep robins egg blue. They were perfect! Her fee was very reasonable - cheaper than multiple quarts of try-it-on-and-see paint (I tried 15 colors before settling on the perfect green for my bedroom, should have hired her sooner) not to mention time saved and angst averted.

The gold was not a color I had considered - or ever would have - but it was the perfect choice for the space. It warmed up the North-facing entry and living room and it complimented my existing furniture, art and antique quilts. I would have tried for a perfect match and that would have been the wrong choice.

GWers have great advice but since colors never look true over computer monitors, what looks good to our eyes might not be the right one for your space. You need someone to see it IRL. With the guidance of a color expert, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised that a new wall color solves your quibbles with the mahogany.

Good luck!

Just to throw my two cents in...

I really like Lyno's solution with the dark trim remaining around the stained glass and the rest being painted white. Good luck!

I vote for leaving the window as it is, and to play with wall colors and complementary items.

As a second choice I would go for the first photo shopped option (lyno is a genius! ; ) ). The all white looks like any other kitchen. At least yours has some personality! I love it!

I would definitely not go with black.

OK, so I'm leaning toward mocking up two different options that I can live with for a while -- kind of like bayareafrancy's backsplash of index cards that I think she had up for about a year!

I'll cut and tape paper over the mahogany, but NOT the frame immediately around the stained glass (lyno's first photo-shopped picture). I'm still not sure that white is the way to go even if I do paint the trim. I seem to be about the only gardenwebber who is resisting white, LOL.

I will also buy a sample or two of wall color options, but I think I'll paint them on large posterboard or something that I can cut to size, tape up and take down easily. I have the BM classic fan deck in front of me, and I'm looking at colors like chestertown buff (hc-9), mustard seed (222), and sombrero (249). I just have so much trouble visualizing the tiny color swatch on entire walls. I don't think I want anything greener than I already have (what I have is pretty much olive) because I think it will make the mahogany look even more red. Does anyone have a warm, dull gold that they love? I think I could maybe embrace a warm, dull gold.

So even though I'm open to playing with the wall color, I have doubts. I keep coming back to the same place -- the mahogany is the only thing in the kitchen that I just don't like! I don't like the deep red color (although I adore the red of the heart pine floors in the whole house). If the window were walnut, I think I'd love it. But I will be open-minded! I will mock up options!

{{!gwi}}

Oh, for goodnesssakes, Arlosmom. It's easy to see how you ended up with this thing you never liked in the first place, then lived with it for a year. But now you're planning on living with it still longer even though you know you "just don't like it/caved in/too dark/doubt/too red/not sure/doubts/don't like the deep red color," and so on?!

Wby on earth bother trying out a wall color chosen only to try to make it look not so much like itself? Any new color should be chosen because you love it.

You're not trying to develop a new healthcare system here, you know, you're just fixing up your own little Susie Homemaker kitchen the way you like it.

As for how you got in this situation in the first place, in spite of a fair amount of silliness spouted on the subject, there is NO virtue or special morality in playing up wood grain and no sin, even of taste, in painting wood when that's what is right for you. Best wishes in achieving your own basic KitchenForum right, the kitchen you always wanted.

I agree! Keep the wall color, which is gorgeous and I say that not just because I have almost the exact same color on my walls, and paint all but that frame around the glass white. If mahogany becomes so rare that your windows are the last remnants of it in the world, scientists can find a way to remove that paint. In the meantime, you should have what you want.

Did you ever hear the saying "ignore sunk cost"? It refers to our tendency to think about what's already done (i.e., the extra money for the mahogany) when considering the future, even though it has no bearing. Will the next year (or even month) be happier for you because you have what you want or because you keep having what you don't want to "honor" the choice you made that you regret?

Putting it like that, it's clear painting makes sense! And I love just having that frame around the glass. It looks terrific. I love your kitchen!

Here are 2 examples of what we did to showcase leaded glass and stained glass windows in our kitchen. I have 3 different areas where we used them as transoms. In each I left the original frame on the window but the built in molding matches the rest of the kitchen. I hope this helps.

The photoshop of the window with the dark wood and the rest white does look very nice.

Rosie, you're right. A bit blunt perhaps, but right. It makes no sense putting all the energy into trying to live with the one thing that I don't like. Mahogany -- gone, done, off the table.

Nesting, yup, ignore sunk costs. Plus, the mahogany is only there for its rot resistance, so it has fulfilled its purpose in life. Now I don't want to look at it no more, no more!

Trailrunner, thanks so much for the pictures. I haven't seen your pictures for a long time and I'd forgotten your great stained glass. The first picture especially helps. I'd love for you and I to do "salvage tours" of each other's houses. DH and I were at the Brass Knob in DC just yesterday looking at treasures.

Rosie, you're right. A bit blunt perhaps, but right. It makes no sense putting all the energy into trying to live with the one thing that I don't like. Mahogany -- gone, done, off the table.

Nesting, yup, ignore sunk costs. Plus, the mahogany is only there for its rot resistance, so it has fulfilled its purpose in life. Now I don't want to look at it no more, no more!

Trailrunner, thanks so much for the pictures. I haven't seen your pictures for a long time and I'd forgotten your great stained glass. The first picture especially helps. I'd love for you and I to do "salvage tours" of each other's houses. DH and I were at the Brass Knob in DC just yesterday looking at treasures.

I am glad it helped you visualize. A "salvage tour" would be fun ! I wish I needed more for the house. I still have to finish the glider outside and I have the old chair and 3 old windows...need more time and inspiration.

I don't know the Brass Knob. What kinds of things do they specialize in?

I never get tired of looking at your home. You have such wonderful taste. c

Yes, both of your houses look wonderful-- I love the mix of older and newer, and the respect for original stuff. I got a little pang seeing that sink-- I had an old sink like that before the remodel. It had some quirks, like a weird plastic thing around the faucet that someone in 1945 thought looked modern and great and that probably stayed unbroken for maybe 5 years, that made it really tough to reuse it, but it had a lot of charm. It was tougher than my new stainless steel one, that's for sure.

Arlosmom, you sound so much happier!

I like it the way it is.

What if you stained the wood a different wood tone if it feels too 'red' to you?

I agree that if you have to paint it, I would try white first. You may lose some of the impact of the stained glass if you went with a color.

I didn't read every word of the above suggestions, but I don't think this option was presented:

In my area, many nice old homes have the surrounding window painted the trim color (white, in your case) but the cross pieces of the window and wood touching the glass painted black.

It's a very smart look. If I do say so myself. I have it on my own house!

This might help with the "too much white" situation. You could also substitute another color for the black if that intrigues you. I see dark greens, or occasionally barn red or, rarely, ochre as I wander around. But black is most common.

Your kitchen looks beautiful. Love the sink and the cutout!

One thing that (I don't think) has been mentioned - you can jel stain over stain/poly. So perhaps you could change the 'tone' of the wood and take away the red in it. Just a thought as another option.

General Finishes has awesome jel stain.

It's true that if the wood had a darker, almost black-ish walnut tone that it would blend right in with the kitchen and you would probably like it better. Can anyone photoshop that? It would be fun to see!

I didn't read all the responses so please forgive me if I am repeating. When I first saw your kitchen, I absolutely loved it, but I did think the wood in the window looked a bit out of place in your kitchen. It looked really pretty on it's own though and didn't say anything. But since your asking :)... my first thought was the window would look better stained dark, very dark. IMHO, the dark color would bring out the stained glass better and the darker color would go better with your white/black/grey combo. If I remember correctly you have other dark windows/trim in your house.

If you wanted to stain it darker you can strip off the poly or just scuff it up and put on a gel stain. Someone on here did that to their cabinets and they turned out beautiful.

Very glad to hear it, Arlosmom, and good for you for going ahead and finishing your kitchen the way you had always planned it. I know that wonderful feeling of walking into a room that just makes you happy to be there.

And, as you say, the material IS serving the purpose you chose it for and will continue to do so for many years--years when you won't perversely be serving it instead.

Wow! I was gone yesterday, when last I saw this there were only 27 posts! I tried to read through all of them, but I'm not sure I caught everything. I tried photoshopping Cilantro's green idea and Holligator's dull gold and a black frame around the stained glass like trailrunner's. I picked the green & gold out of the stained glass; I'm not sure how'll they'll look on everyone's monitors, especially the gold. Sorry, but I only "painted" around the window on the gold.

No matter which you decide to do, IMHO the stained glass needs to retain some sort of frame, either the current wood or black. I'm still partial to tzmaryg's idea of the bottom part of the window white and leaving the top part they way it is; that is also a bit of a compromise with your DH. But others have suggested a gel to tone down the redness of the mahogany. Any scraps of the mahogany around to experiment with? Or for the green, maybe the color of your dishes. Sorry, I'm not much help other than trying to give you a mock up and even that may be showing up a little too bright! I hope it helps some, though!

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I like the idea of painting the casements white and restaining the frame around the stained-glass window in a very dark, almost black color.

I think I'd sell my house and start over somewhere else before I could bring myself to paint that beautiful wood... Heck, I'd probably redo all my other windows to match. LOL.

But to each her own. It is your house after all. :)

lyno, thanks so much for the additional photoshop pictures. They reinforced for me that it isn't the wall color/window combination that I don't like -- it's the window. The first image you mocked up is the winner for me. I'll keep the frame immediately around the stained glass wood (and it's a wood I'm happy with) and paint the rest. White to start with.

johnplace, I feel that way about the 105 year old extinct chestnut and the heart pine floors in the original part of the house. I don't feel that way about the newly built window in the addition.

Plus, if I were to change my mind at this point, rosie would have my hide. :)

What I really like about the white frame in the mock-ups (and I agree with retaining a frame around the stained glass), is that it lets the carefully chosen and beautiful elements in your kitchen (the stained glass window, the sink, the soapstone counters, the pine floors, and the cooker) into focus too. Your eye no longer goes to the window directly, instead it happily goes from one element to the next discovering all the glorious details.

I agree with all you guys that Lyno's top mockup does look really nice. Although all white would be very handsome too, this design accents and sets off the stained glass while echoing the dark tone of the stove and counter. I've always thought this kitchen was one of the extra special ones, but with the window harmonizing with and balancing the importance of the stove area it's going to be amazing.

OF the new batch lyno just posted today, I really like the first one with the deep green and mostly white molding. I think it's the best of all worlds. Very classic looking but still gives some extra accent/focus without being too bold. To me, it looks "authentic" whatever that means.
great kitchen, great window, and wonderful photoshopping!!

I'm with sheilaaus122. I like the first one lyno posted yesterday. Mostly white with deep green around the stained glass. If you decide to leave the wood around the stained glass, I would gel stain it darker to blend with the soapstone more. Gorgeous kitchen!