I'm sure you are a bit overwhelmed with all these major decisions! It's a good idea to get some feedback from the group here.

My opinions-- Yes to brighter white, brighter brass, new lighter/brighter colors and patterns, natural cork, jute rugs.

Big No to painting your millwork. Yours is beautiful, in a historic home, and it's such a nearly irreversible decision. I might consider painting the coffered ceiling, if anything, because it would make a huge impact. But I still vote no :-)

Big No to very dark hardwoods. They are impossible to keep looking nice, and not historically appropriate.

I have dark hardwoods that were stained this color when the previous owner put the house in the market. I vote no to them. They do look nice. For five seconds after I sweep and mop, until I see more dog hair and dust and. . . . .

Love your choices! Agree with not changing the millwork, I love history and older homes, so I'm a bit biased but really I prefer to maintain the integrity of original build whenever possible. In regards to the dark floors, we have both, oak throughout most of the first floor and Brazilian Walnut in the kitchen and dining room. The walnut is dark,but not as dark as some of these engineered hardwoods and its beautiful. Most importantly, I do not have a problem with everything showing up on it. Maybe it is because of the tone, I dunno, but I really love it. I'm not a huge fan of lighter or really super dark floors. I think with a historical home, I would go with whatever was used during the period that the house was built in.

This is not our house but it is a good picture of what our floors look like, we have solid wood planks and it's a very hard and dense wood, never scratches, seldom dents, always looks great.

Agree with the above.....especially no to dark floors and painting the millwork.

I also agree with the points about the dark hardwoods and no to painting the millwork.

Are you sure you want linen fabric on your major pieces of furniture? It wrinkles pretty badly. I am all for going lighter, with a tweed- type blend. I have a couple of linen throw pillows and they aren't that old, but they really show the wrinkles.

Outside playing, we have a linen slipcovered sofa now (Lee Ind.) and it has held up wonderfully (3 years). I really love it, Maybe I should stick with the same one if other linens don't hold up as well. Another issue is that this is the only fabric in the house that the cat doesn't scratch. I'll have to see if it comes in a lighter colour (but I'm pretty sure not).

lukki, I really like the variation in those floors. That may account for it not showing the dirt as much. Ours are going to be stained on site, so I'm thinking if I start light and it doesn't look right, we may be able to darken it up a bit with more stain.

crl, that is what I am most afraid of. I am willing to put form over function to a certain extent, but I think this is something that would drive me nuts.

mlc, I know! I know! painting the wood may be the end of me. I'm starting to realize that the only way I could paint all of it would be if they wreck it while removing it and have to replace it with new wood.

So if we just paint the coffered ceiling and leave the other millwork as is, could we paint the fireplace? We are planning on having builtins made on either side of the fireplace and I think those will have to be painted. Painted fireplace and builtins with everything else stained? Will that work?

I think I would paint the trim. If I recall from pre-disaster photos of your home, the mill work was dark and heavy and there were lots of different colors of wood between the floors, staircase, and trim.

Historic houses still have to be lived in by current owners, and I think painting your trim a light creamy white would really open up your interiors. You could use darker floors and still have a lighter and brighter aspect to all the rooms. There is nothing inherently wrong with painting wood trim, as it is your house, not a shrine to the former owners who have also remodeled it to suit themselves.

Why don't I come down, we have some coffee and chat. I'd probably be of minimal help though :) but we can complain together.

I can't remember where exactly what area you were in (RH?) but with the historical aspect I probably wouldn't paint too much of what is probably beautiful trim.

A bit darker bit not dark floors sounds nice. Yes to brighter upper cabs.

Hope your designer becomes not MIA and can help you figure this out. It sounds like you are on the right path though. Good luck!

Well, I personally don't think that keeping the integrity of historical millwork is creating a shrine or impeding on how one lives in the present. It is simply an opportunity to have something unique and beautifully interesting. Unlike the typical house of today where everyone has the same millwork and it is all painted white....oh, the variation of course is that in one home it's painted with Benjamin Moore White Dove and another is painted Sherwin Williams Cream.

oh aklvdb, that sounds so lovely. Yes, we are just outside RH. I would so take you up on it if I had 5 minutes to spare (and you know I spend all my spare 5 minutes here on GW). Yesterday I was supposed to go and find out about fireplaces to see if/what we can do to replace ours (old one is not safe figure we might as well do it now) and I started driving kids to lessons and bday parties and didn't get back home until 5.5 hours later. No time for fireplace shopping at all. We've always been proud that we are a one car family, but next weekend we are shopping for a second car.

OMG! I just realized we are now some of those cool people on GW that I've always envied who trade inside landmark jokes and can get together for real life meetings. I thought I'd have to move to the East Coast to attain such status!

I think you live on the other side of the city, but if you are ever driving over the Maryland Bridge during rush hour you can honk at me hauling my tired bones to and from work (the best thing about our rental condo is that I can walk to work everyday - with my kids!).

Haha daisychain! So this is what cool looks like? ;)

Sigh, so I guess you work full time and have a couple kiddos. I work part time and always love to hang on my days off with either friends, my ds or a combo of the 2.

I stay away from busy places during rush hour. I always go out in the am to not get stuck in rush hour say from Polo Park to the north east end of the city! (see how I snuck in that local landmark tidbit?) yes. This is what cool looks like :)

Take it easy, you have it 100 times worse than my little flood in Nov 2013 that is still not done. And I looked up your resto company, seem way more visible than mine! And international! I'm sure yours will go much smoother than ours. And if you ever have time for that coffee, let me know, it would be neat to meet a fellow GWer!