I paint furniture for a living and, I. Love. Chalk Paint. I do use other things though, but when given the choice, I will choose Annie Sloan Chalk Paint any day of the week. I can get 5 medium size pieces or three large (dresser size) pieces out of one can. With the light colors I need two coats, some darker I can use just one, or if I am going very distressed, I use one. I have used both water base poly as a finish and also wax, depending what the use will be. Poly does tend to turn lighter yellowish color on lighter colors. Wax feels better it is smooth and yummy feeling. I have 4 not-very-delicate boys in my house and it has held up fine. I made some homemade chalk paint for the first time yesterday using calcium carbonate powder. I didn't hate it, but it is not the same. I hope it is not against the rules, but, I have a blog that shows my furniture and almost all of it is done with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I think it's worth every penny. Here is a link that might be useful: The Shabbiest Chick

loribee - thanks for the response and the moral support. Your home is one that inspired me to try to switch things out for the new season. I've never done too much in the past, well at least not enough that my draperies were going to impact the lighter look. Going to give it a shot this year. You seem to pull it off so effortlessly. Once I removed all of the Christmas decorations, etc., I wanted to change things up a bit. I love my SW Blonde walls, and there's no way I am going to convince DH that we need to paint most of our first floor for my whim, lol. With the reds, burgandies and golds, I feel like a break from that for the warmer months. I found so many great blue and green toned accessories, it was only on my drive home that I started to panic about the drapery currently in place. While I don't want to put out alot of $$ on new window treatments, I also don't want it to look odd either. I keep trying to find rooms with a similar wall color and blue and/or green accessories or drapery. I remember this feeling when I decided on the SW Blonde but have a huge collection of pewter and was unsure of how the pewter would play with the Blonde walls. The pewter worked in perfectly as I have a few pewter pieces that sport brass accents on the pieces. I've finally reconciled the pewter with the SW Blonde from the standpoint that in the colonial days, pewter was what most homes primarily used, and many homes were painted in a similar gold tone. Of all colors available, the aqua mist seemed to make the most sense with the accessories I've just purchased. Also, the price was so reasonable. Now I am trying to envision that color against the paint. I am thinking that if the aqua mist doesn't work, I guess I could go back to the soft gold Lisette pinch pleated sheers that were replaced by my current drapes. I probably should have started with the drapery rather than the pretty pillow in blues and greens that caught my eye at Pier I. Thank you again for responding!

linelle - Painting the DW was pretty painless. DH removed the door panel, which also has the sides on it on my KA model, and I took it out back and scrubbed it with soapy water, rinsed well and let dry. Then, I lightly scuffed with fine grit sandpaper like 180 or 220 and wiped down with a dry, lint free cloth. Sprayed first coat and let dry, then sprayed second coat and let dry. DH put the panel back on and you can see the result below. As I said though, I want to try and see if I can paint the plastic part at the top with that Krylon paint that fuses with plastic so it won't wear off. The door latch is in that part (obviously) and gets touched a lot so I want something that will last. The appliance epoxy I used was a Rustoleum product. It looks so much better painted than the white is used to be, but not nearly as nice as an actual SS DW will when I can afford it. I'm planning to paint my fridge also with the same paint at some point as it is all white too. Much bigger job than just the DW door panel, however. Before: After with partial backsplash install.

Quick answers ;) are: 1. shaker/inset 2. black island, regardless of size. It's a nice, contrasty, old fashioned but edgy look and will pick up on lots of black that you'll have in the kitchen due to appliances and other things you'll most likely have like picture frames or what have you. Well, this is assuming you don't do very dark cabinets on the walls but if you're going to do stained cabs then I would do a painted island. 3. I used to think I would say no ice and water in-door but now that I have my Samsung counter-depth fridge w/ dual ice makers including ice and water in-door, I can't IMAGINE ever ever ever going back! The key is to research (I know...we're all sick of researching!) and find a fridge that has good customer reviews re. the in-door water and ice feature. If the worst complaint you get is that there isn't enough ice or that it makes noise when it ice falls into the lower bin, that's a great fridge. And w/ some models such as mine, you'll have enough ice (RFG 238 which can only be bought at Lowe's, I'm sorry to say...but there may be other companies out there who have similar features). If you're selling right away then it doesn't matter but if this is for you guys, have the luxury of ice and water in door unless you're not really into cold water and crunchy ice. I think I must have an iron deficiency cause I can never have enough ice! ;) Of course if you're going for a high-end fridge like Sub-Zero that's a whole other animal.