Hi, so glad to find this forum. Help! I guess you would call my husband and I 'gluttons for punishment', as over some time, we've restored an 1898 Queen Anne Victorian 3-story gingerbread home, redone a beautiful 1980's home (pretty structure but awful 'cosmetics'), and now are working on a 1971 roomy home on a big treed lot, the lot being the reason we bought the home. The room I'm thinking of has dark, dark paneling in the room the former owners used for a game room; we've used it as my husband's study but are about to turn it into a media room. The paneling is DARK, but it is that good, high quality dark walnut...I've really gone back and forth about what to do with it. The house has straight modern lines but really, with a few major changes, could look very '1910 Arts and Crafts/Edwardian', so my goal has been to add much wider baseboards, wider and 'crowned' window & door trims and eventually transform the whole house. The home's original 'bones' lend itself to that nicely...AND I have so many antique furnishing from our Victorian house days, that I needed to figure out a look in which my things can work. 1971 doesn't do it, and since the Edwardian Era followed the Victorian, I figure, why wouldn't that work for me now? Our lot is gorgeous, and houses can always be changed. I've really debated about what to do: paint over the paneling, OR mud the seams and paint over it, OR take it down and dry-wall then texturize it, and more...BUT knowing it's quality, I'm now thinking of 'white washing' or 'glazing' it with some type of colored wood-stain/or light glaze that would let the pretty quality of the wood come through, yet give us a lighter look. I'd LOVE to know if anyone knows of a good product to use/ or knows how to do this or has seen this done. PICTURES WOULD BE SUPER if anybody has any! It's dreadfully dark in that room. The room is also our main computer/office room, so even though the dark paneling could come in handy for watching movies (once it's a media room), it is drearily dark for any other purpose. Any feedback or ideas are WELCOMED! My dilemma now is, since we're shooting for that Arts/Crafts 1910 look, which the bones of the house can well adapt to...1970's paneling doesn't do the trick.

First of all, thanks to all of you that responded. Im going to try and answer all of your questions and hopefully the design will make more sense.  rob_p "Presumably the wall behind the cooktop is high enough to protect from inadvertent hands going over it from the stairs and touching a hot pan?" ---Yes, thatÂs why we placed it in the middle. The stairs going down are steep and by the time you get to the cooktop area, not even a 6 adult can reach over. The ½ wall is 3/4s of the way around the basement stairs and itÂs 42" tall. "The only thing I'd change is to go to a standard fridge rather than the french door, and move it left next to the pantry. This would give you a landing counter between the fridge and the ovens to drop groceries and or hot stuff from the oven." ---I had it that way in the original plan, but I had concerns about entry into the kitchen. There are two ways to get into the kitchen: (1) through a narrow passage immediately next to the stairs and through a doorway size opening into the DR. If we move the refrigerator from the middle of that wall to the left corner, it will block traffic coming up the stairs into the kitchen as well as traffic coming into the kitchen from the front door and the hallway (behind the pantry) that leads to the bedrooms. ---I figured that if we have it in the middle of the wall and it was FD, the refrig would not eat up a lot of floor space when open and wouldnÂt eer block the entry. I was hoping that it wouldnÂt be that much of a pain to have the "sink wall" behind the oven be my landing pad for hot stuff. Is that a bad idea???  rosie Hi, Capesunseting. I miss those kids-all-over-me days. They used to follow me everywhere, even into the bathroom, a lonely place these days. :) ---Hi Rosie. I hear you! My kids are 5, 3, and15 months. The MAIN reason I wanted to do this renov is b/c I feel trapped in the kitchen and disconnected from the kids when IÂm trying to cook or clean up (which, as a stay at home mom, seems like more than ½ my day!) "You have what looks like a nice setup for a very pleasant compact place to work. I notice that your sink counter is a bit longer on the dining room end than the stove counter. Would it work to extend the stove counter just that much longer and wrap it around the end of the stairwell as shallow lower storage and food serving area? Just those few more inches on the stove run would be very nice to have." ---I totally agree with you and that was my initial design, but after a lot of struggling, my architect helped me realize that it would mean the end to my "dining room" as a real room and would "force" an addition to correct the problem. IÂm a realtor and weÂre in a sought after area 8 miles outside DC. Even in really small houses (ours is a ranch with 1,440 sf on each of two levels), for some reason buyers here always want to have real DRÂs. IÂve seen properties suffer when people change their DR to an extension of their kitchen. So, my compromise is that IÂm going to buy a piece of furniture (may have one made by the kitchen cabinet maker and with same/similar countertop, at counter height) that is basically removable so if my DH gets transferred or we want to move up to a bigger house, I can stage the house with or without it, depending on feedback. "I'm also wondering if it were mine, I might like to switch the dishwasher to the dining room end and slide the stove down that way just a bit too to create a sort of dedicated prep triangle at the other, fridge-stove-sink end, and a cleanup end at the dining end of the sink. One thing I am really liking in my own for-real kitchen is a nice deep sink to drop used pots and dishes out of sight into until I can get to them." ---IÂm not sure I understand what youÂre talking about when you say, "slide the stove down that way just a bit too to create a sort of dedicated prep triangle at the other, fridge-stove-sink end, and a cleanup end at the dining end of the sink." IÂm certainly open to changing the position of the DW, but my thought was people walk into the kitchen, scrape their plates into the trash and hand it to Mommy to put in the DW. Did you mean slide the cooktop over to the right toward the refrig?  jberg "Without seeing how the traffic flows, I am wondering what the doors lead to on the side of the double ovens? I would be concerned with that side, you have a narrow passage, so I would keep the french doors or double door. Depending on how much baking you do, I would opt for a range, rather than a cooktop, slide the frig to the pantry and make the space to the right counter. You could also move your undercounter bev cooler to that wall or have a micro drawer, then you could have drawers for pans on both sides of the range." ---the doors, while not shown on the drawings, will open OUT to a large deck that can be accessed via the kitchen and the DR, so I can have circular flow. The deck may be a phase two item b/c of $ and we didnÂt want to prompt lots of questions when we submitted the plans for bidding w/o showing a deck. I hope that makes sense. ---I am in love with the Advanitum *speed cook* technology (IÂve got 3 kids under 5!), so thatÂs why I have it as a double oven. You are not supposed to put it under a countertop, hence the double oven set up. ---For reasons stated above, if I move the frig out of the middle spot, it severely interferes with the entryways. ---I was including a 2 drawer refrig on the cooktop peninsula b/c it will make the milks, juices, fruit snacks, condiments, deli meat for sandwiches and coffee creamer readily accessible w/o crossing over into the cooks work area.  palimpsest "I think a separate beverage cooler in such a small kitchen with a 36" refrigerator is trading storage space for something that is not really necessary." ---thank you for your honesty. IÂve been wondering about that too, as it could be a big savings on the appliance costs. My main reason is that I was hoping that it would make the milks, juices, fruit snacks, condiments, deli meat for sandwiches and coffee creamer readily accessible w/o crossing over into the cooks work area. And also compensate for the fact that I have to do a counter-depth refrig (canÂt recess it). ---I guess I could give it up, but I wonder, if for flow and keeping kids out of the cooking area if I should just sacrifice the storage???  rhome410 "Will you have enough wall, also, to keep spatters from going over onto the steps? The thought that you'll be able to overlook the stairs doesn't seem safe to me." ---Yes, I think so, the wall will be 42" tall. "Do you need the wall sections at each end of the stove run? They use space that could be cabinet space and block access to the counter, especially from the fridge/pantry end...But, again, it depends on the height of that wall. But if it's short enough so it doesn't block the counter, why have it?" ---great catch! Thank you. I will discuss getting rid of that with the architect. "Love Rosie's suggestion to lengthen the stove run counter and wrap around the front of the stair area." ---As mentioned above, I canÂt do that b/c it will eat into the very NARROW dining room that I have. "I would want to swap dw and trash." ---Why? Not sure I understand. DoesnÂt it make sense to scrape into trash first, rinse in sink and put in DW? "Also wonder about the oven opening into the doorway, but don't know where that goes, so if it's a real concern. Am thinking that with a French door fridge next to the oven, you could dent the right door on the oven handle. A fridge that hinges only on the left would suit better in that configuration. " ---Totally agreed. But, the drawings are not correct in that itÂs supposed to swing OUT onto the future deck. ItÂs complicated. ;-) "Like Palimpset, I would favor more storage to the beverage cooler." ---Would you still feel that way if youÂre trying to keep the little ones from crossing over to the other end to get something out of the refrig? If I didnÂt have little kids, I think maybe I would agree, but IÂm still struggling with that decision. Does that change your mind? IÂm sorry for the long winded responses, but I wanted to make sure I addressed everyoneÂs comments. This forum is so great, but I think b/c my drawings didnÂt show an overview of the adjacent rooms/spaces, it was hard for people to see why I might have made some of the decisions I had. With my answers, IÂm wondering if now you would agree with me or if IÂm still on the wrong track re: appliance placement and need for refrig drawers. Buel, if youÂre out there, IÂd really love to hear your $0.02 too! Thanks so much, everyone!!!

Is another living room the greatest need you have in your house? Will it be for the kids to hang out in? Or a quieter adult retreat? We turned our dining room into a home office with matching desks facing each other placed in the middle of the room, so together they are about the same size as a dining table. It looks like it might be large enough to fit a modestly sized sofa in there, with a small round table with 2-4 chairs that you could use as a gaming table. Any musicians? What about a music room?

hmmm, I dont want to sound rude, but, as a lighting person, it seems nutzo that you didnt change the lighting plan. I see you do use the fan which I understand. But that blaring can shining at the person siting at the head of the table........not good. and the one that is blaring down on the person that sits on the end of the sofa also not good. On top of that, who needs two can lights shining into the tv over the fire place?? Man who ever installed this should have brought these things to light (no pun intended.) I would add two more can lights and one light for over the dining table. Then I would replace the fan with one that has no lights and is all white or cream to blend away and be a touch on the modern side. The table, (yes to a rug) will fit just fine in line with the sliding doors.