We used SW Simply Beige in all rooms of house to keep the palette neutral for now. The boys wanted blue and we wanted to keep it light and airy, so we chose SW Rarified Air. The best way to choose is to take the paint sample chips to the house and put the contenders up on at least 2 walls in the rooms to be painted to see what the colors will look like in your space with your lighting. Whatever the color looks like in the store, it is guaranteed not to look the same in your house--different mix of natural and artificial light and shadows. Once painted, definitely give the paint a few days to completely dry and make sure the trim is also painted before deciding whether or not the color works for you. Hope this helps!

Chinese made high gloss is scary to me! Word to the wide. I can tell you horror stories about high gloss that scratches within hours of installation. Shaw makes a nice line thats not super shiny but shiny and holds up beautifully. Armstrong holds up but there are noise issues it appears with the locking system. Same with Bruce. Lamett has had some issues. Look at Shaw. I cant think of they style name of it. Yep its call Luminaire..it just came to me... a good product and they stand behind it. Food for thought.

My experience with white painted wood cabinets is that they hang in there pretty well. Well made and finished white cabs are pretty tough- and by tough, I mean strong. Mine didn't ding easily despite toys, baseballs, mini-hockey sticks, etc. The challenge isn't even the day-to-day cleaning. The greatest challenge is the spills and drips that can settle into applied moldings or that get by you right away and get on the base molding. Those can dirty things up pretty quickly and they are awkward to clean (from a contorted position on the floor and not at eye level with minimal lighting). As we demo'd our kitchen it was interesting to note how muck ickier things got as you went further and further away from eye-level. Eeeek!Certainly, a more diligent cleaner than i would have done better at getting those spills more quickly! And would those things still have happened on stained wood? Of course, they just wouldn't have been as noticeable! On the other hand if you are reusing appliances (and I did some of my mine) you can always paint them. I have a friend who was recently divorced and bought a house with oak cabinets and almond appliances. She painted everything black and it looks amazing! Also, if all new appliances aren't in the budget, look to Craigs list and the internet for better pricing. Our cooktop, stainless steel dishwaswher and stainless french door fridge came from CL and totalled under $1000.

I like the table idea, and the gluing to MDF would look neat with a picture frame around it. All your puzzles sound neat and fun! As far as the puzzles that have different shapes you mentioned. I would coat them with diamond glaze or resin and make earrings and pendants. Have you ever heard of 'smuzzles'? I think that's the correct name they go by. Anyway they are small puzzles that all the pieces are the same shape. I saw them one time years ago at a educational type shop and how neat they were. Wish I had one now to make jewelry.