hi - i am in the middle of a bathroom remodel (see my blog page below if you're interested) and we are ready to prime/paint. we have new drywall on about half of the walls & ceiling, and i assume builder's white on the other walls & ceiling. our new "ceiling" is really a big soffit of sorts, over our tub and a skinny "beam" where the 2 rooms used to be divided. we did it this way so that we wouldn't have to match the texture on the original ceiling... plus it adds some character. this new ceiling is flat new drywall. the original ceiling is textured - not popcorn/cottage cheese, but more like they put wet drywall mud up there & smooshed it with something round, then pulled the round thing off & left some peaks & valleys. not sure what that's called... but we figure it should be repainted to look cohesive, but i don't know if that needs to be sprayed, if i can do it cleanly diy or if a pro should do it. i am having a pro do my living room/hall/kitchen walls because of all the different cutting in & heights it requires, so i'll have him in the house anyway. ceilings & "beam" will be some kind of white; walls will be dark blue. so that was another question... i bought the zinsser bulls eye primer, at least for the first coat. should i get a tinted primer & do a second coat of primer since it's new drywall? or just the zinsser? i found my blue at lowes, so i thought i'd go ahead & use valspar... do i just ask for mildew-cide in it? thanks! lisa here's a glimpse of the new & old ceilings Here is a link that might be useful: my bathrooms forum blog

I would leave the cabinets alone. That dark-wood look you want is about 5 years gone already. I also don't know how you'll be able to tackle the amount of work involved with painting cabinets when you don't have the time to clear your clutter. Your clutter says to me you don't have any spare time. Also, I don't advise the "black stainless" appliance finish if that's what you meant by "dark stainless steel". It's just low-cost painted-on black and will scratch. I feel like each day this forum gets a dozen posts saying people are buying the black stainless - the manufacturers must be pushing it very hard for that much of an avalanche of buyers for that finish. Just get regular stainless appliances; it'll look better and you'll be better off in the long run. New lighting, de-cluttering, stainless appliances, and removing tchotchkes from on top of the cabinets will do a lot toward making your kitchen look more current and fresh.

SW 7028 incredible white. It’s a soothing white - I didn’t want stark. I went against designer idea to match the crown molding / trim to cabinet color. I wanted variance-cabinets to be their own thing- glad I listened to my gut because it’s a ton of cabinets to not like-it’s really a great color- looks great with the satin bronze hardware.

Looking at these as possible cabinet colors. Are these too dark? Will it be enough contrast from my gauntlet gray walls? 1 Popular Gray 2 Repose Gray (too green?l 3 On the Rocks 4 Big Chill 5 Grayish