Thanks B3914! Paint is one of those subjects that no two people will have the same opinion on! * My catch-phrase is "There's lots of good paints out there...ACE-Royal is one of them"! * Is it "C2-level"?...No. Is it "Aura-level"?...No * Will it serve the needs of 90% of the people...YES! * It IS kinda neat though...that ACE makes their own paint...in their OWN plants, in Chicago. Primer: * For the BEST look from a "sheened" paint, I'd use the ACE-Royal Enamel Undercoater, SKU #16512 I think... * It's a heavier primer, and will do much better on wood too...relative to the cheaper PVA (drywall-only) primers. * Applied @ correct thickness, it's rated as a light vapor-barrier film too. * You could use Zinsser's 123 Latex also...or my favorite C2-One primer! C2's is MUCH less odor than the 123. Ceiling-paint: Flip a coin! HOWEVER...the little packet of Photo-reactive BLUE dye that gets added to Simply-Magic does smell like Cocoa!!! * For higher ceilings, the "baby-blue" shade makes it easy to see skips. * In 2 or 3 days, it fades to white. * DON'T tell anyone though...let-'em think you're painting the ceiling blue!!! ;-) Faron

We always take care to use the word "washable" when we talk to customers about a paint being...well...washable! Although most people may just use them interchangeably, some seem to think you can literally use a scrub-brush! Or, believing that really leaning into it is OK!! Treat a "wall-washing" like you would do your own face! Gentle to medium-firm washing motions...let the DETERGENTS/water do the work. Since Michael got me into using Dirtex powder, I just use a good sponge that doesn't shed, and gently wash an area. I keep a towel in my pocket so I can wipe off water that gets onto the baseboards. I use a lighter pressure, and don't have my sponge dripping wet. This keeps the water from getting on the baseboards in the first place... We get lots of nice comments on ACE's Sensations-Flat/Matte. Like any paint, it reaches full-cure/washability in about a month. Faron

Hi jmcgowan, Can't wait to see your F&B Pointing painted cabinets. Pointing was one of our top choices -- such a beautiful color! Our kitchen isn't that big by kitchen standards these days (it is 274 square feet). So the calm continuity of the same color on cabinets and trim works well in our ''smaller'' space. In general, however, I do like the play of different shades of white layered together in a room. So I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with picking a different white for the trim. In some cases it might add the depth or slight contrast that the room needs. My sense from your drawing is that your kitchen is quite a bit larger; perhaps that is why your architect thinks that in your space having different trim and cabinet colors will work well. I'd encourage him to tell you a bit more about his thinking on this. Again, he may well be right. In any case, once your cabinets are installed, if you decide you want to match (or not match) you can make that decision at that time. As for the counters, we had some rough ideas about what our counter top colors/material might be before we ordered the paint color for our cabinets; but we didn't know for sure. That was a bit of a gamble.

If I had a negative emotional response about something that was "essential" to the house, some key feature that would be difficult to change without significant expense, or if it was something that really couldn't be changed successfully, I would probably not buy the house, in all honesty. I would not reject a house out of hand for having bad wallpaper or paint colors I didn't like, or even granite countertops I didn't like. But, if I didn't like the wood beamed ceilings in a house, I would probably pass on the house. Or there would have to be something so particularly perfect about it in some other way , that I could live with them (probably as is or with minor changes) .. But I don't know that there is such a shortage of houses that I would be forced into buying something I really didn't want. A modernist house is usually particularly "pushy" about what it is, and I think that is one of the reasons a lot of people don't like them. Most people are pretty vocal about hating them. (And don't seem to think this is at all insulting to the people that own them.) They are inflexible. They don't adapt as well to change as a non-commital generic-transitional kind of house. Those are actually pretty easy to remodel and redecorate and to change. No amount of crown moulding or chair rail or windows with muntins would turn the house in question into anything traditional-looking and believe me, people try to do this often. And that's where the euphemistic "do what you love" often comes into play. Because it often means "disregard the hand you were dealt". Most of "do what you love" is an outgrowth of not liking the house they are giving advice about. I know we are not talking about crown moulding and chair rail specifically here, but we are still talking about changing a Major element here in a way that will be pretty much irreversible here and Much harder to undo than restoring them would be from this starting point. It's a significant dilution of what the essence of this house is. It may absolutely be necessary. But it should be given more than a cursory "go ahead, it's yours". My delivery is pretty abrupt and to the point, but the people who get on my case about how insulting I am kind of miss the whole aspect that I don't really give advice based upon what I like or don't like as much as I give advice based upon what the existing conditions are telling me what is probably the best thing to do. I guide people through a series of choices I would never pick for myself all the time. That's really irrelevant. What is relevant is what there is already there to work with.