Thank you all for responding. I'm going to take carol from ny's advice and hold off on doing anything until I'm sure of what direction I'm going with my house(don't you love being given permission to procrastinate? lol). My initial, knee jerk reaction was that the cabinet looked like something out of my great-aunt's parlor, but I've taken a second look at the piece and I think it has potential just as it is. It has some interesting variations in the wood, so it's not all dark and formal looking. Although I fully intend to collect Danish Modern for my house, that doesn't mean I can't find a corner for a nice, dark piece of furniture. It's tall, it has a locking front cabinet door, two drawers, three shelves and it's really just a neat(and functional) piece of furniture. And not too deep either, which is very important when you're trying to furnish a ranch house with small rooms. If I style it in a modern way, I think I can modernize it without painting or staining it. Thanks also for the gel stain suggestions. I've got an old, dark desk that was a graduation present that I had intended to paint white(definitely not an heirloom quality piece here) but y'all've gotten me thinking I should try the gel stain idea first to see if that will give it new life. Thanks again!

I have used AS chalk paint on several pieces. At first it was to see what the excitement was all about, and I bought only sample jars when they were much less expensive than they are now. The sheen is VERY FLAT, and personally, I don't care for it without wax. I have not bought the AS waxes, but I have Butcher's Wax in clear, and Briwax in both light brown and dark brown. All of them protect and (to me) enhance the appearance of the chalk paint. This was a black and gold CL mirror that I did in blues and grays in AS chalk paint. I then used Briwax in dark brown to get into the carvings and add a bit of sheen to the mirror. BEFORE - AFTER - I experimented last year with a maple bureau that I bought from Craigslist. I put on patches of several colors (both chalk paint and regular latex in different brands). What I found was that the chalk paint stuck to the unsanded finish like glue. When I made my decision to go with a chalk paint color, I found that I could easily remove the latex paints by just running my fingernail over them. THAT is what I like about the chalk paints on furniture vs. the other types. This is the bureau that I mentioned above, still in progress. I used AS Paris Gray, and I am decoupaging fabric to the drawer fronts. In order to preserve the color match between paint and fabric here, I will use the butcher's wax in clear when I finish this one. I am replacing the knobs with chunky 'English style' knobs that I have painted in the AS Paris Gray. And before I started it, in the seller's garage -

erosenst, you are not going to get a lot of response to decorating a house you don't even own yet and may not even get it. If/when you get the house, post pics of the space and ask for advice. Go room by room. Asking for whole house, blank slate decorating advice is too vauge. The fabric on eBay is probably not even going to be around by the time it would be needed. If you need furnishings fast and cheap, in the trasitional style, try Target. Although home_decorator_guy may be trying to drive folks to his site at least he did offer some good advice in his post (IKEA) and the link has to do with decorating and not Nike shoes or something. I don't see anything sold there. He came back to follow the thead and it was not 'hit and run' spamming. I just ignore this sort of spam since some people may find his link useful and as long as he doesn't link to it in every post of his I am not going to fret about it. Here is a link that might be useful: Target Furniture

I tend to be long winded both in written and in speech. I figure if someone wants straight to the point, they can skip my post if they desire. So please feel free, because I feel a long winded moment coming on here. I do tend to write matter-of-factly, so I'm sure there are times when people take offense to it. I would imagine some if it would depend on the person's mood. I can be sensitive myself at times. Usually I let a lot of things roll off my back, but if I am pms'ing it's often not so easy. Thanks ovaries! I have tolerance for other people's differences and would consider myself a very accepting person. I consider myself to be very empathic and can often see where another person is coming from, but I'm also not afraid to speak my mind. This is probably where trouble finds me. LOL I find what bothers me the most is the gang mentality that happens all too often on anonymous forums. It's not what's being said, it's that people all start jumping on the band wagon against someone and it's not even necessarily to do with what a person was asking. I've felt this with myself and I've seen this happen on other posts and quite a bit on Houzz. I have jumped in more than once to "stand up" for someone. Usually it's because I hope people realize that maybe they are being harsh against the poster. Again, it's not usually about people disagreeing with the poster but how they go about it. In most cases jumping in doesn't help. LOL My husband always asks me why I even bother. I think for me personally, it comes down to certain trigger words in posts that set me off. Sometimes those trigger words don't effect me, but if there are hormones involved, I can get testy. It's not that I'm so upset that I could drop kick someone through the screen, but I do get annoyed. Ok, full disclosure, I couldn't drop kick someone even if I wanted to. Usually, the majority of the time when I'm "debating" an issue, it's simply that, debating. I'm very, very rarely heated. I don't know why so many people just automatically assume that if someone disagrees with you they are heated. I can't even count the number of times I have laughed in exasperation because of something being said over and over again. It's like beating a dead horse. If you have something new to add to the conversation, please do, but stop repeating the exact same thing over and over again, especially when someone has already answered the question. It really does usually make me shake my head and laugh. There could be an entire post about someone complaining that I do not agree with, it rarely bothers me. This is usually true, even if it's something that I feel is an attack against something I do or believe in. I am definitely not one to shy away from standing up for myself. I come from a long line of people who are not afraid to speak their mind and are stubborn to boot, but life is too short to jump in to try and change someone's mind on every post you disagree with. So please note: 1) If I seem "angry" in my posts, I'm likely not 2) I will likely sound more upset 1 week out of every month 3) People on message boards are still real people and have real feelings. You might disagree with someone completely on one post and then totally agree with them on the very next one.