We have a 1916 home; just a few remarks re our own experience: 1) Are you sure the entire floor is concrete? We have a concrete slab just where the stove was. It is visible from the (unfinished) basement. (The rest is wood subfloor.) 2) When we moved in, the kitchen floor was green linoleum and the small countertop was the same, held in place with metal edging. Don't know how long that it been there, but long. (I think it was real linoleum, but not sure. But it wasn't pretty!) 3) We very much respect our house's character and try to maintain it. But we don't live in a museum. When we expanded/remodeled we matched the mouldings, windows, etc, but felt no compulsion to match every kitchen detail. We put down a "standard" oak floor similar to that in the rest of the house, and used a medium-light, marble-like, greenish granite (with white cabs). It seems completely in sync with the house, even though it is not period. Unless you plan on getting 1919 appliances, you're not going to have a 1919 kitchen no matter what you do. Don't feel compelled to do anything you don't really like, just to be "authentic." P.S. Don't get too hung up on the home's specific style. Fact is, most houses from that period -- like ours -- are a mishmosh of styles, and simply reflect what was currently popular. (As remains the case with most new homes today, though I would say to less pleasing effect!)

Okay, here are the shots of my main living space. You can see in the last photo the new color I painted in the foyer/hall area. I was trying to work with that family for the kitchen since it's all open to each other. I just remembered (duh) that my fireplace insert is that dark green/black a couple of you mentioned. So it would make sense if that color was carried into the kitchen. I love the idea of something distressed. I'm not sure if I can get dh to go for white walls - although we have some white doors and windows. I have also considered using wood inserts in the cabinet doors and on the backsplash. Also, there are a couple of posts currently on the kitchen board about cabinets painted to mimic wood or at least the colors of wood. What do you think about that as an option? budge - I totally agree about the counters. Trying to make them work has been the biggest challenge. I'm just not into them...even though I have green trim outside and a huge green metal roof. If I could be sure painted counters wouldn't be a big pain to maintain, I'd go for it. I saw on Color Correction on HGTV recently where they painted over ceramic tile counters with some sort of epoxy. I haven't had any luck finding out on the internet what product they used...but it's still on the back of my mind. patricia - great idea about the bathroom refinishing pros. I hadn't thought of that. I'll have to check into that. Can I say thank you again and not sound like a broken record?

I’m not sure about trends per se, but I’ve always painted north facing rooms, darker by default, in deeper shades. You can paint a north facing room bright white and it will look dingy because it’s a north facing room. Just give in to the darkness on that side of your house, and celebrate light in your south facing rooms. In your case that would mean a darker foyer, and lighter LR and DR. Gold is a good color to avoid, almost always. What other colors are in your rug? Become photo handy. Then google your granite and look at images of kitchens that designers have painted, that have your granite. You will learn a lot about the possibilities. What I’ve learned is that green granite and white (or off-white) cabinets means you have two colors in your kitchen. One of them will be your wall color. Almost every image with that pairing has white or green walls. You picked a beautiful, powerful granite. It runs the show.

commenting b/c I just found this thread and I really want to know too! Would love to see pics of the hickory cabinets as well, if they're done. Hickory is one of my husband's choices for the kitchen.