Nice house! I think that golden oak and brass fixtures will soon make a comeback, because dark wood and silver/stainless have been popular for so long. I don't think the peachy wall color in your house looks good with the oak, though, because it makes the oak look so yellow. Before you paint the trim and window blinds, try painting the walls. Our walls are a pale khaki/green, so light it reads as a neutral, and it looks great with warm wood tones. I've also seen nice warm grays look good with golden wood. On the other hand, as much as I love wood, I think the bookshelves look odd in that spot, mostly because they appear to be floating above the baseboard heater. I think that would be the best wall for the TV, so you may have to change the shelves to make that work, or move/remove some of them. Can the dining room be closed off completely, with a big arched doorway? With such open space in the other rooms, it might be nice to have a more intimate space for contrast, and to have less sound bouncing around when you talk and laugh at the dinner table. Can the ceiling in that room be lowered? If not, I do like the grill idea suggested above for the openings to the DR. Lastly, before you shop for furniture I would make many copies of a to-scale floor plan and try moving little paper pieces of furniture around to make sure you can make it work before you buy it.

Thank you for all of your comments and compliments... You have reminded me not to rush into changing things. The house has alot of trim work throughout, including on the dining room ceiling, dining room walls, living room, windows, entry/foyer, doorways, etc...In those areas, all the trim has been painted white, but it appears to be the same style and type as what's in the kitchen/family room. I guess I was thinking that the rest of the trim work should be white too. But, I see now that it doesn't have to match and will leave a bit of character to the family room! The wood for the built-ins do appear to be an upgrade over the kitchen cabinets. As much as I love the look of all white trim, the family room has such a warm feeling, as is, so I will probably just keep any furniture in the room light for contrast and accent with color. I will definitely not rush to change to quickly! Some of our main reasons for choosing the new home is because it was custom built, is loaded with trim work and moldings and is in an older neighborhood with lots of large trees and yards. Of course, there is also plenty of shiny brass in all of the bathrooms, door handles and foyer lighting that we will be busy replacing. And, the landscaping needs some updating from the overly manicured large bushes surrounding the front entryway of the home. I may have trouble with interior design/decor, but I am in my element with landscaping and yard work! I appreciate all the comments about the kitchen...My husband and I have done a lot of work ourselves in our current home. He does most of our home repairs too; he hates hiring out! Life has gotten extremely hectic these days, so we have less time for DIY work like the time it would take to do paint the cabinets. But, I think we can easily handle the backsplash and modifying the cabinets with beadboard on the sides, but will find someone for counters/sink and help with whatever we do to the cabinets. It sounds like if we have to hire someone to paint the cabinets, it might put us way over our current budget. While I still love my inspiration kitchen photo, I may entertain the idea of darkening the stain/refacing the existing cabinets, possibly painting the center island as one of you mentioned and updating the counters, sink and adding backsplash and other details. This would buy us time (and save us money), until we can afford to get the wood floors we want and the painting of the cabinets the way GreenDay detailed. I appreciate all the advice.

If your goal is to lighten up the house, avoid adding dark things to the already dark rooms. Add lighting, remove heavy dark window coverings, and check outside to see if there are branches that have grown to block sunlight from the windows. Pruning at the right time of year for your area can let in much needed light again. Start by replacing the light fixtures to improve the overall "dark and brown" look. Remove the over-sink bar cabinets. Paint the walls. Staining the cabinets can't be done well without stripping them, sanding, filling, staining, sanding, and so on. Contact the cabinet company with photos of the damaged areas. Ask them what clear coat can be applied over the existing finish. Chances are good that a clear polyurethane over a bit of stain pen will fix up those worn areas easily.

We also purchased a custom 1990's home last year -- we are still unpacking! Our single-story house has 12' ceilings in the 'public' rooms, no crown molding, and shiny brass "gold" metal hanging lamps and accents throughout. I hated the brass and before ever spending a night in the house, I spent $2000 (on a good sale!) on chandeliers and lamps in satin nickel. Ten months later, those light fixtures are still in their boxes in the garage! Some of the "gold" is going to be too costly and fussy to replace, so now I'm thinking I only want to replace the lamps that don't suit our uses of specific rooms, and to go with maybe antique brass to blend with the polished items. That doesn't apply to your situation, except to validate the people who said wait and see! Here's what *I* see: (1) The crown molding is pressing everything down! I would paint it all the color of the wall beneath, to raise the ceilings visually. That means DON'T paint the crown molding in the all-wood library upstairs. (2) Leave the mullions/grills off the windows; don't paint the rest of the oak until you live with it some months. Adding a (3) after looking at the photos some more: Go ahead and paint the oak around the fireplace, it is that awful. Are those DOILIES??? Paint it the color of the wall and hope it disappears into it, until you find a picture somewhere of what you do want after living with it. Maybe just the marble/stone part and some big art or textile above? Oh, and if you choose to paint before moving in, in the previous house we re-did we used Benjamin Moore's Brandy Cream OC-4 on all the walls (and crown molding, and chair-rails in a couple rooms). Actually it was Sherwin Williams paint made to match OC-4, and it acted like a "full spectrum" paint, slightly changing according to the lighting... which would be wonderful with the big windows!