I don't normally like this look, only because I think in ten years it's going to be really easy to date a kitchen from about 2003 to 2010 by the colored island contrasting the cabs.....but in a period home I feel totally different about it, especially for islands because they didn't exist when the home was built. In a local home here (about 1870) they have done three different paint colors on their cabs in milk paint, and it has a very unfitted look for a basically fitted kitchen because they have used multiple cabinet styles. The main style is a simple shaker but mixed in are a couple of hutch looking areas done in fancier cabs so they look like they migrated to the kitchen over time (both are different) then there is their fabulous island which they did in quarter sawn oak, built in a mission style like a large bureau. It workls perfectly to enhance the feel of their period home, which they are restoring very true to it's original feel. The hutch cabs have reclaimed marble tops from other pieces long gone and they are about an inch below the main counter. The other counters are wood aside from the zinc in the butlers pantry and the island is soapstone. I love the way they were inspired by a period look but made it functional and expect to be doing something similar in my 1889 home. I'm expecting to paint one island and do the other in wood to resemble an old store counter (likely in oak) but will be doing the sink in a different style with distressed paint (to look like a dry sink) and the hutch will be in antique pine. It sounds busy if you think of your kitchen in a 2000 way, but in a turn of the previous century way that's exactly what a kitchen looked like. So my vote is...yes to the painted island, but if you really want to enhance the period feel consider changing a few more things and maybe add another color in as well. :).

HAHAHA Ttodd and Parma.. ok, I have snapped out of it (said like Cher). I was so very stressed yesterday but I felt like I had an obligation to check the thread and respond even though I wasn't focused in the least. I agree that white is a no go-- and I don't even know why I was saying white because I would use ivory or a light cream. But I had myself in a tizzy about other stuff so reading Ttodd's post quickly and I was alllllllll ready to start over. I was a billion levels of self doubt. I definitely want to layer up the bed both with color and texture but I feel like I need a duvet first. I would not fold up my duvet at the bottom of the bed-- unless I used two (a possibility but would that look insane?). The only way my bed stays made is for me to just whip up the duvet-- and I really do use it as a cover year round. It isn't decorative. We don't have calico corners here but I will look at some coordinating patterns. I kind of don't want to take on sewing a bed skirt-- though I don't know why. It can't be that hard, can it? I would consider reupholstering something for the room though-- I know I want a bench/stool but would also like a lazy chair. Paint colors! I am familiar with some of those and have a few SW strips already. I am really seriously thinking of going with the f&b paints though-- they really come alive for me and since I intend to use a pale color, I think the depth and complexity will make a big difference in the room. I LOVE taupes but the entire house is taupe so I will go with a very pale hue or a rich cream. I will start a new thread for wall color after I have bedding in hand. Thanks again and sorry for freakin a little ;)

Thank you, voila, for coming out of lurkdom to help me! This HAS been painful in the sense that I really dislike being in limbo, uncertain, and indecisive, which has also been time-consuming since I have been looking at paint colors off and on for 2 or 3 years, and stewing around about them trying to figure this out. To clarify regarding the Carlisle Cream with the hint of pink: this is not the trim color. I will try to see if I can find the name somewhere in my files, but the color of the trim for all of the house and most of the ceilings has a yellowish cast. The Carlisle Cream is only on the ceiling in the DR & MBR (and the paint chosen for the DR will also be used in the MBR which faces NW), as well as the walls of the mudroom, laundry, powder room, and MBath. You are correct that it fights with yellow, because the tiles have hints of yellow tones, and it does not look good there. Except for the 2 ceilings, the Carlisle Cream will be changed to something that goes better with all of the tiles and countertops that probably need a color with some yellow, rather than pink, in it. When we painted our former N facing foyer with Pittsfield Buff, it really pulled together the colors of the 2 small rugs and tile, which are almost the same as what we have now. But that is a whole nuther story. Wythe & Palladian Blues are on my "possible" list, so I will give them further consideration. The HC 139-141 at first glance under kitchen lighting seemed minty, but the lighting in the LR is halogen, so they look different in there. I will need to see them on a sunny day. Another vote for HC 146, 147, and Gray Wisp is good! And I really like your suggestion of Quiet Moments. It is interesting that you say, "all greens seem to go together", which I had heard before. The reason I got a new LR rug was that my old one had multiple colors of green and greenish gold on a cream field, and to me it clashed with the fireplace in daylight. I moved it into the kitchen eating area that has the same slate tile on the other side of the 2-way FP where it only gets light from the NW which is not directly on it as it is in the LR, and it looks perfect in the different light! Also, if I turned the LR rug around, it would look much better upon entering the room, but to me the green from that direction looks awful with the FP green. I think it will be a lot easier to choose the DR paint than that for the LR. I will definitely pursue looking at grayed colors for both rooms, but I would still like to try maybe a rich tan that does not lean to red or yellow and see if that could work in the LR to pull out those colors in the rug, but maybe nothing will do this? I suppose that would only add to the blendy feeling that I am so good at achieving. I had originally imagined having a sort of rich, dark cream, but I guess that would mean yellow, so it is out. A correction regarding the "drapes." They are actually 4 drapery panels on each side of a 7 ft triple casement that help to set off the piano and a small chest near the creamy beige rug, and at each end of a 4 window bank (each 42" wide) next to the chest and behind the mauve wing-back near the FP. They are not directly next to the 9 x 12 "green" rug. The 2 rugs are separated by the sofa, so you do not see much of the Bokhara when entering the LR. I know that all the detail causes many people not to read this, but I welcome comments from anyone who has the patience to work through them to give me additional guidance. Anne

i would definitely stain it... i prefer stained cabinets myself and i often think white painted cabinets look alittle out of place in the dining room...maybe it's the less formal look of white painted furniture that looks off to me sometimes. the above cabinet works ok since the entire bottom of the dining room has wainscoting, tho i still would have probably stained the above cabinet. even with the painted swing doors you will have in the dining room, i would stain the cabinet.