Hi guys, thanks for the advice and the links! I am still struggling with- one color, or many? I chose better homes and gardens creamy buttermilk for the dining room as a starting point. It looks pale yellow in there. I like it- but I am having a hard time choosing colors that will go with it in the adjoining rooms. I have the issue of my light being kind of yellow- so another yellow might not look good. That second link was gorgeous. I wish I was brave enough to use color like that! I do want to paint the rest of the house- and I LOVE the cottage look. I've always adored the coastal / cottage looks. I am still worried that painting the different rooms will give a cramped feel- but perhaps if I stay with very pale pastels it won't? I can think if plenty of colors that coordinate together- then I bring the swatches home and it's like- no way! That would look really weird sitting in the green living room, looking into the blue bedroom, yellow dining room and another colored 2nd bedroom- would it? Would it not? I also love the idea of the continous color because it gives the house a spread out feeling- you know? being small you have to be careful of making the space feel cramped. The other thing is my bathroom- its about 6ft wide and 10 ft long- no kidding. I've not decided what to do in there- probably cream all over. Would you all leave the living room the drab green, change it to buttermilk (as in the dining) or paint it another color all together? I didn't see very many muted pastels. I like muted because otherwise they look too chalky, or like a babies nursery. Here is the dining room before I took out the wallpaper. You have already seen after wallpaper. I will post another once it is painted. Our decor is black and white photos in white frames of places we went on vacation- yosemite, etc. Our couch is brown, a drab floral recliner,grey linen curtains. I love my house. The only thing is they painted all the walls and celiengs shiny. Why do people do that?

Oceanna - I just got done reading the thread regarding your split. Our is only slightly different than yours. The window above the door is that 70s bubble glass. I don't like it, but ours is clear bubble glass while all the other neighbors have yellow bubble glass. I feel lucky. We also have side lights on either side of the front door, also clear bubble glass. We painted the interior side of our door sort of a deep plum shade. I liked it at the time but would rather go with a very deep green now. Actually, I want a new front door, but that's another budget item entirely, and I'm not ready to go there yet. When we bought the house, the railings were black wrought iron with little gold splotchy things. The rail separated the stairs from the living room. We needed some of that space for my piano, so DH build a half wall from the living room window wall about half way up. On the entry side of that, we've hung two shelves just made of MDF and painted white. Currently there is NO railing from where that half wall ends to the top of the stairs. I was getting on DH's case to get something built there, but the contractors have suggested waiting until they're done with the kitchen. It will give them more room hauling things up and down the stairs. On that big tall wall over the stairs heading down, we have another MDF shelf that we use for some of my larger doodads. At Christmas, we fill it with greenery and have large glass bowls with ornaments and other Christmas items. Unlike you, our kitchen doorway sits off to the right of the stairs, so when you come up our stairs you come into a wall. Oh, our house appears to be a mirror image of yours! I LOVE what you have down at the bottom of your stairs. We have two boys, ages 12 and 10, and a 100-pound dog. We use that garage door as our main family entrance and exit. For me at this point, I doubt anything nice would stay in that location very long! I'm really looking forward to the kitchen being finished. Not so much looking forward to the process. My moto is to "keep the eye on the prize." I also have a goal of having enough money left over after the kitchen to replace at least the windows on the front of the house. Unfortunately, ours are original windows, single pane, and you can see the gaps when the wind blows. We live in a part of the country where 60 mph winds are normal in the winter - slamming right into the living room window - ugh! Oh, we replaced the light in the entry with a ceiling fan with light fixture. I realize it's entirely too modern for your decor, but it suits ours. Besides, I was pretty intent on getting rid of the huge orange globe that was there when we moved in! Also, the house is not air conditioned, and it can get quite hot here in the summer. The ceiling fan helps move the air around the living room quite a bit. Bonus. So, I don't have any advice for you on the entry. Most people here have really left the entries pretty plain. I would vote for painting the wood part of your half-wall white as well. However, we have spent most of the last five years slowly working on replacing all the "wood" trim in this house with white trim. I put the wood in quotes because it was very, very dark and not good quality wood. I had no guilt painting it! Oh, in the corner by our front door, we have a 3-foot tall stuffed moose dressed for fishing. Not a "real" stuffed moose, more of a teddy-bear stuffed moose. Again, I'm guessing that's not really your style, but frankly we are a bunch of nut jobs in this household, so it suits us. It gives me a smile whenever I walk up and down the stairs, and everyone who enters the house comments on him (his name is Morty). Let us know what you decide to do with your entry!

Aww...some of the Heywood stuff is really decent:) Its very sturdy. I ended up doing H-W in the bedrooms on a project because it was inexpensive, it went with the house...and it *fit *up *the *stairs 8[ I work in an urban area where there are small stairwells, narrow halls, and (normal IMO) sized bedrooms. My client had somehow gotten a dresser, bed, and night table of 1990s gigantor furniture into her BR and the door barely opened. We replaced it With A HW set with 2 dressers, vanity and stool, bed and night tables, and there was *still more space than before. It is a specific look, but it has its place:)

I'm not in favor of painting sound mahogany furniture just because it's not ones taste. Once painted, that's it. Now, if the shellac/varnish has become checkered or discolored, that is another matter altogether - something major will have to be done. Even then, I'd look for a manufacture's stamp under the table. That would help me make my decision. Sometimes it just needs the old varnish removed, some restraining and then re-varnishing...done by a pro.