No. It takes the open airiness of the great major design feature cantilever and turns it into the glass vestibule of a grocery store. It ruins the design of the home entirely. The cantilever is the whole point of the front elevation. Neutralizing that weakens and commonizes the home. You might as well be adding one of the pringles towers that dominate current bad NeoEcclectic “design”. Would Falling Water be more functional with the cantilevered patios enclosed? Sure. But that isn’t the point of the design. The point is the building block balance of the cantilever. Hire a good architect with an affinity for MCM.

Ferrous Furnishings is new to me. Thank you. Okay, so it might be that I need to hire a pro to help out. If the other pieces in my LR have the walnut legs. Then is it okay to go to teak along the whole side wall (side of the seating area which face a fire place--so a bit out of the seating area? Seeing my mid-century "inspired" new stuff above - somewhat more modern, which of the three pictures of the following wall units fit best (Crate & Barrel, Room & Board, Hans Wegner) ? I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to be urban or fully MCM. Thank you

Wow! It's so wonderful that you are keeping those lovely cabinets. FYI, instead of refinishing, there is an alternative that you can use that gently revives the cabs with the hassle (and cost!!) of full refinishing. I've used this for a number of my client's projects and the results are quite astounding. Once you have the cabs cleaned, Howards makes a product called, "Restore-A-Finish". You can find it online, but the closest brick and mortar locale is most often antique stores who often display it at their entrances. It comes in various tones and is a gentle tinted oil with a solvent that smooths out any scratches or nicks and is sort of like a facelift without the heavy involvement of full refinishing. It is wiped on and rubbed, then any excess wiped off and that literally is it!! You can then go back with a furniture polish if you like. I use their Feed 'N Wax, but there are other wood polishes that also work well. If these were mine (I'm so jealous), I would also install inside hardware upgrades such as slide outs; maybe soft closing Blum hinges etc. But I agree with the others that you can also save the original pulls and knobs hardware too. You know, home renovations always deliver extra costs and going over budget is all too common (Ask me how I know!). But this is one project out of all the others where you can truly save on refinishing costs (that labor isn't cheap) and the Restore-A Finish look will be lovely. You might at least try this approach before going full refinishing and then decide. But the Howard's product will bring them back to mint without all the sanding, stripping, and associated mess. All the best to you on this amazing home.

The painter says he can get a good even stain on it if he does a pre-stain conditioner. Your painter isn't a wood finisher. If he suggested usng Minwax and promised to get a 'good even stain' because he's using 'conditioner', then I know for sure he isn't a wood refinisher!! Does he even know anything about Maple? I've done all types of wood, stains, aniline dyes, etc. Maple is a very tight grain wood and difficult to get dark. I did one a long time ago in a walnut color, but the results were meh. (this was back in 2012 when I actually used Minwax products! I now know better) Anyway, here is a vintage maple hutch that I sanded down to raw wood, used the conditioner, and stained in a walnut. It was in pretty rough shape when I got it. took that surface all the way done to raw wood. Is this what your vanity wood looks like? I used a Dark Walnut on this coat, and then went over it again w/Jacobean to get this shade. Seal coat, steel wool to fine sand, and a few coats of poly. finished result: You see the blotchy spots? You saw what I started with. a pristine raw wood surface. I used the conditioner and stain correctly. Yet, the coloring is still a bit uneven. If you like this, fine. top coat result in natural light. shelves too. The maple always seems to get a little blotchy w/darker colors. it's just the nature of this species. If you wanted to stain, you should have picked a diff wood. Aniline Dye? it's water base and penetrates deeply into the wood grain. it comes in a powder form you mix w/hot water I had a solid oak french door I wanted black. black stain alone wasn't enough to get it really black so Here's what I started with. The dye 1-2 coats of dye, and it still wasn't black enough. the dye makes a good base for ebony stain You can see the deeper grain here in the oak and how the dye doesn't quite get all of it. Gel stain in Ebony did the trick. Then I sealed it all w/ebony Penofin oil. waterproofs it too. It's as black as can be. did the oak window trim too. see how deep the black looks? Do you think your painter knows about these 3 steps and all the products used? First off, lets see this wood vanity. you've posted one teeny tiny pic of some tile but are wanting advice on things we can't see? get a spare piece of wood like your vanity so you can practice on it. This painter just wasn't going to use the vanity w/o sampling, was he?