Here are some photos of around the house (sorry, kind of random)... I'm in the process of painting over the gold in the family room to the same tan as the living room (still not convinced it is the best color tho) and am contemplating red for the kitchen... Family Room... Kitchen... (counter-height table) Living room.... (excuse the bag on the chair)

Touche, Palimpsest, and bravo!! I can tell the summer heat has melted the veneer of "forum decorum" and you are throwing the gauntlet to challenge status quo. Bravo, again. I for one like to turn things upside down and think outside the box too. It's more fun that way. Of course, we have two houses built in 1948 and 1950, and not the much older home that you have. I appreciate your comments coming at this particular time too. For I was toying with whether to add the subway tiles to a bath wall in DH's cape. Which would replace the 4 inch squares of mid century blues. And I agree with the glass block shower wall, because it is sturdy and gives a modicum of privacy not available with the other kind of glass shower. I think it is time to revive the Glass Block Revolution. I rather like an art nuevo touch. What does the d.... stand for? I'm assuming it is "dowdy," but then I fly against the trends quite frequently. I think in the smaller homes you have to resort to different solutions to fit the space. And yeah, I'm now considering keeping the old stick-built cabs on the sink side of my future galley kitchen. And I KNOW what counter top I want, have used it up north in the cape, and it is NOT granite, NOT Corian, NOT laminate, NOT soapstone,---it is Silestone STELLAR SNOW, a white with gray specks and sparklies in it which makes me smile when I see it. I'm spending too much money on THAT to change it, but who cares? The other side of the galley, the cooking side, will PROBABLY have a stainless countertop and the stainless IKEA cabs below, with simple shelves above. This IS, after all, a small kitchen, even when we knock down the back wall and take in the back porch. It won't be a design dream, but it will be well arranged and organized for our use in our declining years. And I want to get a door lock set which opens with the click of a remote, like my car does. I love that, and do not want to depend on my memory to decide which key to use in the lock, or which code to use for passage. As a trial run, I've frequently set up temporary solutions to test my ideas. Like the time I built a bamboo bed canopy frame from bamboo that grew in our river lots. It looked great with the Mombasa sheer netting over it, but one night the whole frame fell on us.....I'm sure it amused my landlordess, who was gardening outside early in the morning and had to have heard the commotion. But at least ONCE in my life I used a really exotic and romantic sleeping enclosure! And I did not have to worry about selling it after the exotic moment passed. And about fashionable colors. Does anyone remember MAUVE? Good lord, forget it! Regardless of the current trend, I know what I like and that is the way I go. I'm not "staging" a home with neutral colors, I'm living in it. And I do not have a lot of company, and I do not care to impress anyone by having a room with the trendy colors. I've never been a fan of anything in the blue spectrum. Pale lavender is as close to blue as I get. Maybe a smoked gray, which is the color for my second bedroom, but IMHO, blue sucks the light out of a room after dark, so depressing. Yes, I know it is a personal thing, but that's what we are talking about here. I'm also going to spend more money than I should to get a 24 inch Bertazzoni gas range, because I want it, and it will fit in this new kitchen and is big enough and powerful enough to cook the way I like to cook. Which is not too much and not too often. But I love good machinery. And I fell in love with things Italian after a trip to Tuscany. So, ummm, let me see what else....oh yes, if I want to do solar hot water instead of tankless water heating, I like it. If I want a sistern outside the kitchen catching rain water to do the grass or veggie garden, that's what I'll do. If I compost veggie scraps etc, I can make room for that feature. And if I want a garden window to grow my potted herbs inside, I think that will be something I'd add over my sink too. And if I want to paint all my woodwork white and have shuttered cabinets instead of solid doors, well, that is something I like too. If I want to have an earthen roof on my garage, and DH doesn't oppose it too much, we'll do it. I think that is about it. Hope I did not get too personally specific if you intended this thread to be generalities.

When I see something that large and that strongly stated, I tend to not do anything with it. I don't like to start competing with architectural elements in a room I, too, would get one large thing for that center dry wall space. And NOT a clock. The last thing you want is the time shouting at you all day every day. I would either keep going with the rectangular thing and do a rectangular piece of canvas art that filled that whole drywall section, or I would go the opposite of the rectangular theme and do a round metal decorative piece (could have a small mirror center). Then I would just focus on decorating from the mantel down.

Hi HU- I don't know anything about refinishing granite to give it a totally different appearance. The person to ask about everything countertops is Joseph Corlett, LLC here on Houzz. Why not invite him onto this thread? I personally don't like that speckly type of granite, it reminds me of "work" because it is present in so many office buildings. But if you like your granite, keep it. It's your house! And it's a fortune of money to replace it, besides! If you were going to replace it anyway, you could think about using a stone with swirls or some sort of movement, but one that is lighter overall. Or go the other way, and use a very dark counter such as a soapstone, or a soapstone look-alike (and you could decide how much veining you want) and paint the walls a very very light gray in the kitchen. (Soapstone even comes in green!) Or you could even think about Corian. Which now comes in a dazzling array of colors and a very affordable price point. Joe is a Pro, and really sings the praises of Corian which is versatile and lasts forever and can be repaired in ways natural stone can't. As for the flooring, I would have the kitchen match the rest of your house. What you already have down looks just perfect. If you are really wanting to spend money on something, I would eliminate the space at the top of your upper cabinets. Either make simple cabinets for things like trays, etc. or put up a crown molding to the ceiling. The space looks odd and is a huge dust catcher. I would not paint the island, the wood is too perfect. You can add color to the kitchen with a floor mat, dishcloths, accessories, etc.