Hi Justin,

Congrats on stunning new house!

What exactly is your budget?

How long will you be living in this house?

Kids, senior citizens, lots of guests?

What style do you like, can you share some inspiration photos?

Your windows are stunning, do they look upon a backyard?

Are you looking to bring the outdoors inside?

Will you be changing the lightbulbs all to LED?

Deep breath!

Hi Janie,

Thank you very much. My wife and I plan on being here for a long time. We have one a baby girl due in august. We tend to entertain a fair amount but will probably be busy with our new child.
Great school district. Our budget is negotiable but we budgeted about 5 grand for paint and painters and another 5k or so for kitchen/dining room/lighting but we could scrape together what we need to.

The back windows overlook a pond on an acre. We negotiated that the plants will stay that are inside the home. It is a "double envelope" home with a ton of windows upstairs and down.

Our style would be similar to the original design of the home - a bit rustic but elegant. We are looking to modernize it a bit without going overboard and painting the cabinets all white. They are custom amish made and the granite is new 4 years ago. We are going to leave those alone for now.

The final link in the original post has a link to pictures of the rest of the home to get a better idea of surroundings. These pictures were all taken in the winter so those trees are all turning green outside that you can see through the windows.

congrats on the two new arrivals! I actually like the kitchen cabs, but I would do different hardware. a simple polished nickel would look better (or even a black to match the granite)

I don't mind the calacatta, but I'd do larger format tiles for more of a modern and less 'busy' look.

If, in the future, you could bring in some sort of white quartz, or a white granite/quartzite, it would update it even more. If you were near me I could get you pre fab countertops in the quartz, installed on both perimeter and island for about 2500.

for wall colors, look at BM Pale Oak, and BM Sea Salt, both shown below:

Pale Oak w/White dove trim/door

You can see here how nice it looks w/the oak. (Sea Salt)

if you plan on doing any gray next to the fireplace, try SW Crushed Ice. It's a very very pale silver

shown here w/bright white wainscot.

Beautiful house.

Your furniture choices look like you want a sleek modern or MCM look. Those cabinets will work well with that style. Since your wood is light i think the dark table base and chairs will be a nice contrast. I like your light fixture but they are too tradition for your furnitures styles. I would look for a drum shade that would fit those fixture. I have heard of ones that fit right over existing lights. ( i can't believe i am saying this considering the first thing we took out of our 70's house was big drum shade in the corner of the dining room.) I think oil rubbed bronze would not fit with a modern style. it depends on the style of the chandelier. You could use a big paper lantern or some of the pendants from Ikea until you were ready to invest in modern fixtures.

For your backsplash don't get anything with a pattern to compete with your stone countertops. A plain white or cream tile will brighten the space and let the stone be the star.

I can see you need to get rid of the previous owners' 1980s pink and grey. The fireplace stone and the carpet have cool grey undertones so you will need to have an off white that leans to the cooler greys without being too cold for the warm woods. While the fireplace wall lends itself to an accent color, I would stick to a neutral; maybe a darker shade of the off white walls. And I would paint the kitchen walls the colors of the rest of the space. Then your art and pottery can bring the color to the space.( My friends who are also potters and painters could offer lots of options.) Try your paint samples at different times of day as the natural light changes. Whites are tricky especial when they need to work with cabinets, carpet and the fire place stone. Also consider the furniture you will add.

If you are DIYing the paint you, will need those long poles for the paint rollers to do that 2 story wall. Enjoy decorating your new home and post pictures of what you decide.

Thank you both. Our style is a cross between MCM and modern farmhouse.

Kathleen: We are still looking for the perfect light but here is one we were considering for the kitchen table https://www.houzz.com/products/4-light-kitchen-island-pendant-foyer-dining-room-chandelier-prvw-vr~107410202 We are still open to other table/chair suggestions that would go well with the kitchen but it is tough with all the wood in there to find something that doesn't just blend in or stand out too much.

Beth: We have a big color swatch of pale oak and are considering it for our master bedroom. We will wait so see it in the lighting of the living room to make our final decision. It does look good with the white dove an oak pictures you posted.

Hi Justin,

On one picture it looks like a table on a wood floor and in another it's an entirely different table on carpeting.

Can you please post a diagram?

Is there an island with your kitchen sink, then a kitchen table, then another island, and then a dining room table on carpeting at an angle a few feet away?

Would you be open to exchanging a door or 2 on your upper cabinets for a modern glass door with contemporary in cabinet lighting?

To the left, there are 2 huge doors, is that a pantry?

Fun puzzle!

This is my wood kitchens idea book with both new and older, refreshed kitchens - perhaps something will inspire you:)

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/75202366/list/wood-kitchens

I also have a home with oak, though my trim is white. I like creams / whites with my wood and use blue as an accent color in decor - Think ocean / beach tones.

The best backsplash with oak tends to be simple cream subway tile - maybe not what you want to hear, but the grain in the cabinets gives "movement" to the space. A backsplash that also has movement can be too much. Also, if you are considering changing the counters in the next five to 10 years, you may want to wait on backsplash as it comes after counters. I don't see a need to change counters, but you won't know for sure till you live with them a while. Also, the best thing I did in the kitchen was under cabinet lighting - so helpful and makes the space prettier.

Congrats on a nice home. I think the oak is a neutral item in this case as it is not too orange in color and not overly ornate or fussy. And if you are a fan of MCM/Modern, check out the new items from Room and Board. They are starting to showcase light oak in many of their vignettes. It looks fresh and modern.

Michelle: Thank you for sharing your beautiful renovations. We will consider some of those additional details for future projects. What color white did you use - it looks great with the wood and fireplace.

jhmarie: Thank you for sharing. Is there any particular brand or shade of cream subway tile that you prefer? We were going to pick up some white and cream tiles as well and see what looks best. Originally we were thinking that the counters were a little boring, but those under cabinet lights might be what they need. Are there any particular under cabinet lights that you prefer. There are a ton of different options online but you never really know what they look like until the are installed.

Aurora: Thank you. I do like some of the room and board items, but they tend to be a bit over priced unfortunately :(

I used H-Line" Alabaster" which I think is made by Arizona Tile. Both my local tile stores carry it and it was not expensive. It is thicker than home center subway tile. I needed a thicker tile because my quartz did not quite meet the wall in one area due to a bow in my wall. If it hasn't been said, you will want to remove the 4" splash first. If you find gaps between counter and wall, look at the H-Line - it is 1/4" thick.

This is my kitchen:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~110720042

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~109854029

There are many different under cabinet lights and some have lots of extras - like being dimible or changing light tone. Mine are very simple. I started with LED strip lights from a home center store ($75) and plugged them in the wall. Later, an electrician wired the lights to a switch - about $350 - I only had one line to put in a switch. I only did between sink and range because that is my main prep area.

Before:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~48485162

After:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~81033766

I should cut a ditch between the cabinets and tuck up the cords, but I forget to do that because I don't notice it.

I think most here have been happy with LED strips, though you will want to check the look - whether the lights are "cool" or "warm" because both exist in LED. I would think a lighting store could help, or like me you could start with some inexpensive home center store lights and see what you think. I believe mine are by Patriot Lighting from Menards - but they are probably 4 years old - not sure if that style is still available and they read more warm than cool..

The windows give you a nice amount of light, but the counter area does look dark. I don't mind the dark counters - they work with the wood, but I really like my light counters. You may want to live in the home a while to see how the dark counters work for you. Some complain of fingerprints showing everywhere - but that depends on the particular countertop. I would be torn between preferring light, but not wanting to get rid of perfectly good counters:)

There are some dark counters in my idea book. This dark countertop (soapstone) looks pretty with the cream:

Ireland in CT · More Info

The carpet color seems to be quite cool compared to all the warm wood you have. That might make finding just one white for everywhere difficult.

Thank you Beth and Kathleen for the suggestion to go Black for hardware and lights and Michelle for the inspiration. We are going to go with black hardware for the cabinets. Also, we found this light to go over the kitchen table (thank you Michelle. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Justice-Design-Wire-Mesh-Wire-Mesh-3-Light-Matte-Black-Pendant-with-Wire-Mesh-Shade-MSH-9551-MBLK/309031816?MERCH=REC--PIPHorizontal1_rr--309031815--309031816--N

We also found a dining table and chairs for on the carpet https://www.article.com/product/11919/festa-walnut-dining-table-extendable with these chairs https://www.article.com/product/3193/feast-bard-gray-dining-chair and a bench on the other side https://www.article.com/product/4551/level-bard-gray-bench

Would anyone suggest the same light over the dining table, slightly larger one with 6 bulbs (24 inch diameter vs 18 inch diameter) https://www.homedepot.com/p/Justice-Design-Wire-Mesh-Wire-Mesh-6-Light-Matte-Black-Pendant-with-Wire-Mesh-Shade-MSH-9552-MBLK/309031759?MERCH=REC--PIPHorizontal1_rr--309031816--309031759--N, or https://www.build.com/justice-design-group-msh-8014-10/s1311850?uid=3117284&source=cxy_PLA_3117284 or something different?

Also, we are struggling to pick a chandelier for the entryway. The light is right above the the first picture in front of the doors

We are considering something like https://www.shadesoflight.com/products/prismatic-cubed-chandelier-4-light or https://www.shadesoflight.com/products/structural-cubic-cage-lantern?color=Antique+Brass+Matte+Black&via=57e1330169702d78ae0000a5%2C57e133bc69702d78ae0002cd but any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jhmarie: Thank you very much. That is a good idea - try them out before you install them so you know what color lighting will look best. We plan on living with the counters for a while but intend to install a backsplash now to brighten it up a bit. I will order the alabaster and cotton in matte and glossy and see how they look. We definitely plan on removing the current 4 inch backsplash as it makes the space look smaller blending the counter into the wall.