And what do YOU want? Red walls aren't helping.......: ) Might be time to let the edge to edge carpet go too..........

Trends come and go. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the next trim will be "honey oak". I do not see a huge difference between the amoire color and the honey oak color.

The entertainment center is actually a nice quality and the cabinets appear to be the same.What is out of date is your bulky furniture and some outdated decor. Here is what I recommend you do, prior to making changes with the wood.

1) Paint the entire area a light, neutral tone.

2) Updated backsplash

3) Remove small signs over doors, fake plant over amoire and fake fruit bowl.

4) Numerous dated items in the family room need to be updated.

Great Room · More Info

Great Room · More Info

Your hardwoods are 18 years old. They are old enough to have a full sand and refinish done. It is time. The 'honey' oak isn't a stain. It is an OIL BASED FINISH. Yep. The urethane finish they used 18 years ago was oil based. And oil based finishes TURN ORANGE. This is called AMBERING. The cure for this orange colour = WATER BASED finishes.

So...a water based, two part polyurethane (the toughest ones on the market are Bona Traffic HD and Loba 2K Supra AT) will give you two things:

1. A bullet proof finish that will look and feel amazing for 20+ years

2. A clear coat that NEVER yellows - ever. The soft 'butter colour' of the freshly sanded wood will remain the same colour for 20+ years

And the third thing: the clear coat will be 3-4 shades lighter than the oak trim (the oil based colour that makes everything 'honey' toned). This shade variation will be,

A. Tone on tone = works well together so you do NOT have to touch the trim

B. Look quite handsome because a darker trim is fully acceptable in interior design (not ideal but fully acceptable so long as it is TONE ON TONE = see above).

Now for the PAINT. Before you do ANYTHING, you need to 'clear your palette' (as we say in the tasting industry). That means you need to WIPE OUT all the colour you have on the walls. Yep. Every stick of it. You want to work with a basic white wall to assess what you REALLY have.

The paint colours are THROWING a TREMENDOUS amount of yellow onto your flooring and your cabinets. The RED is then 'popping' the orange and making it stand out (to the point of being in the middle of the road; ready to be hit by a bus!). Once you remove all that yellow based beige in the home (and the 'outstanding' red from the kitchen) you will have a MUCH better understanding of what is going on.

The cheapest, easiest way to do with = white PRIMER! Yesssss the REALLY CHEAP product known as white primer. This stuff is on dollars per gallon. A single coat will do almost everything you need. Over the stronger red, you probably need two coats.

This does THREE THINGS,

1. It covers all the colour so you can 'see' your house in the natural state

2. It PRIMES the walls so that you are ready for new paint

3. You can use a lower priced 'paint' (don't need the paint+primer expensive stuff) to save more money

So the order of business is:

1. PRIME the walls white (DIY friendly and relatively cheap to do...no special skills needed)

2. Live with primed walls for a few weeks (super cheap...costs nothing but 'time')

3. Interview/bring in flooring professional to sand down a small area of wood and coat it with stain/finish patches (make sure you have him/her apply a COAT of finish over the patch)

4. Live with patch for a day or two (or longer)

5. Call refinisher and give them your decision

6. Set up 'refinishing date'

7. Move all your furniture

Some people want their walls painted BEFORE the floors are finished. This is the ideal way to do this. Paint splatter is removed by the sanding/refinishing of the floors. The painters still have to use their drop cloths, etc. but they don't have to deal with their usual 'clean up' of the floors.

If you want to live with your floors 'as they are' before choosing a paint colour then go for it. Sometimes you have to live with a floor for a while before deciding on the final wall colour (the colours you will live with for the next 20+ years).

The yellow toned paints and the dark red are throwing your rooms off. Yellow based paints never go with your color cabinets and trims. I agree, paint it all out with white primer and then go from there. I would leave all the trim etc, and would stain the mantle to match them. Make sure your lightbulbs are led and 4000k and then live with it for a few days while you decide on paint colors.