I had four outdated bathrooms plus an outdated kitchen. Here's what I did which really paid off. I shopped for floor model vanities. I looked at Lowes, HD, but found a vanity in an upscale bath/kitchen store. They had a beautiful, white vanity which was slightly damaged and were removing it from the store. I offered cash and got it for less than anything I saw in HD/Lowes. Its easier to bargain with private stores. I started looking at stone yards and found two marble tops which were cut but rejected by the buyer. One had a flaw in one corner, the other had a small chip. They sold it to me for a bargain and included the sinks in white. I bargained hard and won. What I learned, stone yards have tops which get rejected by a buyer. They are stuck with cut tops and will sell them cheap to get rid of them. I almost froze to death, running around stone yards in January, but it paid off. I really got bargain prices. It was worth the frost-bite! These two vanities looked like a million bucks. Again, I offered cash. I bought light fixtures in Target and HD for all four bathrooms. I kept the old vanity in one bathroom but replaced the hardware and top. I bought an inexpensive piece of granite at HD with the sink and put it on top. Replaced all the faucets on all sinks from HD/Lowes. I did not remove the floor tile from any of the bathrooms. The worse bathroom and the oldest (50's) was in our basement family room. It was green tile everywhere. All the fixtures were green. I put the bargain vanity with marble top there. I left the green tile but replaced the toilet (HD) with a white one. Had the green tub refinished, white (turned out great). Pulled off the old shower doors and hung a white shower curtain. Kitchen, I did replace the stove/oven and refrigerator. I left the old dishwasher. Cleaned the tile and dug out the old grout (mess). Changed the light fixtures. Changed the hardware on the old oak cabinets. Painted the walls. What I wanted, was to make the house look like the buyers could live with it until they decided to make changes. I didn't want it to appear as if changes had to be made immediately. I wanted it 'move-in.' It did sell in a terrible market and we were pleased with the price we got. I believe the changes helped sell the house faster and made it harder for the buyers to ask for a low-ball price. Jane

I think it's fun! If you wanted to make it less boho and aliitle more straight up chandelier, you could change some of the colored crystals for clear ones. You could also choose to stick to maybe one or two colors of crystal and mix with the clear. I seem to always swap out some of my crystals on all of my chandeliers to make them my own and because I love French Pendant crystals, so I order them online and replace some of the other crystals for the new ones. Google "crystal chandelier parts" and you'll be amazed at what you can do to a chandelier! Your kitchen is lovely, can't wait to see it finished! I hope you hang the chandelier!

Thanks for the votes of confidence. I really thought I'd be starting a riot. So many people have told me just to leave it alone, it's fine, classic white kitchen, etc. But it's just never felt right. Now I'm excited about it! The rugs were just cheapies from Kirklands. So not worth heart failure, Amy! Believe me, paint would be the most mild thing that has ever been on them. Dog slobber, muddy paws, hair, pancake batter drips, grease splatters, various sundry spilled drinks, etc. all adorn those rugs. The beauty of the pattern is that they show nothing, and they're wool, so they've so far been indestructable. Just to set everyone's mind at ease, the pic of the paint tray was at the very, very end of the project, and there was only a few drops left in the deepest part of the paint well. No rug was harmed in the filming of this project. :)

I think you need to be clearer on what the issues are. Are you saying you must get thermofoil if you go light? Because it sounds like you don't really like dark cabinets and/or light counters for yourself - so why are you even considering them. I wouldn't want thermofoil. If I didn't want dark cabinets either, I would ask my builder what else could be arranged to get the white wood I want. If nothing, then I'd be looking at other houses to get what I do want. I think the life expectancy is better for wood, as there can be issues with the plastic coating failing and discoloration over time. So it might not be an economical long term choice. Google for problems with thermofoil. This post was edited by snookums2 on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 13:19