I just wanted to second Tibbrix's suggestion of Railings by Farrow and Ball. DS1's room is painted this color. I will honestly say though, at least in his room, it leans more navy than gray. I chose it off of their sample card thinking it would be more charcoal gray than navy but in this room leans more navy. Though, I must mention it was the only F and B color that I used without ordering the sample pot first. I actually ordered sample pots of the potential contenders of paint colors throughout the house then matched the colors at Sherwin Williams. They have the formulas in their computer already. All of the colors I used where I had ordered the sample first matched perfectly so I assume the Railings does as well. Like I mentioned before, it was just a bit more navy than I was expecting. Turns out, I like the color so left it as is.

Jane's personal kitchen has a lot of Scandinavian and European influence I think, though she did throw in an antique dish cabinet that makes the area look rustic. She chose a Dornbracht tall faucet for the sink as I recall, and I saw a comment she made at Houzz afterward that made me think maybe her faucet hadn't turned out to be the best choice for her--still good, just maybe not as great as she'd hoped. I just ordered a couple of Brizo articulating faucets for my kitchen after much research and think I will be happy with them. The most memorable kitchen for me from Attic Mag's archives was the one with the working fireplace oven in the middle. It was such a simple kitchen with great functionality, and I think it was in Italy somewhere that she rented while on vacation. We really don't do kitchens like that here in the USA on any regular basis anymore now that gas and electric stoves have taken over.

Wow Melissa R! those mockups are amazing! thank you! I went ahead and had contractor repaint to Hale Navy. It‘s still not a perfect match (more grey), but I like this combo/color better than the Old Navy. Those undertones in the old navy blue were just bothering me! I will put the wallpaper up and then decide if we should try for a better match or if it‘s good enough as is (I think it will be good enough :). This is definitely a lesson to get samples and paint swatches on the wall rather than pick from a paint chip. I’ll report back when the wallpaper is up. Thanks to everyone for weighing in!

The dark ceiling in the recessed area has to go - it just creates a black hole effect in an already dark area. A quick lick of primer and then white ceiling paint will make a difference there. The living room side of the peninsula appears to be a soft grey and seems to work with the rest of the area and the counters. Would you consider carrying that colour into the rest of the kitchen on the cabinets? Or, if you could find a slightly warmer version (more greige than grey), it might work really well with the floors and fight less with the brick. It sounds like you're currently stuck with the brick. When you do a remodel definitely plan to remove that as it is really bossing everything else in the room into playing along with it. I'd paint it or whitewash it and make it the same colour as whatever paint colour you choose for the cupboards. It won't disappear, but it might fade into the background a bit which would help. When you remodel I'd also find a different location for the frig. A frig door that opens into a doorway is such a pain - we had it for years at another house and I just detested it. I know the counters aren't really working with the brick but I would never counsel getting rid of them because they really do look gorgeous and you clearly do like them. If you can, it would likely be a great idea to find a local design consultant to come out and work with you for a few hours. Some definitely do hourly work, rather than a large job. They can help you pull a cohesive plan together on colours that would work best with the elements you have.