Stop painting colors on the wall IMO choose 3 you colors you really like then get 3 large poster boards paint each one with a color 2 coats then move them into the spaces and see how they look at different times of the day MY advice change all your bulbs to LEDs 3500-4000K I like 4000K it mimics daylight and casts no yellow anywhere.I like drapes in bedrooms and DRS all the lighting needs to be the same IMO

@Patricia Colwell Consulting, Thank you so much for your time and advice! I never thought of changing bulbs, I have to try that! I actually read yours or other pro's advice before not painting the wall first, so painted the colors on card board and poster paper (2coats) and have tried to move them around to see in different angle. I liked all the colors, so I painted on the wall, but I totally regret it now since I won't be able to paint for a while...my mistake! I was struggling to choose which color. But now, you mentioned kitchen first, I will hold off from painting the room first. I am leaning toward just plain white kitchen cabinet with beautiful backsplash from tilebar.com called Montauk Fog. which I haven't ordered the sample yet, so I will do that to see the color first.

@apple_pie_order, thank you so much for your time and advice! The chandelier was my original inspiration and was my dream to have one in the house! I have struggled how to bring in my Z gallery furniture vision with red laminate floor and all peachy beige tones from 90s. Since I couldn't afford the wall paper, I painted the teal. But design is changing again toward lighter softer feel! My ongoing dilemma! I never thought of Swiss coffee wall, but having the plain canvas may be better to get inspiration. I will think about it for sure! Thank you!

I guess, I was being inpatient of the change. First kitchen remodel and then I will move to this paint discussion. Thank you so much for your time and help! I will move onto creating another discussion on kitchen remodel questions! Thank you so much!

Just paint over your swatches with the original paint color if you don't want to see them while you wait for your remodel.

Thank you! I will do that!

Before doing anything else you need to first determine how long you plan on staying in this home and how much you want to invest into renovating your home.

You can spend 100k renovating this home, but if you are going to be selling in 5 years that money will be spent and you can expect to get back about 1/2 of what you spent when you sell, so in essence you will be gifting money that could be spent on your next home to the new owner. If you are staying 20 years the renovations will bring you years of joy.

It looks like you have very light maple cabinets and white counters in the kitchen today. They could work with your lighter, brighter feel. You may not need to change those in order to achieve the look you want.

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I am a little confused by your statement "we still have very red laminate floor (for another few years) and I looked into Red/Purple undertone greige/white."

Your current flooring is orange, not red.

Pink/purple undertones are pink beige/ taupe (gray beige with pink/purple undertones) and violet gray.

Greige is the color that is between green beige and green gray.

If you choose to keep your cabinets and flooring you could paint all your walls now and get 90% of the look you want without the large investment of changing the flooring and the cabinets.

As for lighting, Patricia always recommends 4000k. I would agree with her that 4000k is a perfect balance between 5000k daylight bulbs and 3000 k bright white bulbs, but the major manufacturers only make 3 colors in their lightbulbs - Soft white - 2700k , bright white 3000k and daylight 5000k. Bright white and daylight are both very nice in most homes. Soft white works beautifully in a home with a rich, fall color color palette.

@Jennifer Hogan, thank you so much for your wise advice and great info!! I truly appreciate this kind of advice in this economy today. My husband and I have been discussing if we are doing the right thing by investing into our home = liability. We have re-piped, put new layers of roof, re-did majority of landscaping, now we have a good bone of the house. We were ready to move onto kitchen, but this kitchen remodel discussion started from my failing faucet and leaky sink. Cabinets are still in good shape, maybe we just need to fix a drawer and hinges here and there, but nothing major. Your advice kind of make sense for our situation right now. We are not planning to sell anytime soon, but there is a possibility of renting it if we move out temporarily. Keeping the existing cabinets are definitely considerable as long as I can replace the sink without breaking too many tiles & paint them. Counter top is just a white tile. I will post picture here.

Wow, so my floor was orange?! This whole time, I was researching wall paint color undertone for red laminate floor! Well, I hope SW popular gray and SW windfresh white still works because they seem good to me over my floor. I will put the poster board much closer with different lighting to see if they still work this week.

Thank you for pulling out the example of the house with lighter feel with exciting cabinet. I think I will work on making my house feel lighter and welcoming with my existing floor and cabinets. And I know the fresh coat of paint on the walls will make me so much more enjoyable being home, too! I actually found someone who can paint our existing cabinets with good price, too! So now we have an option.

I just checked my smart bulbs and they were 2700K warm white. It feels very cozy with our beige wall right now, but I will try 4000-5000K bulbs for new white paints.

Everyone, thank you so much for great tips and advice! Really appreciate them! We are very excited to try out some changes we can do right now!

Question 2 -

Word of caution - Inexpensive cabinet painting is sometimes a disaster. It is expensive to get it done right because it is a lot of work.

Are you going to be replacing your complex neutral sofa? Or your dining room chairs? If not, THAT is the complex neutral you need to be worrying about re: your wall colour if you want everything to hang together, Your flooring (which I would also categorize as red-toned like Brazilian Cherry) is bossy, but not the colour to be trying to coordinate with. It appears to me that your wall colour now is yellow-based and your upholstery more natural linen coloured, which is usually pink-based.

I agree with everyone who has suggested painting first before spending money on painting cabinetry. Done well, this costs approximately 1/2 the price of new cabinets and may not fix what's bugging you. Done poorly, it is a terrible investment.

Another pro tip now that you have already been warned off painting swatches right on your walls; before you just paint over those swatches, make sure you sand the edges and brush strokes so you don't end up seeing the texture of those swatches forever.

@Jennifer Hogan, I will definitely be cautious about this approach. Thank you!

@Marylee H, thank you for your suggestions! Really appreciate it!

Look at the two whites you like next to the flooring and trim and then also next to the cabinets without painting.

I think it will work.

Please block the current color so you are not comparing that color to your new color.

I also don't like to test more than one neutral at a time - you will only have one on your walls and it is our natural instinct to compare colors to each other.

You really want to see the neutral with the colors that are going to stay.

@Jennifer Hogan, thank you so much for all of your great tips and advice! Wow, putting white background for the new paint really brings different feel! I will work on them this week! Thank you so much again, everyone!

@Elizabeth Minish Design, Thank you so much for your tips and advice!

After reading your tips, I started wonder if I should re-consider to darker paint color option for the front living room and front entry wall? I originally had 3 painted cardboard on the furniture before I painted them & I liked them all for the front living room.

Pics Below...

On Blue chair:

Left: SW 6072 Versatile Gray (LRV 48)

Right: SW 6073 Perfect Greige (LRV 42)

On the couch:

Left: SW 6071 Popular Gray (LRV 61)

Right: SW 6072 Versatile Gray (LRV 48)

Thanks for the great tips of how to prep the wall for those painted swatches...I so regret doing that all over my house without thinking...