"... is there such a thing as cottagey craftsman farmhouse, lol?" Mine! Although all of the original trim was replaced by the PO in the early 1980's with ... weathered gray barn siding. He even did shiplapped oak barn siding on the walls in the LR, and added gray sculptured carpet to match. With all the gray, that dude was ahead of his time, but I found it depressing, and cleaning that rough siding was not on my to-do list. We covered the shiplap with sheetrock so that the walls would be smooth, and I've used paint in the colors I mentioned above. I have mostly cream-painted cabinets and beadboard in the more cottage-influenced kitchen. The rooms we've added are more cottage style, but I've often thought about adding some wooden 'beams' to the ceiling to make the LR more Craftsman, and replacing the painted barn siding trim with a nice stained wood. My furniture is mostly earth tones, which matches the Craftsman vibe. I'd love to be able to afford some Batchelder tiles for the FP surround.

Lovely home. This bench by Seisenberger echoes your stairs and the Clear Square Chair by Brickell gives you the aesthetic you're looking for. Would be fun to put the bench across from the 4 chairs. I like the rug you already have, but you might want to consider a cowhide rug off to the side: http://www.archiproducts.com/en/products/janua/wooden-bench-with-back-sc02-bench-with-back_256361 http://brickellcollection.com/product/clear-square-chair/ https://decohides.com/products/real-cowhide-rug-tricolor

Hey there! If your cabinet boxes are in good shape and you have countertops you like, there's good news for you - you're a perfect refacing candidate. BUT - did you know that refacing doesn't just mean you're stuck with your existing doors just painted? Refacing is an excellent option if you have a functional layout and cabinet boxes (that by the sounds of it are in great shape) and you want to update the style and/or color of the doors! With refacing you can get a completely "new" look for about 60% less the cost of "replacing" your kitchen. It's fast, cost efficient, and very minimal on resources and labour. If you have some handy DIY skills so you'd be a perfect match for a self-refacing project! At Nieu Cabinet Doors we manufacture CUSTOM painted cabinet doors (so if you've got some wonky sized cabinets, you don't need to worry!), where you can pick a totally new door style and colour to match your counters and other design elements! We also offer a design service that sounds like it might help you, where our designer will work with you to show you your kitchen transformed with Nieu doors (and all other elements - counter, backsplash, floors, left the same), and a SECOND design showing you a total kitchen makeover (including updated counters and other design elements!) Check out your available options here! We're more than happy to chat with you about your options - we even have a cute little sample kit where you can order a 9" x 12" version of your door style and colour to see it in a mood board with your counter, backsplash etc! Best of luck with your renovation! Please feel free to reach out for any advice on your kitchen, we'd love to help out.

If you have ever gone out and bought a shirt, knowing it will be perfect with a skirt or pair of pants only to bring it home and find that it doesn't work with the pants and when you tried it on it didn't fit right you know that you need to try the whole outfit on together to know if it is really going to work and give you that wow factor that you want for a special outfit. Dressing your home is kind of like dressing yourself, but much more expensive and you have to wear the outfit for a lot of years before you get to change. There are thousands of posts on this site where people did just what you are doing and then post "Help! My walls are baby blue!" (Pink, Green, Yellow) Stop before you join the rest of them. Floor color matters, trim color matters, wall color matters, furniture and accessories matter. Paint brand and gloss levels matter. Lighting matters (both artificial and the direction of the light coming through your windows.) When I help someone pick paint colors I start with the things that must stay. (Appliances, kitchen cabinets, flooring, furniture, window treatments - whatever is in the house that I cannot afford or do not want to change). Then I find out what colors make their heart sing. I love a smoky purple with an iguana green, but it usually not what the home owners loves, so I have to listen to them). We look in their closet and at things that they have purchased that they love (art, vases, bedspreads). There is usually a pattern - they like blue and peach or they like gray and red or they like teal / blue greens. They like bright clear colors or more subdued, muted colors. pastels or deep moody colors/ Then we figure out how those colors they love should be incorporated into each room. Most of the time we land on a neutral paint color in the main living spaces, adding the color with the art, area rugs, window treatments, furniture and accessories) and more color in the bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry, dining area walls. The neutral is chosen based on the colors we are going to be using. Your neutrals fall into the following categories pink beige orange beige yellow beige green beige greige (green gray/beige) green gray blue gray violet gray taupe (pink/purple gray beige) We also discuss furniture before we pick wall colors. The wall color choices are unlimited, but the sofa you need to purchase is available only in the colors that the manufacturers are offering. Easier to find a paint color to go with the sofa than a sofa that works with the paint color. The other thing we discuss and test is lighting. Do they have integrated fixtures with 2700k lighting that would be expensive to change out? Do they prefer 2700k lighting or 5000k lighting or something in between. Once all of those decisions are made we start looking at the paint color swatches and visualizing how the colors will work in the home. We pick the best neutral color family and look at lighter/darker, warmer/cooler variations. We look at them on large samples (8 1/2 x 11 minimum). We look at the color samples (including furniture and art and flooring samples) outside on a clear day around 2:00 in the afternoon. Hidden undertones in the neutrals are revealed under natural daylight. Then we look at them inside the home next to the all the things that must stay and with the colors that make the home owners heart sing. We look at the samples on different walls in different rooms. Then the home owner lives with the samples for a few days, seeing what they look like at night and in the morning and in the afternoon. We tweak the color choices till we find the neutral and colors that work best and will bring joy to the home owner. Then we pick the trim color that works best with the neutral. White is a pale neutral and will have the same color families as the neutral. A blue white with buff walls may look baby blue or really stark. A creamy white may look yellow next to a blue gray. I have seen success with home owners who run to home depot and pick a color and go home and paint - but the rick that the color will be wrong are huge and most of us don't want to paint again for a very long time.