n2bach1, we've all been tempted to buy things that don't go. Do you want me to list the things that I bought for my new house months ago and now realized nope, doesn't go!! LOL Lots of us love lots of different things and that can get us into trouble. Do you have somehwere else in your house that you could utilize the monkey rug, maybe in the kitchen or even the laundry room. Just somewhere you can enjoy it.

Looks like a soft pine (white pine or spruce) therefore getting a commercial drum sander to remove the paint is going to remove a lot of material in a hurry. Then applying a finish like polyurethane, which can only be removed by sanding (again) locks you into a cycle wherein your historic material is carted to the landfill as dust in garbage bags. Within a few cycles, the flooring will be abraded down to the t&g, and effectively ruined. The good new as I see it is that these floors have not been previously sanded, as they apparently been covered with area rugs and a painted border (a very typical treatment in the 19th century). There's no reason why you couldn't repeat this, and choose your personal floor paint color, and use a Persian (or a modern rug) of an appropriate size. It would look 100% authentic. There is an issue of which I must make you aware. Those never-painted central patches are never going to match the wood underneath the painted borders if both of them are stripped down. The bare patches have 160 years more oxidation head start, and will be darker when varnished. Artful (painfully so) staining work can diminish the differences a great deal, as will a flat finish, but this is really an art, and a historic floor specialist (or experienced, determined homeowner who's good at wood finishing, or gets ones self to that point) would need to take charge. We hand scrape old/historic floors where there is high regard for them or they are nearing the point where the t&g will become exposed. Our hand scraping bears no relationship to the current factory process of intentionally putting scraper tracks into material for the sake of added texture. We are scraping to have total control inch by inch over how much material gets removed, where; to keep material removal to the minimum level to render the floorboards smooth and finish-ready. The scraper gives complete control and can leave an even layer of oxidised wood (patina) that a power-sanding would render very much flatter, but with infinitely varying degrees of patina. With a cupped board, fo instance, a sander will sand the cupping completely out, in the process removing less material at the center (low point of the cup) and greatly more material at the edges, rendering two lighter stripes and a darker center. On wide pine boards this is very pronounced. This is too long, sorry, here is a pic of one of our scraped-process floors, of wide heart pine, where there had been very bad weathered. sun-faded patches in line with the window, and the 14-16" wide boards would not have withstood drum sanding. Casey

Remember that color always is seen by comparison with the colors around it. It's monochromatic because you have beige paint (Bennington gray is a light grey-tan) and brownish wood. From easiest to hardest: A Persian style or other intense color and patterned rug would break up the wood tones on the floor and ease the monochromatic feel. A lighter paint color - and one not in the taupe-beige range - would by comparison, make the woodwork look darker. And stay away from the blue-greens because they would make the reddish look even more reddish by contrast. They are opposite on the color wheel and tend to make each other look more intense. A pale creamy yellow or a extremely pale peach (pale orange) would, although it's counter-intuitive to many people, make the wood look both darker and less "orange". http://www.lindaholtinteriors.com/2012/04/when-not-to-use-complementary-colors/  **************** MORE WORK than the above, but ... Because you have a good base finish on the wood that will minimize splotching, you could use a wipe-on product in a browner tone to shift the tone to a darker brown, then a clear top coat. The trick is to WIPE ON a thin layer with a cloth dampened in the solvent and slightly diluted stain so you don't obscure the grain. It's a lot like wiping on furniture polish, but with the grain. Don't try to slosh on and wipe off because it's hard to do evenly. I'm most familiar with the General Finishes Gel stain because I lived near a distributor - the Antique Walnut is a nice medium brown. You could mix it with a small amount of the deep brown Java to make it darker if needed. If you mix, take notes so you can reproduce it. here's a simulated deeper tint, with cream walls. Do NOT use minwax Tinted one-step finish. It's crap.

Thank you, daisychain01, and everyone else for their positive remarks and advice related to the *actual* question. My kitchen represents “my“ style. I search everything - for far too long before I do anything that I’m going to have to look at for any stretch of time. I looked at loads of photos for hood styles and I didn’t like the straight sided hoods because they lacked character. I wanted the hood to look unique (as it’s a focal point when you walk in the front door) - and I think I’ve achieved that. It‘s pretty comical to read “hood design does not fit” and “the shape and integration into the cabinets is all wrong to work”. Let me say, the hood “fits” rather well - I actually have about 1/4” clearance on each side :). And it also “works“ just fine - I press the ON button and there are no flashing messages that scream “hood shape not compatible with power button”. I think what you guys meant to say was the hood design could be more “complimenting” to the space. ?? I recently read in a design book, “Rather than following arbitrary guidelines, focus on incorporating the things that matter to you and the people who share your home. Sure, some people have a knack for decorating and design, but here’s the thing: it’s not rocket science. Allow yourself the freedom to mess up, whatever that means. Creativity goes much further than money and flawless taste when it comes to making a house a home. “ With that said, I’m pretty proud of the hood style and I know it will not cause a kitchen controversy all over America...maybe just here on Houzz. ;)