phyllis, yes, this was fun to read. we are building a house, I picked out a light camel color for the walls. i went to the house and the builder had the painter paint EVERYTHING that color! Walls, ceilings, closets, shelving, everything. After a few weeks of going back and forth to check other things that were going on, we decided to have them paint the ceilings white. (I just couldnt stand everything the same color) A painful decision, as we are having to pay for this even though our builder never asked about the ceilings, and I assumed I picked the "wall" color for the walls. I figured ceilings were white as a given. Now, after reading this thread, I realize that the closets should have been white too! All of my closets in my current home are bright, white and pretty! If he had asked me, I would have said white. They could have sprayed the trim, ceiling and walls in the closets the white they used on all the trim in the house. Easy. Coulda, woulda, shoulda....

LOL! You guys are too funny. It's funny that I don't feel "creative". I do feel determined and inspired when it comes to home projects, but I honestly don't see myself as being creative! I will say that paint pens are my new favorite. I had no idea how much I'd love using them! I thought it would be like using a marker, but it's not. It's truly like having a very stiff, very rigid paint brush. The way the paint goes on is very smooth and liquid; not at all like a marker. My mind is racing now, trying to come up with other wall word ideas. This was *so* easy. I plugged in my quote and size on a few Wall Words sites, and for the size I did, it would have cost me around $45 just for the lettering. Totallyblessed, yes the kitchen is (98%) done. If you haven't found it yet, it's on a thread called "It almost killed us, but my cabinets are yellow!" The paint pen I used (Sharpie Oil Based) was what I used. I bought a really, really thick pen (mistake) and had to carefully turn the pen to only allow the tip to do some of the more delicate lines. Filling in the thicker areas was easy. Next time, I'll start with a very narrow pen, and then come back to fill in with a thicker pen. Brutus, you're funny. I don't think I'd pass muster with the folks at HGTV. My style isn't modern, I'm not trying to sell my house, and I'm not 22, LOL! Isn't that the standard on HGTV these days?

You prime the whole thing with white primer. No more yellow reflections. No more wasted time. You can also buy a fan deck.

OK...so first rule of flooring design is you do NOT want to mix-and-match wood-look finishes. You will want to go with ONE option or the OTHER in the areas you want. Sigh....yah. I know. It seems like such a waste to remove a 'good floor' just to replace it with something that is ALMOST identical. The problem with having BOTH in the same room 'touching' each other is the 'ALMOST IDENTICAL' will scream out (to a visitor) "I couldn't afford to do it 'right' so I went with 'almost'". I know. That's flooring snobbery at its worst. I must admit I am a flooring snob. I will 'see' a magnificent floor (ahem...Sistine Chapel at the Vatican) BEFORE I see a magnificent piece of art (like the CEILING in the Sistine Chapel). The 'ideal' situation is to remove what you already have and replace it with your 'new' dark wood. That's ideal. Because you have a kitchen update coming soon, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you stop with the flooring. Get your kitchen organized and your flooring deal with later. Remember: Floors are done LAST. Work from the TOP down (ceiling, walls/cabinets, counter tops, appliances AND THEN flooring). Gravity works. Which means ANY dings that are GOING to happen will happen on an OLD FLOOR that is going to be replaced. I know you want the updated floors because it seems easy, but trust me, it is NOT.