Love blue-grays. We recently chose BM Affinity color Tranquility (Aura) for our basement bath (which has no windows so no natural light). Lovely, soothing color. Crystalline is a touch paler and also beautiful. I'd posted some photos of Affinity blue-gray sample cards in my blog. I have the paint ready, and I'm planning to paint within a few days. Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of Affinity blue-gray sample cards

you are too kind to help as much as you have already! thank you the table and chairs will go. yippee! the valance will go. the wallpaper was started coming down last night. YEAH!! the cabinets certainly need hardware. just haven't picked it out yet. I will have to give some serious thought to staining the cabinets. they match all the trim and the baseboards, that i never thought to go darker with them. but it sounds so much better than having soooooooooo much of the same color oak. i am so oaked out!! but the husband loves it - go figure. my basement was finished about a year ago and i did it all in warm colors... a yummy dark yellow with a red accent wall in one of the areas. it does have oak but looks so cozy and warm. but i really want the main level to be cool colors...blues and grays especially. i have looked at so many swatches, my head is spinning! yes, my counters are laminate. i had no idea about the paint...i will look into that because i ablsoutely hate hate hate the counters. i have tried finding something I love to base my choices on but everything i see for inspiration is with modern homes... white trim, beautiful windows, new style of construction... and of course when I had a home like that 12 years ago i wanted country and found it in my current home. ugh. so frustrating! i guess what i need is just a few color combinations that look good together and then i can sample them in the actual rooms. i find one color that i love but then anything i pull to go with it just doesn't work. I find BMs colors beautiful but overwhelming. SW has great suggestions of combinations but i just prefer the colors of BM. so if you are talented in some great combinations of BM paint, I would be so greatful for suggestions!! i am so excited to finally be able to redecorate that I am finding it so hard to do now. i am afraid to buy the paint, have the painter come and do all the work, and then pissibly not like the results. it freaks me out - i guess because it is so many rooms and our main living area. thanks again for everything.

Yes I love that fabric too! I had leftovers from when I purchased it in 2003 to make a valance for the window above the sink in my old kitchen. It went really well with the dark cabinets I had then. We painted that kitchen in SW Restrained Gold, which really complemented the fabric. Unfortunately, that shade doesn't work with the lighter cabinetry and is too dark for this space. Wow, you rattled off a lot of BM options here! I don't own their fan deck, but their store is around the corner from me so I will have to investigate. I had actually considered the BM Maple Leaf Red for my breakfast room, but then it seemed too dark for fabric I bought for the window treatments in there (Bosporus Toile 128) I went ahead and added a couple of pictures of the fabric and breakfast room... Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen photos

Thanks Design Interior South for your comments and reference to “boob lights”. Ha haha ... I am definitely replacing them now! Yes I’ll keep the tile floors but will likely put rugs on them. Staircase...yes needs to be updated for sure. I got a few quotes and it’s nearly 4000 to paint. I can get new spindles and posts for this much which I think would make a bigger impact than just painting. Happy to hear if you disagree. Re the kitchen, I’ll be getting a white/cream quartz countertop with an overhang plus changing the backsplash to match/complement the countertop. Hopefully that will lighten up the very dark kitchen nook. The other option is to paint the cabinets white which I am still thinking about.