oh I love that green. Its bright, it's happy, it's full of life. I wonder if that would fly with my husband. I wonder how it would look as just an accent wall if I couldn't talk him into an all over color. One last pic which shows that the green may either kind of "connect" with the red unless I change it. It is not very visible in this pic due to the pendant light in the way, but it is kind of the transition point from the hallway from the dining room to the kitchen where the paint and crown molding just end. I had thought that I would want to extend the crown eventually but if I did that I would probably have to extend that red paint to at least down that wall around the fridge? And how would that tie into the new color? And desertdance, this is the kitchen in my new house that I am moving into this week that I want to paint while I have my mother here. My old kitchen (not pictured) is the one that I remodeled.... and has the sink placed in the appropriate spot But again, I am trying to get over that in this new house ... not really working, huh? haha

We have a 1931 home. When we purchased it had a galley kitchen with 5 doorways in it, a half bath, maids' room as a breakfast room, and a screened porch. Tiny bathrooms and closets, and laundry in the basement. We have lived here about 15 years now. Our first remodel was to turn the porch into a 4 season room. It was already on a concrete slab. We added electric base board heating, a ceiling fan, and removed the screening and installed sliding windows that have screens. The windows are actually removable, but we tend to keep them in year round. This has worked out nicely. Room has a small bistro table, futon, TV and is baseball central. Nothing better than watching baseball on the futon under the ceiling fan. This room is off the kitchen and living room via french doors. There is no AC ducted into this room. It stays cool enough in the summer with the doors open and the ceiling fan on. Second project was kitchen renovation (done about 10 years ago when it was simple to get a home equity LOC). We added on, and poured new crawlspace foundation. Brought the space into a rough rectangular space, that incorporated the breakfast area, enlarged kitchen, and half bath. Replaced all in the kitchen to the studs. Put in island with seating, and new windows. It's a fantastic space. Third remodel project was moving the laundry upstairs off the MBR, adding 2 walk-in closets, and an office. this space is over the porch. This required removing the breadboard ceiling on the original porch. Doing that allowed us to add some pot lights. This was a move or improve remodel decision. The best part is that our original tiny bathrooms are as-is. But now I can get ready and use the hair dryer and do my makeup in the "dressing room/laundry room" off the master bedroom closets. Since we can't realistically ever enlarge the size of our bathrooms, this has given the space we need functionally without the expense of a huge bathroom.

Milly thanks for responding! No it's not about load bearing, which is much more straight forward. Shear walls are for earthquakes and winds (which can also be hurricanes of course). The few articles I could find often made reference to how little contractors and sometimes architects understand shear walls and their importance. Now I have more questions than answers. We weren't going to have to pull out all the drywall down to the studs. From the little I could get on the web, it sounds like we will need a structural engineer's plan, then whatever is recommended. Doesn't sound like a lot in materials, but could be a lot in labor. I have no idea what all this would entail and cost. I also don't know how large of a window we can have since the shear wall has to be brought up to the proper strengh again. The house is 20 years old if that makes any difference. I already posted about this on the remodeling forum and got no replies. I may just have to pay a structural engineer just to give me an answer and then I can decide how to proceed or not.

First do the kitchen after it is done then you choose a wall color. What do you mean by a FP accent . BTW I would choose the same paint color for the whole space since it is open.