A few years ago, I replaced EVERY piece of door and window trim, baseboards, and casings with poplar which is great for painting and much cheaper than maple. I bought mine at a millworks store which was much cheaper than buying at the big box stores. They were able to custom cut my fluted casings for my open doors which was a plus, as some of my openings are deeper (not quiet standard) than others due to past remodeling/build-on issues. I did not use flat - I chose a very subtle molded design for ease of painting and cleaning. You can save some money by going with the finger-jointed trim which is perfectly fine for painting. One thing I will point out about poplar (or at least mine was) is that after priming, I found that I needed to lightly sand as the grain of the wood raised, giving it a "nappy" feel. I also lightly sanded between the two coats of paint for a slick, smooth finish. Woodworkers will know more about this than me, but I was told that was common for poplar. I had two sets of work-horses to paint on and my husband had a utility trailer that I stretched the pieces across for drying. We had quite the little assembly line going that summer with what seemed like MILES of trim! I also hung all new doors, but I went with pre-hung faux wood grain doors. I was also able to purchase these doors at the same millworks yard and they were much cheaper than Lowes and Home Depot.

NHB, thankyou. I had wanted french doors on this opening for quite some time, but thought it wouldn't work due to not having enough room to open them into the living room. Our doorway was originally 69" wide, so although we knew we would have to reduce it in width, opening 30 or 32 inch doors would never have worked. Walking around Home Depot one time, I spotted a pair of bifold french doors, but the price on them was high for just one pair (I needed two pairs). They were only available through special order. I calculated the cost for the sizes we would need, and thought "yikes", and I let the idea go. Two years later, I again looked at the HD doors on display, and then noticed there were some stacked in the shelves behind the display. Upon asking the clerk, I discovered that they indeed sold them in the store, and that only the ones with beveled glass like the display set were special order. I had hope, finally! We bought the unbeveled glass ones, and these doors cost us less than $400, for the two pairs. Ruth, I love your new floors, and I think your room is looking gorgeous!

jlc712: Thanks for taking the time to give me so many ideas to think through. I have already decided to nix sconce S1 and replace with s2b (so I will be repeating that sconce in three locations total). I would not want to repeat it everywhere -- I need more variety than that. P1 that you suggested leaving was chosen because we felt it would go very well and compete in size with the big island hood. However, the idea of three school house sconces in the kitchen is worth exploring more. I am not sure how large the school house sconces comes in. If it is to replace P1 and go over the island it will need to be large. I will research this more. As per too many finishes that you and others have mentioned, I am using the blog attached below as my guideline. I like the idea of using more than one finish and feel the designer/blog author does a good job of explaining how to mix metals. As per too many styles, that may be a problem. I have tried to choose only lights listed as transitional, but atlas that is a broad category. I have also endeavor to repeat other features (stripes, circles, drums etc) to connect the lights. Could be some more work is needed in this area. Oaktown, Thanks for your help and inspiration pictures. I appreciate you thinking through the lighting with me. We will definitely have some pot lights too (probably more than I would have liked). Pot lights are very unflattering light when shinned on a head, so we are trying to avoid having pot lights over head in any seating areas. You mentioned eliminating the foyer sconces (S2) due to it being close to a closet. There is no closet there, just a very, very narrow niche that we will use for wicker baskets maybe to hold a few purses, umbrellas etc. There is no door on it, so I think the sconces can stay. Our house is a rebuild/addition and previously we just had a large hanging light in the foyer. I know from living in the house with one large hanging overhead light that the light in the foyer was insufficient. I am looking forward to seeing if the sconces will improve the lighting in the foyer. Your inspiration photos are gorgeous. Is the Hicks light from Circa? We chose one sconce light from Circa, but I will take another look at what they offer. Most of our chosen lights are from Hudson Valley or Elk. As per my kitchen cabinet colours, the perimeter cabinets are off white (SW Alabaster) and the island is a dark stained chocolate brown. The blue cabinets that you are correctly associating with my username are going in the laundry room (good memory BTW). Carol Here is a link that might be useful: mixing metal finishes

Yes, I have open concept. I have oil rubbed bronze on my front door. All the other doors are satin/brushed nickel. Kitchen faucet is stainless. The only bronze fixtures are in the open concept space. All the other lights are recessed or fans. Lamps are wood in one bedroom and Stainless in another bedroom. Office/other bedroom has a black lamp. It all works. Promise. 😁