This old house

This old house is getting a facelift, in a sort of major way.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that we are remodeling our kitchen. YES!! I am so excited to have a new kitchen (and laundry room and powder room, too!).

But I have a problem and need your help...

Paint color.

I do not know what color to paint the kitchen. I love the color on the walls right now. I really love it. But I'm not sure if it will work again. The cabinets will be almost the same color they are now, if not a tiny bit darker. Appliances will be stainless steel and the floor and counters will be darker, too.

(counter color)

I don't want the kitchen to look like a cave, or I would totally paint it the same color. What do you think? Do you think it will be too dark? My other thoughts were some sort of muted yellow or cream, or even a stone gray color. Any thoughts? Other ideas? One thing I'm considering is the other colors on the downstairs walls of our house. The terra cotta in the kitchen goes really well with the tan color in the dining room, brown in the pool room, and sage in the living room. I love how they go together and if I change the kitchen walls, I feel like I need to change the surrounding rooms. Bryce thinks that's weird, but who's with me? Colors need to coordinate or flow, right?

And in other exciting remodel news...do you remember this post? And how I never really mentioned it again?

Well, only a year later, we are back to it. Ready to sell the pool table again, ready to switch things up. Apparantly, a kitchen remodel is not exciting enough for me...(okay, really it is...but after so many months of being exhausted and not having time, energy, or desire to think about, well, much of anything, I finally feel somewhat sane and normal again and ready to take on the fun stuff).

The plan is to get rid of the table (and we may have a buyer, yay!). My plan is to move the dining room into the pool room, along with a buffet or hutch, and some fun accessories. I'd like to turn the current dining room into a play area for the boys with a book shelf, small kid table, etc. Bryce thinks we should keep the dining room table where it is and turn the pool room into a play room/sitting room.

Here are the pros and cons as I see them...
My plan - pros: dining room could be really pretty in the big room, table would fit well, all my china, linens, etc. would fit in that room with the table, we could expand it easily for large parties, we could keep puzzles or games set up at that table out of sight from the main living area, it would allow for better flow of space between the current dining room, kitchen, and living room, and we would not have two tables right next to each other; cons: it would be a big dining room and the boys play area might be messy and we'd see the mess from our main living area.

Bryce's plan - pros: the boys would have a big area to play in, we could maybe fit a sitting area in the big room along with the play area, and we wouldn't see the boys' mess from the main living area; cons: two tables still next to each other, it could be a funny layout with so much space for the boys' toys, and the dining room table would still be a big table in a little space.

That's all I can think of now. Weigh in if you'd like. I'd love to hear thoughts and ideas that you have.