Kitchen progress

Remember where I started?  Click here for the post with the details.  

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​The Before

My Goal

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So far, here is what is completed.  The beadboard wallpaper is stripped off of the island, the plate cupboard has been removed, the 'ceiling' over the kitchen sink is gone as well as the florescent light that was hiding behind the decorative panel, the beadboard wallpaper that we were using as a backsplash is off from under where the plate cabinet was, the countertop backsplash was dremeled off, most of the fancy crown moulding is off the upper cabinets, and the walls have been crackfilled and sanded and repainted.

Mom had tried those peel n' stick backsplashes and it peeled and didn't stick!  LOL  She ended up removing a few short months later and when taking it off, the parts that DID stick, yanked off the paper coating off of the drywall.  The beadboard wallpaper covered that nicely.  The only reason I didn't keep the beadboard wallpaper myself was that . . . well, why DID I tear it off??!!  LOL  Crackfilling over that mess is a humongous task for a novice such as I, FOR SURE!

The majority of what is done took place over this past Friday and Saturday.  My husband, Ryan, worked super hard.  The walls had to be sanded down as they were full of noticeable blemishes.  Saturday, I painted all day.  I used Benjamin Moore Regal Ulti-Matte in CC-120 Stone House.  The pros to this is that I got the paint during the big sale a month or so ago (buy 2 and get 1 free), Regal is washable in any finish and flat paint is my favourite sheen as it hides so much, and Regal is a premium paint that is just one step under the top premium paint.  The cons is that I didn't take into consideration that I was painting over a pigment dense colors (brick red and mustard yellow) and SHOULD have used Aura (the top premium paint) as it is guaranteed to cover in two coats.  I have 2 coats of paint on in these pictures and I am going to have to do a third coat.  A typical case of "do as I say, not as I do".  LOL  I've recommended countless times to others to buy Aura over any other paint for these reasons and then I do this.  I definitely wish I could do this over again the right way!  :/

You may or may not have noticed that I ended up choosing a different wall color than originally planned.  I had originally chosen PPG Armadillo, then switched to Dulux Desert Castle (as I really wanted to try out Dulux Diamond paint in my kitchen) but I simply couldn't find the right shade until I used my Benjamin Moore colors and Stone House was the perfect shade.

So, now.  I would like some opinions.  I don't like white.  Never have.  I have tossed the ideas of cream trim or dark-brown-almost-black trim and can't seem to come to the right combination.  I ultimately someday want to have plain pine boards for trim, simple lines, and stained a dark brown.  I also can't make up my mind what color I want to do all my interior doors!  They have the grain look to them so would be awesome to gel paint and make look like real wood.  But then, being different materials, I'm wondering if that would be too much having wood-look doors and wood trim.  Wood-look doors and dark-brown-almost-black trim may look great . . . or may not.  I just don't know.  I'm really not a fan of light colors but I need to balance the light out with the dark so I don't create a dungeon effect in here!  LOL  So.  What would you do?  Would you do dark trim and dark doors with my light walls  OR  a cream trim with dark doors and light walls  OR  a greyish cream trim & doors with light walls  OR  dark trim with light doors & light walls?  Comment and let me know what YOU think!

Also, in my "goal" picture, you see a light fixture above the kitchen sink but mounted to the wall.  It would be much easier to simply move over the wiring to centre on the wall above the kitchen window.  Or, I could have it moved over to centre above the wall shelves beside the kitchen window.  The reason I'm thinking that last idea is that there is a light fixture on the ceiling in the middle of the kitchen space and I'm thinking that when I get the right fixture for there it may compete with the one over the window if I put one there.  Again, what would YOU do?