What is the color of your new furniture?

I'm with Darzy, paint it the trim colour and love changing up the back colour. You could use paint, a great textured paper - grasscloth or strie - would look beautiful. We just did a wall unit and it turned out beautifuly, used Benjamin Moore Cabinet Coat - great to work with. You could also change out the hardware and if you want a cleaner look, change the horizontal shelving to glass and add some lighting up in the top. I'd also consider scaling down the accessories in the unit and go will less but larger pieces. Just a thought.

Here's a nice example, and they're not even the quality of yours. Will look great! Keep us posted!

What a project!

What is the color of your new furniture?

We agree! White cabinets with a contrasting back color would look great and update the room.

We haven't picked out the furniture yet. We just bought the house, so we were going to do the floors, figure out the built in situation and then get a dining room table. It is in the entry of the house, so it all needs to be very appealing to the eye since it is the first impression you get when you walk in the house. I agree-too much stuff in the cabinets- looks cluttered. I like the idea of painting with the contrasting back color. If anyone has some pictures of horizontal shelving, grass cloth or lighting suggested, I would appreciate it. Also, any ideas for a fabulous dining room table would be great (or chandelier).

white. it would really class the place up (not that it's not already classy enough!).

White for shelves. Grasscloth on backs would be perfect: http://upcycledhomeblog.com/2012/08/03/easiest-way-ever-to-install-grasscloth/

Yes! paint the cabinets white. The color they are now throws the whole room off.

Here is the look,(by Robeson Designs) white or off white with grasscloth and the puck lights. You can light each shelf individually or use glass and just one light at the top

Stain them darker (but with dark floors that is really going to eat up light) or paint white with color on the backs or grass cloth. Since the unit has only a light glaze on it, you might be able to stain the wood a color and still show the grain.

How do you lean style wise as to furniture? This is a traditional space. Your dining room chairs will be the hardest part because nice ones are expensive. I'd look for those before the table myself as there are lots of affordable tables but no really nice inexpensive chairs. I have shopped and shopped for chairs.

I would also think about adding a mirror and glass shelves to the back of the cabinets that have the doors for contrast and sparkle. It is so visually busy that I would pare down the accessorizes too and paint it darker.

Can someone show me a picture with mirror and glass shelves please? Not sure what that would look like. My style furniture wise is more pottery barn/ traditional -love the chairs and pillows a few posts up.

What type of hardware would you use? Thank you so much for all the suggestions!

the hardware would depend on what you choose for the unit color and the chandelier. If you have a pewter chandelier, I would do matching hardware. You could also go black wrought iron.

I say paint them white, same as the trim- however a great product I recommend is Benjamin Moore's Advance in a pearl finish. Need a great white? I love to use AF-20 Mascarpone from Benjamin Moore.

Here are three cabinets with glass shelves with and without mirror back. You have to be careful with the mirror and remember that everything you put in there doubles.

Third one, my preference would be the grass cloth or painted finish. There's a lot going on there and it could tend to get busy. Carpet should be larger as well - extend at least three feet past the table all the way around to allow room for pulling out the chairs and not catching on the edge of the carpet.

Agree..scratch the mirror idea. Double busy and a bear to windex!

some handmade paper can make a stunning backwall to a shelf unit. don't have to just paint. :-)

This is one time I would go with painting the builtin white. I think I would change the clear glass to frosted panels, since you have so much display space, it is almost like gilding the lily to have closed cabinets with clear glass. Here is a textured glass: Here is one cabinet with stained glass:

Take the glass doors off and if the shelves are adjustable in the unit, take a couple out so to open the areas a bit more so when you paint the wood white and put a color on the back, more of the back will show and it won't be so busy

One thing I would consider if you decide to paint would be to eliminate the cabinet backing on to the hall. It's hard to tell what you should do because we can't see the entire unit from left to right. If it wraps around on the left and right side I would most likely leave it, but if it's on the right side only I might consider removing it if it's possible.

That is a good idea. The only issue is that the right side doesn't extend to the end of the wall like the left side b/c it wraps around. Would that look odd? thanks again for your help. I love the grasscloth idea and painting it white

Can you post a photo of the cabinets dead on centre so both sides are visible. I'm just working on one right now, we eliminated an entire section and are just in the process of looking for the "perfect" paper.

Painting the cabinets white will be a big, messy job.

You have not yet bought your new table or lighting fixtures.
You are re-doing the floors to a darker color and you state you do
not want the room too dark.

Consider buying a table to match the cabinet finish.

Think Aja's suggestion is one to consider. You could find all sorts of great tables with this light wood combination. Don't think the two tone wall paint with the taupe works as well with it, but that might be easier to change than painting the cabinets. Still could do any treatments regarding the back of the cabinets.

I vote painting them white and love the grasscloth idea on back.

For your dining room furniture:

Trend Alert -- Light wood

Forget about the dark woods you see in national chain stores.

Painting the cabinets white with the darker floors will add a beautiful backdrop to your new furniture.

Don't try to match furniture to the built-in, unless you are totally in LOVE with the wood/color of the built-in. It doesn't really have that Pottery Barn look to it so you might end up hating both! Painting the cabinet is kind of a pain, but not as much as you might think. There are some GREAT new paints that make painting woodwork much less pain than it used to be (the Ben Moore Advance mentioned above is WONDERFUL, it gives an oil-like finish but is water-based so safer/cleaner and won't yellow over time) Also, if you are doing work to the floors before you move in, you could just get a painter to spray, since you won't have all of your things in there yet to worry about overspray as much. That would make it simple work and should be able to get that done for under $1,000 (depending where you live, it could be as low as $4-500). And I definitely think Grasscloth on the backs is the way to go--you can find some really beautiful (and affordable) ones at Sherwin Williams. It comes in many, many shades and textures and they even make colored grasscloths, in case you want something other than beige. Good luck and share a picture when it's done! :-)

I would paint the bookcases and the trim in a straight white (no tint) such as white in BM because they are the largest surface. Consider staining the floors really dark, and then have fun with the back of the bookcases. I would love to see a library/dining as it feels rich and inviting. Leave a few shelves for some scultpures or objects and remove the shelf in the middle and hang a picture from it. With dark floors and white trim you can have a lot of latitude for furniture. good luck it is a great space

Thank you for everyone's help!

I have decided to paint the built ins a white or off white. The trim in the house is porter's paint special white (very bright) and I would like for the cabinets to be a bit more subtle. I was thinking of even adding a glaze to them in addition to painting. However, I need some advice on what color white would be good which is more subtle than special white but still goes well with my trim. Also, whether to get them glazed when painted to give them a more professional/custom look. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nice room. I would go with the same white as the rest of the woodwork. Any other white or glaze will make them look out of place. Paint the back the color of the room. Grass cloth will fade and if you go to move something it will look bad. I think you know what to do. Dont second guess yourself and go with your gut.

Thanks! You don't think it will look too bright?

No I dont especially if you paint the back the color of the room and dont fill it as much as the previous owner did.

What did you end up doing with the built ins? Would love to see how it turned out!

I ended up painting them a color between the trim and white. Turned out great! Thanks for the suggestions!

Disregard all the junk on the cabinets- its all stuff that needs to be put away from Christmas. I also put in new Bella Cera flooring which made the house look so much better.

Beautiful. What a difference :)

Where did you get the light fixture? Thank you

I would apply a dark-ish faux glaze to give the cabinets a little more character and harmonize with the color of the floor.

The light fixture is from Ballard designs

Looks refreshing and awesome! Now that the cabinets are white, your nice dinning set and rug stand out as they should and take center stage in the room! Good Job.

What is Bella cella flooring? Is it wood? Or tiles that look like wood? I love how everything turned out. You did great!!

Gorgeous! And if you want to try a little color or grass cloth, buy some inexpensive foam board and cut them to the size of the backs. Paint them, cover them in fabric, wallpaper, even scrapbook paper, etc, then pop them in. You can see what you think, without making a huge commitment.

Pickled cabinets

So much nicer!!