So do you want to do both rooms? I like your cabinets also, and I think they are sound. Painting or staining after a good cleaning can be a good thing. You like the countertops, right? Want to replace the floors? Any preferences as to wood, stone or tile on floors, kitchen or your family room? About how much yenom are you prepared to spend?

I suggest doing nothing for now. You're likes and dislikes are still evolving with a new home. Give yourself at least another 6-12 months before making decisions. I think you'll find that in that time, you'll get a really good handle on where you want to go with remodeling. Remember, once you gut and change, you can't go back.

Unfortunately, I have to replace the rug in the family room, and some rugs upstairs, and I can't wait 6-12 months. DH has asthma/allergies and the rugs are killing him!

So, I would like to replace the floors and paint the walls in both rooms. I like wood or stone floors as options.

being the rooms connect and the woods are different, I can picture if you did match the floor with the trim color and change the cabinet hardware to a Bronze color it would pull it together quite nicely.
With the dark leather furniture you will need a nice more colorful area rug to break up too much brown in the room though, but I think all in all it would work out quite nicely. Something like this combination

I really like the idea of bronze! I had not thought of it. I have to figure out a new sink too. It is a stainless that has seen better days. I wonder what sink would work with that if I got an ORB faucet too. Is that what you meant? ORB hardware? I would prefer not to have any rug in the family room - I was thinking of just throw rugs.

that is also a picture of one of the side tables and the DVD storage. (picture is from our previous house)

I'd go with a lovely walnut or gunstock colored floor (gunstock is very dark brown on oak). If you're planning on keeping the cabinets in that light tone it would provide a nice contrast and would look fabulous with the brick!

I love gunstock. I have it in my public area and 2 bedrooms in plank flooring and in the kitchen, laundry room and breakfast room, I have gunstock parquet which is so easy to keep clean!

Can I see pictures Patricia? It sounds lovely. I have been thinking of Brazilian Teak lately. I found a place that is local that sells it - now I just have to find the number again and call them.

Gardenchick1's floors are just stunning!

Here is a link that might be useful: brazilian teak floor pictures

I love my wood floors in the kitchen. They're ash, and I previously had oak. Both are good and oak will take any stain beautifully. I would finish with Waterlox, which gives a great wood look and is durable without being plastic.

I have a slate top to my shower bench and it stained from water. Forget a grease spot on slate. I have oil drips from refinishing the fireplace on the pietra de whatever (it's the dark shist they sometimes use on kitchen counters) and there's no way to get the oil stains out of that.

You thinking of painting cabinets? That dark BM color Bittersweet chocolate looks great on your style cabinets and especially with a java floor and orb hardware.

When we spiffed the previous house (which STILL has not sold, arrrgh shoot me now), we used ORB faucet/knobs/lighting in the kitchen with a white porcelain sink. It looked fabulous, if I may say so myself. :-) Here are a couple of photos, {{gwi:1851618}} and {{gwi:1524269}}. As you can tell, we had pretty similar cabinets to yours, just no arch to the doors. People insist that porcelain sinks are such a hassle but we didn't find it to be as long as we didn't leave the dog food cans in the sink to leave rust circles :-) and one of our pans would leave a gray streak if it banged on the middle part of the double sink during washing. But even those came off nicely with a few moments' gentle rubbing with a Soft Scrub type cleanser or Bon Ami powder. It was only $99 at Home Depot, Kohler brand. I have also heard wonderful things about a sink called "Silgranit" though that also comes in white - you can find them at a good discount on eBay. I also got my knobs on eBay for a buck apiece, they were $3 each at Lowes! The ORB looked so pretty on the oak and the white. I would try the new hardware before painting, though - as long as you don't go crazy with really expensive hardware (in case you do paint and they don't "go" afterward), you may get the desired "perk-up" without the hassle factor of painting.

I love wood floors in kitchens; I find them so much easier on my knees and back than such super-hard surfaces as tile. I kind of like the idea of the flooring matching the trim. We did that when we put in the HW floors at the other house. I must have brought home 20 or 30 sample boards and was having a hell of a time picking something out (we knew we didn't want anything dark because of the dog and cat hair LOL) and someone on this forum (don't remember who, this was late 2004) suggested matching the midtone pine trim. That ended up being a honey ash floor and it looked smashing! Really tied everything together.

If you do use Brazilian Teak flooring, please make sure it is sustainably harvested from managed forests, though, since Brazil has an iffy environmental record... not saying don't use it, just pay attention to where it's coming from. But have you looked at Lyptus? I think it's a really gorgeous wood, and the speed at which it grows and the careful management of the plantations really make it a good "green" product IMO. It comes in a dark stain and with area rugs that have a lighter base tone - cream/beige/light tan, I LOVE

That said, have you had the carpets deep-cleaned and do you have an air cleaner for your DH's allergies? Sears has some reasonably priced ones. I ask because it may take some time to get a really good quality flooring installer out; November and December can be busy because people realize last-minute that they want to pretty up their houses for their holiday gatherings. We had ours done at a relatively slow time, late winter, but it still took a month from the time I put down the deposit until I had my floors in place - ordering the material took time, and then I had to wait for an opening in the schedule.

I would keep any non-emergency changes "on the cheap" for now though, since I agree with patser that things will likely change over time. You'll learn to hear this house's "language" and it will tell you what it wants and needs.

Don't you just hate when you type something out and then it disappears with some idiot move you make. UGH.

thank you all for responding. :)

I have not had the floors cleaned yet since I keep thinking we will get rid of them quickly. We did buy a freidrich air filter and are having an aprilaire installed too.

I have to say I do like the idea of matching the floors to the trim but I am worried it will be too dark. these carpets are just driving me nuts so I do feel like I have to decide quickly! I don't know if my cats barf more than normal are still getting used to the place or what, but I havent had carpeting in a long time and it is driving me batty.

Good to hear you liked your porcelain sink. I really liked one I had in a house long ago and I would LOVE to get another one. I loved the pics of the ORB in your kitchen Mari. I hope it sells soon. I know it is so stressful selling right now. Fingers crossed for you.

We're having an Aprilaire air cleaner put in a week from tomorrow. Between the loose-dirt floor in the basement, pet hair/dander, the general old-house dustiness, and both of us having allergies it was pretty much a no-brainer to go with the good one instead of just having a plain filter bracket installed (idjit kind of "forgot" to put one in and the cheapo furnace he installed didn't have a built-in one). I splurged a bit and am getting the Aprilaire humidifier too because I really hate constantly refilling and cleaning freestanding humidifiers, I hate the looks of them and the space they eat up (this being a much smaller house - DH was right and it's The floor being dark is why I suggested the lighter-colored area rugs. :-) Hit the flooring store and pick up a whole slew of sample boards to check out in your room. The prefinished Lyptus does come in a pretty medium-brown tone called "Stone", which isn't overwhelmingly dark, look at something like that. I would try to avoid something overly red-toned as that can bring out the orange in many oak cabinets.

Ah, I was thinking BM Bittersweet Chocolate on those cabs as well, like girlwithaspirn did. I can't find her kitchen on the finished kitchen blog, but it was amazing. It would look good with the light colored counters.

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchens

Boop, you have the neatest rugs and furniture. My cabinets have a similar finish, and I've got ORB knobs.

here's gwa's kitchen as mentioned above...

Here is a link that might be useful: girlwithaspirin.com

I remember that kitchen! What fun to see it again.

I'd be ripping the wall-to-wall out ASAP, too. I love the idea of the darker woods for flooring. Too dark and it shows every cat hair, but those nice medium dark tones with graining are very forgiving.

My cabs are very similar in style to yours, but in much worse shape. I painted mine in a soft whitish color, which I love. Your existing stain would work, as well as painting them. Just personal taste, there. Here are a couple of pics... before and after with a light ceramic tile floor. Gives you an idea of the changes paint can make :)

I would do medium stained oak in both the family room and kitchen. It would be beautiful. I think the color and style of the cabinets are lovely.

Alex, great job on your cabs!

Joann

Reno, I looked at Gardenchick's floors and they are very pretty, but I particularly love the gunstock oak, a medium oak. Had I not gotten them, I probably would have gone to a travertine or good porcelain tile. Gunstock goes well with pine, cherry, painted and oak furniture. For me, it was the best floor. I do not have pictures but someone else has floors identical to mine and I cannot remember who but he/she posted them one night and I thought I was looking at my own floors.

Wood floors are wonderful in the kitchen. I've always had them and would not have anything else (linoleum perhaps).