I would change the flooring and keep the cabinets

I agree the woodwork is excellent.. I would change the floors and re-evaluate then. Even the countertops are so good it seems a shame to change them.

You have a few options with flooring, either you go with your grayed wood (would love to see a picture) or a darker wood, like a walnut, or a white washed. You could also try getting saltillo tile and continue, or change to a slate tile.

I would change the hardware, change your appliaces. and call it a day for now. in the bathroom I would remove the mirror and get single mirrors and new lighting. I would really live in the house before changing.

OK just read you wanted to change countertops. try icestone. I just recommended this to another houzzer

or try a dark brown recycled quartz. in truth you could do a granite such as copper dunes too.

What a beautiful house, and the ocean views will be wonderful to live with. I agree that it might be good to live there for a bit, before launching into a renovation. Libradesigneye has some excellent suggestions. I'd replace the tile kitchen and bathroom counters with a solid surface--much easier to maintain without all that grout. Quartz is "green" and very durable. For the kitchen, you might want to see if your appliances come in grey rather than going the stainless route (I don't like stainless either). I'm seeing a lot of grey these days in appliances and it would work with the greyed wood floors. The kitchen needs a little shot of color though--all the grey and brown tones here and the neutrals in the adjacent spaces are rather subdued. I think some green, blue, or aqua tones would work well with the neutrals. You might consider it for the small amount of wall space and backsplash in the kitchen. A personal fave of mine is Tiffany blue, sort of a robin's egg or agua that has a bit of punch without being overly bright. Very best of luck settling into your beautiful new retirement space.

While I have not seen the floor you selected, there is a range out there of flooring. Some are quite plain gray, and some are driftwood toned gray with both browns and creams and grays mingled together . . what in a paint shade would be termed a warm gray. I posted a paint color above that is in this vein. If you selected the warm gray toned floor it will be beautiful with your blond wood and fireplace. If you selected a straight gray / iron gray toned floor, then you want to add in more shades of gray and black in your decor.

I saw after someone else wrote that you dislike SS. I appreciate that - just use the black ones that you have until they require replacement. Then, however, for resale, in a house like this, I think you will want to select SS, or you could buy those that accept panels (frig and dishwasher) and have some new panels stained to match your existing cabinets, so the entire thing is seamless

so I would totally paint all the oak white, put in those cool gray floors, add a recycled glass countertop. I think everything looks to be in good shape, but oak is dated, no matter how you look at it, in my opinion.

Love the house -- hope you keep us updated on your progress!

Go white with new appliances. New will also be more energy efficient as well. I would go with the new porcelain textured tile that is about 12" X 36" laid in a running bond pattern throughout the house instead of hardwood with in-floor radiant heat. Use a soft greige color. Get rid of all tile counter surfaces & go with an almost white quartz or silestone.

Don't paint the oak. Change all lights with LED also energy efficient. I see also spots on the beams. Remove those. Use the blue color you have around the house for new tile backsplash in kichen. Go porcelain or clear glass subway tile, running bond pattern. Grout with off white. Definitely remove the peninsula & add a nine foot island with a vegie prep sink. Oh, and add a very deep sink to the kitchen if there isn't one already. I like heavy grade stainless sinks for cleaning purposes.

Change all brass fixtures to an oil rubbed bronze or a brushed chrome. Soften up the tile floors with Persian or kilim area rugs to define each sitting area and in the halls & bedrooms. I envy you your path of making this a warm comfortable oceanside home. Have fun.

It's just beautiful. The oak, brass, saltillo and other tiles are an integrated whole. If you replace appliances, just use black if you like it. No point buying appliances for fictional buyers in the dim distant future. If you want to change something just a bit, try a new brushed brass or champagne brass finish for cabinet door pulls in the kitchen.

I like it as an almost quarter century old example done well and consistently in a certain style. I would probably replace the cabinet hardware and I am not a huge fan of tile countertops for practicality purposes.

This is not the orangey builder oak that tends to deserve a bad reputation, this all looks pretty well done. I might be tempted to paint some of it--the bedrooms where some of it looks a bit massive, but I would get that professionally done, unless you are a very good painter.

Not everything that is old is "dated" in a bad way, and not everything that is dated deserves to be altered just because it's old. This house could certainly be homogenized into something that made it look more "current" but I don't thing it would necessarily make it look better.

So hard to tell colors on computer monitor, but on MY screen, I really like the last one that is running perpendicular to your floor.

This is an AMAZING house with views that take the eye from any perceived faults. WIth that said, I hate to cook in and keep clean tile countertops. A smooth surfcae is so much easier (as you know, since you cook).

Upper left - #1 seems closest to the right answer - but maybe lower right. Can you put them next to your fireplace stone and cabinets and take the same photo? I'm guessing you are carrying these floors throughout into the kitchen but if you are not . . .let us know. .

Can't wait to see the new sofa!

The washed grey floor looks very nice.

I am redoing our family room \ kitchen , have oak cabinets with a cedar ceiling. Rock fireplace & lots of windows with distant ocean view,

We are stuck on what colour flooring to choose. Looking at a grey /taupe flooring and painting the cabinets gray.,

Hope someone can help with this,

Pictures of the room

More pictures

We would like to keep the cedar ceiling

sandrajones i suggest starting a new dilemma.

Sandra we will come and find you - that is a gorgeous ceiling . . think you want to paint cabinets a coordinating mid tone gray to match one element of the stone fireplace and bring in a cherry floor instead .. so the ceiling tones have balance. Cherry and black is luscious . you might cherry finish one elevation of the kitchen . .the peninsula? and paint the rest so it recedes .. . ..

Do you mean brown cherry that looks like the ceiling tone? Do you think the grey/taupe wood flooring, which matches the tile in the kitchen, is too much?

We are putting hard wood flooring in the hall way and dining room,

Will the cherry wood work ? Picture of the wood flooring that we were thinking of putting in, we will have to decide soon.

Sandra, our OP Pamela Jo is busy renovating, but I don't think she will mind the hijack - I do think the wood will be better in the long run than the gray. I like the kitchen flooring but I do think with such a stunning cedar ceiling that you need to have the tones repeated somewhere - the flooring you show above looks like a good tone. What you do with the cabinets will also bear on this .. .but I think you would be sorry in the long run to select the gray.

I usually am all for gray, you have the lovely fireplace stone . but the ceiling needs balance and the floor is the best place for that. Do start your own dilemma so we can follow your progress ..

We are taking your advice, not having gray wood flooring,not sure what to do re kitchen cabinets, Will oak cabinets look good painted, The cedar ceiling looks more like # I colour in the day light, would cloud white look okay?or would grey, be better,

still concerned,

keep cabinets and countertops.. change the floor to a lighter colour .

Sandra - for painted kitchen cabinets, oak will look fine if they use the right product - a specific paint made to sort of fill the grain - something by ben moore I've heard the pros use. If it were my kitchen, I would pick a gray tone with a light reflective value in the higher 50's that matched one of the stones in my fireplace rock. That is going to be dark enough not to look like a sad white (can't recommend white at all here) but light enough to actually lighten your kitchen area from the wood. Look at this tone - http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/pelicangray

Make sure you stay away from true grays / blue grays / silvery grays that will turn blue against the wood in your home. Greener / earthier undertone grays.

So here is what I would do Go to Ben Moore and pull the pelican gray swatch. Pull every gray paint swatch that is anywhere near to this color and straying darker, greener, bluer, browner gray . . .grab as many swatches as you can. Get several pelicans however so you can keep your touchstone. Go home and put them all against the fireplace and stand back.

Your eye will eliminate the ones that clash with the fireplace tones immediately.

Then look at the rest. Look at them in am light, evening light, daylight - let them sit there for a few days so you get different kinds of weather / times of day that you can just look. Then -

Narrow to two or three. Get sample sizes from HD who will make the bm colors (and it will be pretty close). Paint two coats of each on a foam core board. Carry those boards into the kitchen itself - let them sit near the window, near the fridge, all around the room.

If you have more than one you like, pick the one nearest to blending in to the stone chimney.

Go for it.

To pamela, our OP, hope you are really enjoying your location and summer and will come back when fall arrives and changes start to share where you are at!

Thank you so very much,

Thanks

I am obviously late to the party, and you may have already finished your home....but....I couldn't resist chiming in. I would not put the driftwood toned wood flooring on the floor for a few reasons. First, I think you have a lot of wood already (tons of cabinets and ceiling) and this will only add to that issue. Second, near sand and water, wood is not the best option (tile would be more durable in my opinion as I have a riverfront home so I have experienced this). Third, I really think you should get a decorative painter (or DIY, but you have a lot of wood) to use a Cerused finish on your oak cabinets which would essentially make your cabinets look exactly like the wood floor samples posted above. Google the finish and you will see what I mean. I think you would love it. Then, because the satillo is an orange color, either stay away from grey in the Cerused finish, or change the tile as grey and orange don't mix well. There are even Cerused finishes that use pretty colors instead of wood tones. Good luck.

I LOVE the tile floor in the kitchen. Terra cotta like that will never go out of style. It's classic. I know that brass is "in" again, but I think simply changing the handles on the oak cabinets to a rubbed bronze would really improve the look of this 80/90's kitchen. Dress up all the open shelving you have with interesting items- a set of antique encyclopedia books, old typewriter, beautiful soup tureen, vase, family photo from the 40's, etc. Make your place interesting.