Honestly we would need to see a bit more of the rest of the house and your style. One of the first things that popped to me was the mismatched appliances. and the switch plates. I dont mind the flooring. Light gray and white sub. tiles would be great.

I understand. to best answer your question we are building our style throughout the entire home. I purchased it a year ago and everything needs to be updated. good bones but not much was changed since its birth in 1989.

I am replacing the electrical components with legrand radiant line. i will replace the kitchen electrical after the backsplash is installed.

as for the style we hope to achieve once done? shabby chic/farmhouse.

i also plan to buy all new appliances in the future to match, what you see is from previous owner.

i kind of like black stainless myself.

I prefer the warmer wood floor - if it is real wood, keep it - its classic. The gray / white thing is not as big a trend anymore - its been a bit done to death, so even if you replace the flooring, consider keeping a warm wood tone or tile which has both warm and cool tones to make it more flexible style wise.

Black stainless scratches and is trendy. Meaning in a few years when you need to replace an appliance good luck finding a matching black stainless.

Your floors are fine as is. Find a colorful backsplash tile to bring some fun into the space. With the neutrals you have so far, you can do lots of different things. What do YOU like?

BTW: Gray is so overdone and on its way out.

I would like to know about your experience with GF milk paint. I've used it myself for a vanity and dresser/night stand and really, really liked it.

Personally, I'd consider something other than subway tile. A larger square tile in a staggered pattern? Or some pattern?

I also like your floor as is, and unless it's in terrible shape (e.g. buckling laminate), I'd keep it.

Another vote for keeping the floor unless it is damaged.

were you going for the antique look in the kitchen

the floor was not installed correctly and has several gaps throughout. I am not a fan of laminate.

Not going for the antique look, not sure what your basing on that but not anything i did. I literally only painted the cabinets white, everything else was previous owners decision and how i found the place.

brett, what flooring is used on the adjoining rooms? is that wood throughout the entire house or living area? If that wood is poor condition, will you just replace the portion in the kitchen or everywhere else?

as for backsplash, you already have one. the smaller piece up the back is considered a splash and usually isn't a good look to tile above that. Is that granite you have? (can't tell from the pic) If you can score the 4" piece and pry it off the wall, then your subway tile would be fine. (or whatever tile you like). Before you do that, decide on your flooring.

I'm basing it on the dark hardware and the hinges of the door. that's why I called it antique

White Subway Style Backplash with dark grey grout and gray floor tiles would look prefect for the kitchen along with a eggshell or even a neutral paint color is great

Thanks,

Purewal Contractors Inc

Welp, subway tile is basic, easy to find, inexpensive and classic. Ergo, it's extremely common. Esp w. gray grout. Are you going for common? If so...then yeah, stick with gray grout and subway tile. It's vanilla as hell, but it would be clean, simple and perfectly appropriate. I was gonna agree, too, with others that you should keep the floor and put down an old oriential rug, but it sounds like it's not salvageable. If you do gray hex tile floor...same thing...inexpensive, extremely common, perfectly appropriate. And vanilla as hell. But vanilla sells and you can give things a little personality with paint, accessories, yadda yadda.

Well, I would remove that wooden cornice of the top of the window, or paint it.

I also agree that with the lip on the countertop backsplash often does look weird. (are you replacing the counters)

As to the floor, I would make a plan to run the same flooring throughout the adjoining space, particularly because of the size of the rooms shown here, it will disjoint and shrink the space if you don't7 keep some congruency.

That also falls for the wall paint we are only seeing half of this room so it's very hard to give input on that.

Color: how about something muted but distinctive. Say moss green or dusty rose? Or a deepish gold (hard to find a good color paint though). Do paint between short backsplash and cupboards, no tile. Also think about replacing those oversize knobs. Just thinking out loud here. Maybe square knobs in the same finish as the drawer pulls.

I would change the flooring

here two photos from the day I got the keys to show the space better. Ive decided to just do engineered hardwood (cant afford solid given the sqft) on the entire first floor. this would include the living room, dining room, kithcen, and family room. the living and dining room still had the original carpet from 1989. upstairs is all carpet but that was replaced maybe 10 years ago, its ok for now. while you can't see it in the photos the laminate has pulled apart showing gaps both at the ends and length wise in about 7 places, all in the middle so not sure how to fix that.

i will have to see if i can remove the 4" black splash or just paint and call it good.

Claire - ok then i am guilty of taking the bronze hardware and repainting it antique bronze and picking the hardware, apparently the knobs are too big? i just figured they are more functional that way. i like the oil rubbed bronze or matte black look. i replaced the kitchen faucet with a newer looking oil rubbed bronze, also replace the kitchen lights with updated oil rubbed bronze LED. i painted one interior door white cloud with BM advance and changed the hardware to matte black. i like it.

I am no design guru just a guy who likes doing his own work. I don't hire people. if i don't know how to do something I learn best i can.

by my analysis based on my price and comps recently sold i had $50k on day one. To get that equity it just needs tasteful updating pretty much everywhere. im not doing this as a flip, i plan to live here a while but im always mindful of what will sell for a profit in the end.

these are the only photos i have to show right now. next time its clean i can take more.

from the fireplace looking into the kitchen

from the kichen back to the fireplace.

to nosoccermom: i think my cabinet job would have turned out better had I used benjamin moore advance and used a sprayer. The GF milk took alot of coats, like 3 -4 to get good coverage and took me months. I also put on a high performance poly top coat, but sadly in a few spots by the hardware its already chipping off. i think its from my wife's nails? kind of surprised it didn't hold up better. the BM advance once cured is pretty tough.

Here is a link to an article that explains why not to do a gray floor and what is the best option for a timeless vs trendy look.

https://www.mariakillam.com/docs/TimelessHardwoodFloorMay.pdf

Pick one flooring for the entire downstairs, the stairs and the open hallways on the 2nd floor. You can always replace the carpets in the bedrooms with new carpet sometime down the line and use a tile floor in the bathrooms. You may not be able to match the engineered hardwood in the future.

If you sell your home in 10 years anything that looks dated will reduce the price you get for the home, same as the 80s finishes helped you negotiate a lower price on the home you purchased.

Pick traditional, timeless flooring, cabinets and counters. Paint colors can be as trendy as you want because it will need repainted in 10 years and it is relatively inexpensive to change paint colors when you are ready to sell.

Question to all of you who are deeming things "dated," "common," and "out." Are y'all repainting, reflooring, and changing your backsplashes and color schemes at every turn?

ok so of these two colors which is more timeless?

is the light oak or hickory considered trendy?

this is hickory

Well, I've had light oak for the past 28 years. I think either is a look that's been around for a long time. However, where I live (high cost of living area), site finished oak was/is not any more expensive than engineered wood.

Re. painting: Not sure if it's any consolation, but I've used both GF milk paint and BM Advance. The BM Advance took way, way more prep than the milk paint --- so far both have held up equally well. I'd actually think the milk paint a tad better.

Do not consider light oak or hickory trendy. Current trendy is the more gray woods, most of the flips in my area are using those now. Before the gray wood it was the very dark woods that show every speck of dust. The lighter and mid-tone woods have been around along time and while maybe not the current hot-thing they are easy floors to live with, a classic appeal.

is hand scraped a trendy thing? i dont think im of fan of it but many products seem to only come in hand scraped.

Trendy and real hardwood are not one and the same, hardwood is a staple. I like a darker floor but that's just me. Some people think oak floors are dated, but in reality, if in 10 years that had to pick between the fake gray wood floor and real oak, I think we know who would win.

Hand scrapped...the biggest issue for me is how will those floors ever be sanded and refinished or even screening and adding a new top coat when needed.

brett, it shouldn't be chipping. what kind of prep work did you do and what kind of primer was used?

I love the darker flooring I think it’s ethical, timeless and have a lot of class to it. Hand scraped wood looks as if they warp easily. For you I would go with the hickory

Patti - I am absolutely not changing everything every 10 years to keep up with the current trend. But I also don't select my finishes to be consistent with the current trend. I pick a color pallet that I love and stick to my guns. I had a white on white home in 1990 when everyone was using forest green and burgundy. I painted taupe and teals when everyone was doing builders beige and white. I like taupes and pink undertones and don't have one item in my home that is yellow or green beige. I haven't had a yellow or green beige item in my home in the past 30 years.

You don't have to follow the trends to have a beautiful home, but if you do follow the trends your home will look dated in 10 years when the trend is over.

Im getting excited to see this floor!

Beth: I used general finishes milk paint in antique white. they call it a self sealing product and say primer is not required. I started by cleaning the cabinets, then lightly scuffed them with a 3m green pad, then painted. i did 3 coats. then I put a coat of general finishes high performance flat polyurethane on top. Maybe I should have done a second coat?

this is the worst example but this also happened in two other high use spots.

Primer is absolutely required. that's why you have the chipping. top coat doesn't matter if the base coat won't stick. sorry, but you got some bogus info. I've used GF milk paint on numerous pieces and have always used a primer.

I would have cleaned yours well, sanded with 150 up to 220, wipe clean, apply a oil base primer, fine sand w/220, wipe clean, apply two coats of paint and then the top coat.

This is why when people say, "lll just paint the cabinets" we all agree it's more than just that.

I used GF milk paint on my cabinets, but I watched tutorial video on their website and followed the directions exactly. They recommend a light sanding, and then go over the area with a scotch brite scrub sponge and a 50-50 mixture of denatured alcohol and water. Mine have held up great in the kitchen and the bathroom.

I didnt use primer either. In the video it says you dont need to, unless you're painting a dark color light or if you're going over a heavy wood grain.

I think the denatured alcohol concoction is to remove any oils that might prevent the paint from adhering. Before I painted I bought some rough old cabinet doors from habitat for humanity to practice on to make sure I thought I could do it. I did use primer on one of them, but the finish wasn't as smooth as it was without.

After I finished the old cabinet doors I put them in the laundry room without the vent fan on and ran a load of hot towels to steam up the room really good to see how the finish would react. I poked my fingernail into the part with just paint and it dented a bit, but the part I had used their top coat on didn't even dent. This gave me confidence that it would hold up, considering it takes 30 days for the paint to fully cure and at that point it had only been a few days since I painted them.

I'm certainly not trying to argue that a coat of primer is the best way to ensure a long lasting paint job, I'm just relating my experience with the paint.

FYI, I did sand mine pretty well before using the denatured alcohol, because the people that lived in the house before me used a gel stain on them and did a very poor job. I wanted to make sure I got most of that off.

For the warm "farmhouse" feel, I would definitely choose the darker oak flooring, but also consider changing the hardware to a darker metal finish as is shown here.

thank you all for the good tips and advice.