Thanks for sharing your lessons learned! Your kitchen is beautiful, you did a wonderful job but I think it’s such an important lesson for us all. We can’t let the pressues of “time” or a schedule or even a contractor/cabinet maker press us into making decisions that are not going to make us happy in the long run – and a kitchen is definitely a long-term commitment.

As I wrote, the Style File is so important because it let’s us “see” the finished product before we ever start. We can ask ourselves when looking at the photos “Could I see myself living with this every day of my life???” Let me tell you, I could not do that if I had stained cabinets – so many factors come into play: We live in an area that is plunged in the cold and gray of winter for nearly six months of the year. I NEED to have my spaces light, bright and airy because I’m the kind of person who gets depressed in the winter with the sun on his 6-month vacation! (I’m not kidding – we have NO sun in the forecast here for more than a week!) Suzann noted that her house is dark – my kitchen has a screened porch off it (which I ADORE) however, it does prevent the sun from shining on in. So all those factors I had to take into consideration when designing the kithchen. Lots of aspects to juggle when remodeling your kitchen, that’s for sure!

Good luck on adding those antique white elements to lighten up your woodsy kitchen. Let us know how it goes!

I’m so glad we could help! The collection you have created is your “roadmap” as I like to call it. And you’re exactly right – the next step is to start pouring over the pictures and pulling out the ones that make your heart sing. Start anaylzing those – what is it about the picture that you like? How can you “translate” the picture into reality in your home. Part II will give more details to help you pull it all together but you’re on the right road. Oh, and look at Donna’s comment here – it’s a cautionary tale. She does have a beautiful kithcen but she writes that “she still yearns for what my heart spoke for.”

I was leaning to antique white cupboards. I ended up going with a medium alder shaker panel. It looks gorgeous! But know what? Now I’m wanting to create that antique white something or other because I still yearn for what my heart spoke for!

I’m going to try and make some antique white elements lighten up the woodsy area I have now and somehow blend the two.

Kicking myself kicking myself kicking myself…

Donna

I’ve used a style file to help put together my main living/dining area. We are renters and students (again!) so we are on a very tight budget AND mostly starting over with furnishings. I’ve had to do things here and there as I found things that would work or that could be transformed. My style file kept me confident that all the little things I was doing at different times would all pull together in a uniformed look. And boy is it a Looker!