Also have greens, ,turquoise, grays, blues etc but NO ORANGE in our house. Am still getting used tto my French door fridge. I preferred my side hinge (right hinge- I am left handed and the way the kitechen is designed it was the better option). We have an extra fridge in teh basement that handles overflow. But I still miss my old fridge.
My Bertazzoni range top is ordered and on it’s way. Should arrive next week
In my old house, my bedroom was an apricot color with streaks of darker orange that I painted on. The curtains were a saffron/orange, with wide gold trim, made to look like a sari. It was warm and wonderful, especially on those cold winter days.
The living room and dining room floors are sanded and I am working on the crucial decision of stain color.
We took a couple of pieces of the walnut flooring that is going on the top floor and put a clear satin on them to draw out the natural color. The walnut will be on the staircase going to top floor in the hallway. Then I placed it on the living room floor and we stained Dark Walnut color to left of it and Special Walnut color to the right of it. Both colors are not the same tone as the ceiling, but I don’t like the tone of the original ceiling… it’s very ‘orangey’
My opinion is that the lighter Special Walnut brings out too much of the oaky grain in the floor. The darker stain is very rich and matches the natural walnut perfectly. But… take it into the kitchen and I am not sure that the dark floors look good with the grey cabinets. It’s going to be a very tricky decision to get it right. I’m leaning toward the darker stain because the lighter stain brings out yellow tones in the wood that I don’t really like
I’ve loaded a lot of photos
Your usual attention to detail!
I like the dark walnut better too, I agree that it makes the floor less busy.
In the picture the dark walnut seems a bit less warm than the top floor sample. If this is true in real life, it may be better with the kitchen cabinets than the sample.
Really love the photos showing the views of the living room from the kitchen. Really something special.
I like the darker one. I think a key will be how you stage this. The colors of any area rugs will mellow all of this out.
I like the lighter stain. The wood grain is beautiful and you already have a very dark ceiling. The lighter stain looks like “translucent dark” to me.
But the sample was so small. Maybe there’s just something a bit dull to that darker stain, or that particular patch of wood was more lacking in wood grain?
The open long views inside the house are really nice! I especially love the one looking in the front door, with that beautiful door. Take some shots of the kitchen ceiling vaulting please!
Regarding the kitchen ceiling vaulting… Right now the original beam is only sticking out about 2 inches and it’s not the most beautiful piece of wood because it was just a large functional beam inside the attic before. Now it only sticks down from ceiling about 2 inches and it is underwhelming.
I’m thinking of purchasing a larger U shape faux beam and putting it up there to add a little more oomph. Still working on that because it can be installed in the future and I want it to be the exact right color.
I am also working on how I am going to add some interest to the slightly vaulted ceilings on top floor. If I add drop beams, they would be painted white semi gloss. But, the drop beams would have to come down to the sides of the room which are only 8 ft and it could potentially make the sides of the room appear too low
I like both of the stain colors, but I’m leaning in the direction of the lighter one. I love how it shows the pegs and the grain of the wood. And cools down the oak.
I think the walnut looks great with the gray cabinets.
I just had a fantasy in which the kitchen floor was done with a diamond stain pattern. I think it would look cool with the vaulted ceiling. Something like this:
There are many examples if you google it, some of which are even more attractive.
I realize that this is probably the last thing you need to worry about, LOL!
BTW, is there going to be an island? I can’t remember at this point.
OMG - no! No diamond-stained floors.
(The only flooring pattern I dislike more than diamond/diagonal is parquet flooring).
I am a fan of the lighter stain because it helps brighten the area, especially with the dark ceiling.
I like parquet but only in small doses, like an entryway. Not somewhere where it has to compete with furniture. Now parkour, on the other hand…seems like some of your workers have been doing that already!
I did not buy island cabinets because I just couldn’t figure out if there was enough space. Now that the cabinets are in the kitchen feels huge. I might add a “furniture” style island in there
Agree that the diamond floors are too busy. The wider plank floors you selected can run into the kitchen and make the whole place look bigger. Changing the floor will break it up.
It’s a good idea to try different stains. Do you really do it directly on the real floor like it appears in photos?
Dang… Tile guy is short 3 tiles to finish jack and jill bathroom floors. Have to order another box and wait one week for it to arrive.
Yes, my flooring guy just puts the stain on sanded floors in living room. Then he sands it off. The wide plank walnut floors are only for new flooring on top floor. We have laid oak floors on main floor to tie everything in with the original floors.
The original living and dining area had oak floors with walnut pegs. Also original installer meticulously drew dark stain lines every 3 to 5 planks to give illusion of wide planks with pegs. Its very interesting. As my guy is sanding, most of the lines are disappearing. But dining room floor seems to have some “grooves” where lines are. These cannot get sanded out. I told him not to worry. Its an old original floor and its all just part of the character.
Also dining room floor (which was originally separated from living room and kitchen by walls and doors) has a weird thick coat of wax on it. Living room does not. This coat of wax is melting onto sandpaper of the drum sander, smells a lot and is gumming up machine. I bet this is going to cost me a bundle:)
Yuck. It’s probably too late to suggest it, but can/should the wax be hand-scraped off before the sander goes to work?
Was looking at local RE listings to see what color doors people have in their homes. I know, the deed is done, so too late… 
But got sucked into the John L Scott… Saw the garage door and could not resist… Not a bad looking flip!
http://www.johnlscott.com/Home/1041414/NWM/10935-SE-23rd-St-Bellevue-WA-98004/
I totally agree that garage doors are really important for curb appeal. But the garage door for this project is in back of the house on an alley. Its not part of the curb appeal. Buyers will enter the property through the green gate in front. The last thing they will see, if they drive around the back or walk to back of property, is the garage. Normally buyers have a favorable or unfavorable impression before they ever get to the back yard. Which will be lucky in this case because I don’t have enough money to landscape the large back yard:)
This morning I arrived to find that flooring guy has already applied the stain layer and I couldn’t open anything to check it out. It looks like its halfway between the dark and light colors we tested. The only part I could see was the new oak laid at the top of the stairs from garage. The dark stain made the wood grain very “busy”. I took a picture but its not that great.
I should be able to walk on the floors tomorrow morning. Have to make two decisions…add more stain in final sealer coat and which finish (satin or matte) I’m leaning towards satin for this house
Since the guys cannot walk on main floor they have to climb scaffolding to get to top floor. Also working on a lot of details building some walls and doors in basement area.