Kitchen & Bathroom Questions

We currently live in DH's family home. The house is old, built in the 40's I think. We have done some major cosmetic work but I do not want to put a lot of money into a house we don't own ourselves (house belongs to him and his 2 sisters and brother). None of his siblings are willing to put any money into the house but that is another story lol.

Anyway, the cabinets in the kitchen were built by my FIL and are solid wood. I would love to sand and either re-stain or paint them.

The downstairs bathroom had yellow and black tile. I cannot figure out what color to paint the top of the walls. Right now I have them painted white.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Lisa

Small pics on here but also in album.

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Message edited 2/27/2011 7:37:01 AM.

Re: Kitchen & Bathroom Questions

For the bath - I don't know if you have that many options in terms of wall color with the yellow and black tiles. If you don't want to keep white, maybe gray? You could maybe go with a retro look of black and white with accents of yellow and gray (get a black vanity, etc.) with brushed nickel hardware. We did a sort of cheapie renovation on our master bath ourselves, and it's amazing what new (but relatively inexpensive) light fixtures and hardware (e.g., towel bars, toilet paper holder) and a new vanity can do for a room.

Also, our master bath has original powder blue tiles in the shower, and I thought about glazing them a different color (such as white), but I've heard mixed reviews on how that comes out and how durable it is. Maybe someone one here has tried it?

The kitchen -- Not sure if you want to keep the natural wood look, but my cabinets are old and we are saving up to renovate our kitchen. But in the meanwhile, we painted them all a glossy white and added new brushed nickel knobs, and it really brightened things up. We took down the previous owners' wallpaper and painted the walls light blue. But my kitchen is big and gets a lot of light, so I was going more for a cottage/coastal/Hamptons style look.

Good luck with your projects!