Decisions...

Well, the time I've been a little anxious about has come.  We're starting to make decisions regarding design - not just, "Should this go here? Or right there?" but more specifically regarding colors and stains which will lead to decorations.  This stresses me out.  I know that most girls would say this is their favorite part, but I feel lost.  Quite lost indeed, and it overwhelms me.

The first decision came today.  What to do with the bead board in the kitchen?

      

Vinnie quietly went the extra mile (which is why we love him) and took a few pieces of it home to make examples for me to get better ideas so I could see things he's done with bead board in other houses before.  Today he surprised me with them.  We have several options as seen below. (The wood behind these three boards is a panel from our cabinets - to get a better idea of what it will look like up against the natural stain that they have.)

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(Going from left to right)

1) He sanded all the old layers of lead paint off the top and put a coat of polyurethane on it to bring out the texture and the slightest bit of green left in the grain of the wood.  The bottom of that piece is what it would look like if we just polyurethane over the bead board as it is now.

2) He very lightly sanded the top layer or two of paint off to reveal the original green they painted it, and added a coat of polyurethane.

3) He added a gold/yellow paint over the board as it is, gently wiped it down with a wet rag and then added polyurethane.  (This is something we could do with any color we like)

I tried to take a picture without the flash and that was NOT going to work so I'm bummed it kind of changes the appearance.  However, after much discussion and a nice spike in my blood pressure at my perceived stress over this silly decision, we decided to go with the top part of option 1.  We immediately decided option 3 was out as it was just waaaay too yellow next to those cabinets.  Option 2 was somewhat overwhelmingly green to me and although I love green and really liked how vibrant it was, I've never been in a green kitchen (that wasn't straight out of the '70's) and just couldn't picture it.  Truthfully, I think I just wasn't ready to pick ANY color for the kitchen and the classic wood-look seemed the easiest for now.  That way I can accent with any other colors I please, and it really brings out the beauty of that old wood I think. 

We'll just have to see how it turns out!  Anyone want to come and be my interior designer from this point forward????