Wanted to give an update to my D2s– the painting and new flooring are done! What a difference! Wood laminate flooring used throughout the space. For the paint, we ended up painting all the walls a very neutral light tan (Dunn Edwards “Sandcastle” DEC740). The kitchen cabinets were an interesting story. To save time and energy, we went with just painting them, as opposed to refinishing. Since we were going to hire painters to do the walls, we figured they might as well do the cabinets as well, all in one shot. 
Originally, I had thought to paint them white, but then realized that since the appliances are “almond”- that would make them look even dingier. I decided that it would be better to go darker instead. Due to some random circumstances, my mom made the arrangements with the painter. I had told her to just choose a dark “chocolate brown”, but somehow things got a little lost in translation. They ended up with “Cherry Cola”– which is a bit redder. When I finally got a chance to see the finished actual color in person- it turned out to be a different color all together than the swatch I saw. I have no idea what the end color was, but it was not Cherry Cola. However, I actually liked the mistake color better. 
Although it wasn’t what I had originally envisioned, the new color looks more like cherrywood, and it really warms up the space. Since the walls were painted a light tan/beige, as HM reader Ali pointed out in her comment, it offset the almond, and neutralized everything. Next up was dealing with the couch and figuring out how to tie everything together. Stay tuned this week for the next part…
