I personally like the kitchen, kind of a Scandinavian modern look. leave the skirts, doors and trims as is. Paint wise, I am going to invite you to a kitchen gallery that I think works well with the existing aesthetic you have now. I like the "Melrose Kitchen" in this instance, as an example of wall color. The trim is painted here, but leaving yours as is, I believe, would be fine! Happy Houzzing.

i kind of like them as is, actually. if you like a super modern look though, paint them white.

Hi minnie101, Thanks so much for your detailed reply. Great to know what colour that grey is. It may be a little dark with our floor. We will definitely update the handles - I hate the current ones. We'll probably go with wood to keep within budget. Your non-tiles pic is lovely. We'll probably keep some tiles and try to keep the kitchen a little more modern than country kitchen, which might be a challenge with wood. The room faces south. I like your idea of dividing it with paint. We probably will go with white in the kitchen and then 1/2 slightly darker tones in the tv-couch area. The 'other' entrance into the dining area is narrowed by a non-structural wall, so we should remove this to open it properly or like you say, close it off. Maybe not close it off entirely as we'd lose a lot of light, but maybe put in a counter or breakfast bar if space allowed. I love your pendant light suggestions over the dining table. Details like this and a rug in the couch area will really help divide the room as at the moment it is one big cavernous space. I really can't decide yet what way the couches should face - into a tv in the corner, or out into the room like you suggest. We'll have to draw out some chalk outlines on the floor and see how much space there actually is. Colour-wise we like the idea of keeping walls and cabinets quite stark, the wood counter will add a bit of warmth, and then adding colour with couches, rugs and possibly dining chairs. I've attached a couple of pieces of furniture I like. Some may not work, but we'll figure it out.

It looks very pretty. I would look at pics of painted floors versus whitewashed and see which you prefer then people can hopefully help with methods. I've used chalk paint but not on a floor. Annie Sloan sell floor lacquer so you don't need to use the wax which is very time consuming to apply, the lacquer can be rollered on. The only thing I would say is that it does not adhere to I think varnish made in the 80's and I find the White paint coverage is poor although not an issue if white washing. I wondered if there was a cheat method using zinsser to avoid sanding if using normal paint and have found this, no idea on how successful it is! http://www.zinsseruk.com/how-to-guide/how-to-paint-woodstained-or-varnished-surfaces/