I would suggest you take out the cabinet that is to the right of the stove and use it elsewhere in the house -- perhaps in the bathroom or dining room with a hutch above it. Then, I would suggest you have someone install a lazy susan cabinet in the corner between the sink counter and the stove, meaning you would move the stove down a bit and have a small cabinet/counter top to the right of the stove. I would suggest you have the cabinets refinished in white and then paint the walls a pastel you like. If you would prefer white walls, then add white-painted crown molding and paint the ceiling a light neutral blue, such as Sherwin Williams Niagara Falls Blue. Then, I would suggest you choose a favorite accent color and use this sparingly in accessories like towels, pot holders, small vases or floral arrangements, and a valence above the triple windows. For a genuine 1940s look, you might have white ceramic square tiles with a rectangular red border installed as a back splash behind and above the stove. If you are replacing counter tops, I would suggest a light color such as white with a beige or light grey vein or striation for some sort of pattern. You might be able to find the same color and design in floor tile OR opt for a wood floor as another poster suggested.

Bronan, if you are over 13 and under 21, then the possibilities are really fun with black wood furniture in a room that could be set up with a ballet barre, or used as a dance practice studio as well as a bedroom! Since the floors are dark, you will need to keep the walls light, Usually in a bedroom you start with the colors in your bedding. If you want a new look, perhaps you could start with a pretty floral like this, paint the wall where you will put the head of your bed a deep coral pink to match the bedding and all the other walls a pale pretty coral too. room a soft, soft pink, and hang soft pink drapery panels http://www.target.com/p/threshold-multi-floral-comforter-set/-/A-14982101#prodSlot=medium_1_13 The coral will pop with your black furniture better / a good one that makes your skin pretty in the light - this one for a headboard wall to test - http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6878-animated-coral/ this one for the other 3 walls . . a white with the same coral undertone - http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6609-touching-white/ If possible, you might hang drapery rods on the mirror wall, so you can hang (with this bedding) white drapery at both the window and on each end of the mirror - it will make it feel a lot softer in the room if you treat it like a window. You can follow watch for on sale drapery until you can get a lot that is the same. Put the rod at the same height over the mirror as it is over the window. You might paint an inspirational quote at the top of the mirror in the dark coral (using a stencil) so that you visually fill the space between the top of the mirror and the top of the window. You could get a sample size of pale green paint the color of the green in the bedding to paint an extra piece of furniture that you need that isn't quite right. A little desk or vanity, or even a round end table or a bench for the foot of your bed. Hope this looks like an interesting option to you. Later, you can go for graphic black and white bedding and put hot coral pillows on it with the same paint job and curtains and get a whole new look with just new bedding.

Hi anne, that's what I was originally thinking, my issue is what colour I use for the 'pop' :) I keep coming back to a teal/turquoise colour (it's one of my favourite colours!!), I love blues, purples, teal/turquoise - many on here have suggested yellow but I'm really not sure about it. Here in New Zealand we're in Autumn, nearing Winter so uncertain about the yellow. I found these cushions that I've fallen in love it, and wondering how I could make these work.. do I try teal and mustard together, as an interior designer suggested?

Try this. Hang the television to the right of the wood stove on the wall opposite the french doors. Use the wall with the high windows for a looong sofa and add two chairs across / angled slightly - low back so you can look over one to television. use console / sofa table on entry /bed door wall just past where entry door opens so you have a lay down surface. Forget glass, it isn't for this era and won't make it feel bigger. Paint ALL french doors inside and out and small windows and entry door same color and trim same color too. Try a charcoal rather than a black - something in the blue-green-gray shades like new providence navy. do all the walls in kitchen and living in a warm white - this tone has the wood as an undertone - http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/woodash then, for the cabinets . . do a bungalow thing and go deeper on the cabinets to a classic drabware tone - with the wood walls and floors / try bm bracken biscuit http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/brackenbiscuit these will all go together like gangbusters, keep it light and bright but interesting and work with a new blue green gray back door in a tone like bm beach glass http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/beachglass templeton gray as a counterpoint on some craigslist piece of furniture . . add warm undertone tan and oatmeal nubby tweed upholstery to start . . the teal navy gray will work with the black iron stove and accents without going black. start keeping the left door to the kitchen closed and get a door stop to hold the other one open permanently . . this will work because you need a little more wall to make the tv work well - in the kitchen, pull your table away from the wall just a tad - consider a padded bench on the wall to provide a kind of sitting space in there and put the chairs across - if you shift your television to the wall (high enough the heat is not an issue , you can still have big speakers work well - and remote the media equipment - run the wire and patch the holes. Hang it mid-height - eye level when you sit plus 15 degrees . . check out the amazing sconces you can put on the entry wall - shades of light petersik pendant with home-made trim wood brace to pump it out from the wall since the power is high? over the console? round wood table in middle - even a hd butcherblock round on a painted drum base in trim tone? With those tones - teal gray, biscuit, creamy off-white, muted blue-greens - paint your white chairs and a hand me down bench wythe blue and find a graphic sunbrella print with a little blue green, chocolate and orange for cushions and pad skirts with velcro at the table . . make a galvinized pipe leg / plank 1 x 12 / clear finish console for behind the door . . now you are cooking with gas . .