We just purchased all new contemporary furniture for every room of our apartment and while we await delivery, this presents us a perfect opportunity to renovate!

Living Room - Beech colored contempoary wall unit - opaque frosted glass doors, coffee table and brown microfiber couches.
We currently have dark brown hardwood flooring in every room that needs to be replaced or redone. The walls are currently white, but we're looking to change the color.

Dinette - Beech colored table, beech/glass/opaque glass/aluminum display case, dark brown chairs. The walls are currently white here as well, but the way our apartment is configured, the dining room is kind of an extension of our living room/main hallway.

Bedroom - dark brown modern sleigh bed (king), dark brown dressers, basically dark brown everything. Walls are once again white, floor is still the dark brown hardwood.


so here's what we want to do.

walls:
- for the color of the living room/dining room, we're thinking of a light orange-ish rusty brown.
- the kitchen will remain primarily white, but we're considering tiling the wall behind the oven and sink black with white caulk.
- the bedroom will go either a dark rose or a light yellow.
- the ceilings in every room will remain white.
- the previous owner decided to paint everything white near the windows (window sill, heater, etc). i'm planning on stripping the paint of the sills and re-varnishing the wood underneath. also, stripping the paint of the heater cover and attempt polishing it or paint it black.
- the bathroom has a pretty nice retro black and white tile all over the walls which i want to keep. i may paint the rest of the walls white or extend the tile to the ceiling.

flooring:
strip the old varnish, sand smooth, re-urethane the wood, then a few coats of a deep mahogany varnish for the living room/dining room/hallway.
for the kitchen and bathroom, re-do the linoleum which looks like it was done in the 50's with black and white tiles.
bedroom - plush ivory carpet -or- a nice decorative rug.

misc stuff i want to do:
set my home theater system flush within the walls.
expand the bathroom by knocking down a wall, rebuilding the wall, and relocating the door to the bedroom (may need to hire a contractor to do this).

so that's the plan(s). i've never done anything like this EVER and would like tips on how to paint, re-do the floor, varnish and strip old paint, lay carpet, knock and rebuild walls, etc.

help!

 

here's what my apt looks like now:

the living room is about 12'x25', the bedroom is about 12'x20'


here's a sample of the "Beech" color we will be using in the living and dining rooms:


here's a sample of the color of our bedroom furniture:

 

I haven't done anything that complicated myself, but as far as window trim goes, you might find it easier to just buy all-new trim and stain/varnish it instead of trying to strip the old stuff.

Floors can be tricky. You have to be careful not to gouge it when sanding, and, as my brother found out to his dismay, you have to be very careful when staining it again. He ended up with streaks and spots, and had it professionally redone, after all his hard work.

If putting your home theater system in the wall, make sure you have adequate ventilation and access to cabling, etc. www.avsforum.com has a great forum on this kind of thing.

I like your choice of furniture, nice color and style.