Ugly European cabinets? No problem

We bought our house in 1996 because we loved its traditional two-story style, the fact that it backed up to a 200 acre conservation tract along the Alafia River and details like the oak staircase, balconied library, fireplaces in the family room and master bedroom and huge swimming pool.
Its attributes far outweighed its deficits like its outdated 1980s European cabinetry. I knew it was going to be awhile before we could afford to have the cabinets replaced or refaced but I didn't know how I was going to stand living with these modern cabinets in an otherwise traditional home.
A yard sale provided the answer. Someone was selling a length of rope wood trim for a couple of dollars. What the heck, I said to myself, and I purchased the trim. A couple of months later, at another yard sale, someone was selling some antique drawer pulls for a few bucks. They were gorgeous. I bought those as well. I was ready to begin my experiment with the guest bathroom.
I sanded the ivory laminate cabinets and then borrowed my husband's scroll saw to cut the wood trim the length of the two cabinet doors. I used wood glue to glue them just beneath the oak pull insets of the European cabinet pulls and then tacked them into place with nails. Next I painted the entire cabinet with an ivory paint and, when it was dry, wiped it with a watered-down black paint and wiped off the excess so just touches of the black paint remained in the grooves. I finished it off by drilling holed in the laminate for the antique cabinet pulls I'd painted black and then inserting them into the holes. It completely disguised the European cabinetry. Now, all I had to do was talk my husband into installing the black faucets I'd purchased on sale from Home Depot for $79 to complete the look.
But it still wasn't quite right. There was still that plain mirror hanging above the sink with the stainless steel trim. And, surely, I could do something with that brass light fixture hanging above the mirror.
I purchased an anondized black paint the same color as the faucet and painted the light fixture so it would match. I then decorated it with strings of antique pearl and black beads. Then, I actually found the same rope trim at Home Depot and cut it at a 45-degree angle to create a picture frame around the mirror, which I simple painted the same ivory and stained with black and then glued to the mirror with a heavy-duty glue. It's been up for two years and hasn't shown any signs of falling.
I decided I didn't like the louvered closet door in the bathroom so I sewed a curtain in a black checked and black toile material and hung it over the closet door with a pressure rod. I used the same materials for a shower curtain, window curtain and cushion for the vanity seat. With some leftover scraps, I decorated some white towels.
The walls were a happy accident. I had purchased a black toilet-tissue holder and towel rack at Marshall's. When I tore the existing ceramic tissue and towel holders out of the wall, they left gaping holes that had to be filled with spackle. I liked the rustic, Mediterranean look from spackling the holes and decided to try spackling the rest of the walls. I then painted them with a light gray wash, and the spackle caused variations in the paint that made the walls look ancient.
Accents, such as a couple of 1700s black and white engravings and a scientific study of pearls, purchased at yard sales, completed the look.