Thanks for all the feedback you guys! I chuckled at the schoolbus comments. Yes, our house is on a hill, and I happened to catch one of the morning buses on its run. I love the idea of painting the ceiling. Valinsv-I'll try that furniture arrangement this afternoon and take pics. I'm not sure that I love the idea of not having the sofa available to watching the TV, but I may surprise myself! NoGreenThumb- I agree, that tv is really an eyesore. I tried to convince my husband to swap it out with the sleek flatscreen we have in our bedroom, but he believes this one to be superior quality, so it has stayed for now. Eventually we will replace it with one that is less obtrusive. I will also try your idea to move it against the wall next to the fireplace. Verti-I had not thought of coventry grey. I'll head to the BM store today and pick up a sample. We originally had the room set up as you describe, but I felt that the TV was lost against that huge wall. But I'll try it again with the couch against the window. I'll come back with pics of your ideas. Thanks so much for the help. You guys are amazing.

Sherwin Williams has a paint designer on staff. She is coming to our build with the color books and her expertise with color selection for direction the house faces, etc. It's $95/appt, and includes a $50 SW gift card (net $45 if you need paint from SW). Our flooring / tile store has a designer on staff, she's free to use. I'm using her a LOT. She will help with my stone purchases for slab also, even though I'm not sourcing through her because I am bringing samples of the stone with me to my flooring appt. Cabinets - bring samples of selections from flooring / tile / slab or bring cabinets to designer at flooring store. A good designer here is about $200/hr, and there are minimums. I can get a pretty good level of service using the "free" resources from my subcontractor supplier on-staff people so I'm going with that... oh, and pinterest. That said, a good friend of mine hired a designer for a flat weekly rate and that person was at her disposal for 8 hours M-F. The shopped together for furniture, tile, cabinets, carpet, etc and then the designer did mock-ups in the evening. I think it was about $2500 for the week, plus she flew her in from a different city so airfare, incidentals, hotel. Her house is gorgeous because everything just is perfect.

@apple_pie_order The all white kitchens in my idea books also have wood floors which help to warm things up. Unfortunately, I was unable to talk hubby into wood floors for the kitchen so I had to go with tile which brings even more white into the mix. The furnishings are mine but the upholstered items will be recovered in a different fabric. I am not sure what to do with the furniture at this point since the furniture wood colors are so warm. I have toyed with the idea of another table and credenza but I am not sure I want the expense right now.

Thanks Beth. Still under construction, so no pictures of the interior. Thanks for posting those pictures. I attached the building plan below. The cabinets are all new and basic builder cabinets (unfinished from Lowe's). I have yet to purchase furniture, but will be going to look tomorrow... was hoping to decide paint colors first just to be sure it doesn't clash. I forgot to mention the countertop will be wood (not necessarily stained this color)