I feel your pain. I have a comforter I love and can't find any drapes/curtains to go with it so I decided I would just get another entire set with matching drapes. I can't believe what is out there. Huge florals are back in and the rest seem to be like you say, huge circles or some other nonsense. And I dare anyone to find a nice set in Cobalt blue. Haven't been able to find that in many years. I've tried on line, numerous stores and can't find anything I like. The best I've found so far is when I googled "Croscil." I have found some very nice sheet sets at Tuesday Mornings from time to time.

Mama Rachel You make a lot of good points. We have never used TV shows, or big games as a jumping off point for entertaining (kids have, but not us). For those wanting two main TV areas built for entertaining (basement and great room) our plan would not work. I am very pleased to get your suggestion on where to get a good arm swivel for the TV to improve upon the position for viewing. I have posted below a floor plan of the open concept space. As per glare, there are lots of windows in this area, so we will need to buy the best glare free TV we can find. The large window behind the couch is south facing. There are windows located directly across from the proposed TV location (as well as across from the cab on other side of fireplace), but they are over 36 feet away in the dining room (west facing windows). There are also west facing windows in the kitchen that might make the left hand side even more prone to glare. Also if we keep it in its proposed location, we of DS can see it when dishes are washed (yeah). MommyToc, Thanks again for your comments and for thinking through the drawer and shelf depth. I think we are going to increase the depth of the upper part of this built in to 11 inches so we can accommodate books behind the closed doors. We can put a false back on the plate display part as that part does not need 11 inches of depth. Glad you think the plate display will look good too. We are thinking of putting a grove in the shelves for the plates, and then leaning the plates against the back of the shelf. In addition to those blue plates I posted, we also have some brown Hummel plates (we own less of those than blue) but we will display both for some visual variety and put Hummel figurines in between the plates. We are also planning on lighting the plates shelves. There will also be can lights cross lighting the fireplace and possibly uplights near the base of the stone surround. Carol

I’ve lived with both. I absolutely love a two story great room. Our current new build has 10’ ceilings because there was no real way to design a two story along with all the other elements in the design with the constraints we had on our lot. Even though we have just under 7 acres, we have a creek on one side of the building pad, and slope on the other. So we could not stretch out our house the way I would have liked to. But, if there was any possible way, I would have done a two story for sure (or at least 15-16 foot ceilings). Very high ceilings completely change the feel of the room and gives you the opportunity to have HUGE windows (which I love....I’m all about the windows!). And with a two story you can really have some ceiling drama with beams etc. We have not moved in yet, but already the ceiling feels low and makes the room seem much smaller. And even though we have two full walls of floor to ceiling windows, it still feels closed in to me. It’s a completely different feel (not one that I like). I do think though that a 15 - 16 foot ceiling can give you a similar feel and is also enough room for ceiling drama. I would have gone for that as well (if possible). With rugs, furniture and fabrics, you should be able to control the echo. I never noticed a problem with that. We’re in a rental now and the great room and breakfast area are two story...there is zero echo. I think a good design of the space makes a difference (which is where a talented architect comes in).

The table top in your inspiration pic caught my attention. It's not the usual furniture showroom table top. I really like this cedar "countertop" and was wondering if something like it might work as a table top or as a top of a rolling cart island that could work as kitchen prep space and/or guest dining if not as a table. http://www.devoswoodworking.com/designing-wood-countertops/wane-edges.html Legs could be bought separately. https://carolinalegco.com/products/x-metal-table-legs-set-of-2-modern-industrial-legs-custom-sizes-available?variant=32186224640097&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_term=&utm_campaign=DR_PLA_Smart_200%25&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=7051262680&hsa_cam=9915659242&hsa_grp=103137792649&hsa_ad=432122759881&hsa_src=u&hsa_tgt=pla-296303633664&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6p_wwNPU6gIVgbbICh0T8w-jEAsYAyABEgIkX_D_BwE