Hi there, and welcome. Congratulations on both your new married life and getting started on your new home. Be sure to check out the kitchen and bath forums too for lots of great advice over there, and don't be shy about asking questions and looking at the galleries of past projects. People love to 'show off' their completed projects and help with new ones around here. Gardening is my love too and I've learned by doing and made many mistakes along the way - comes with the territory I have discovered.

Laurie, Thank you so much for your warm compliment about my house. As far as the paint...we used Benjamin Moore throughout. I remember the white was called "Linen White" which is on BM's website. There are actually two beige colors used in the greatroom. "#1031" is written on top of the lighter beige paint can. When I looked at BM's website it shows "Carlisle Cream" for that number but looks very lavendar on my computer. Not like the real paint at all. I wish I could help you with the name of the darker beige we used but the store kind of tweaked that color for us. It was BM's Moorecraft SPEC paint and on the top of that can is written "MC #47" if that helps. bristlingacres, Thank you too for your compliment. All of our interior doors are stained with white trim. They are knotty alder. I'm posting one pic of the stairwell door which shows color and trim pretty good. I got some samples yesterday of Hunter Douglas woven wood shades. They seem very light. I can see through them easily and they come in a host of patterns. I downloaded a picture (sorry it REALLY tiny) and a darker color than I would choose. What does everyone think of this option??? Do you think I would need cloth curtains on the sides like in this picture?

A2gemini~ I am loving the input so far! Let me explain why the cabinets are the way they are. I had quoted cabinets at about 13,000 online, big box stores came in higher and custom were way higher. Had a general idea about the baking center, passthrough, second oven where the fridge would go and sink/dishwasher. MIL was in Re-Store and saw cabinets and bought them on the spot. Hickory raised panel, solid wood. She wanted the island and figured she knew someone who would take the rest of the cabinets, either me or her sister who is re-doing her kitchen. Since then we have added a window, removed an exterior door across from the pantry and created what we have now based on these cabinets. I wanted painted wood cabinets and we currently have 850$ in awesome cabinets (yes that need to be painted) But I figure I can spurge on appliances at this point. The shelf to the right of the sink is to balance the visual impact of having different sized cabinets on the same wall across from each other over the sink. The desk area is a byproduct of placing what we had where we could, and I think I'm loving the idea of it. Might put my computer there, mount a monitor on the wall, hide the mouse and keyboard in the drawer. Its really growing on me. I also figure great place for working on recipes, or kids to do homework while I wash veggies. The sliding doors will be on the pantry side so there shouldn't be any loss of counter space on the kitchen side. That space will be about 44" but with the ability to turn around to the island for more space. Thanks for the input!!

Hi @Lynn Morford, I hate to jinx things, but now three months in, I LOVE the floors. I fact, I admire them many times a day (good distraction from current CV craziness). There are about a dozen spots where there were dings or tiny cracks, which freaked me out at first, but I'm pretty sure it was just from the movers. I do take care of them like a newborn child, though--sweep, vacuum, wipe, repeat. Overall, I'm very happy with them! @everdebz, we ended up gluing down. Definitely harder on my body that floating but I've learned to wear slippers or socks and I have yoga mats in most rooms to give my feet a little vacation as I walk through the house, lol. In the end, I trusted @joseph_corlett's comment about letting the contractor make the call on what is best for the situation. Granted, I still pine for the perfect floating feel of my old Junckers flooring, but apparently theirs were unique and most other flooring can't float the same way, so... Anyway, the sad fact is, you can't remove glue-downs without destroying the boards. So fingers crossed you never have to! (I put fake wood in my laundry room and we've already had three floods, so thank god for that decision.)