she is having the exposed foundation covereed in stone Probably already knows not to do anything with paint color until the stone is done. After the stone is up, she might have a dozen new color directions to chase. :D Exterior isn't like interior. Interior you do not have to have every last stitch in place to fit a room with color. As long as the basics, permanent elements are in place you can work color. Exterior isn't near as malleable because Mr. Sunshine is so darn intense and direct outside. Get the foundation covered in stone and then take another look. I'm thinking, with the stone in place, she should consider going light and neutral on the body or commit big and go with a dark, punchy color scheme with some drama. Safe midtones could add up to just a mediore color outcome for that house. A really cute house, btw.

Your house is a gorgeous, classical, balanced, symetrical style, & I'd think it will look best with colors that are in keeping with that image...even if you have to think a while to figure out what to use! The brick & wrought iron & the very size of it give it weight, so you need colors with "weight" so that they look well-matched with the rest of the house, & since the brick has depth & texture, you want simplicity. Paint the downspouts as close to the brick color as possible to camouflage them. I like the way the house looks now, as far as matching & contrast, so I'd experiment with maybe charcoal gray or British racing green (deepest green in the universe, with a little black mixed in) for the shutters, & spanking white for columns & window trim. I like the red door, but if you want a change, maybe stain the door a walnut color & use the same color on the area above the porch. That combination might give the house a "lodge" kind of atmosphere... or you could go spanking white on everything but the door & use a deep Chinese laquer red on it. Whatever you do, it's a beautiful house, & you'll have a lot of fun working on it!

That stone alcove over the stove would bug me from a cleaning perspective. But major bucks to tear out. How likely are you to do that? You can paint the cabinets by yourself, but you need to use nasty oil based paint and a sprayer. My friend had hers done, the people took them down and sprayed them out in her barn (so it could be done with proper equipment and ventilation) and then they were put back up. You could do that yourself but only if you were very handy as far as taking them down and putting them back up. If you don't prep them properly, the paint will just peel off. My landlady paints her kitchens with very little prep. every couple of years, the paint does not stick. I'm lazy. I'd live with it and save up for the redo. Meanwhile I'd paint the shelving units next to the fireplace the same color as the wall and call it good. I wouldn't paint one stone wall and not the other. I painted a cheapo fireplace wall once for that same friend who did her cabinets. It's a lot of work but in her case it was a fake stone backwall behind a wood stove. Stone is stone-colored. If you want white, cover the stone with white tiles. Painted stone looks weird. But that's just my opinion, YMMV so if you love the look of painted stone, go for it. But I wouldn't do it in the vain hopes it's going to look like something else, other than painted stone.

You can get a mantle mount for the tv above the fireplace. That's what we did. When down, it's at the perfect height. The only disadvantage is you can't have the fireplace going at the same time.