Great chair! What color paint is that on the wall? I loooove it (and the chair.) As others said, congratulations for stepping out of your comfort zone. I have only just started to do that, with one (totally cheap IKEA) patterned chair. I'm in my mid-thirties and I only started wearing ANY patterned clothing a couple years ago! Solid is easy and reliable. But right now I am kind of in love with funky patterns even though they are really out of sync with my location in an extremely traditional New England setting.

I draw plan of a room very roughly..paper doesn't matter..just whatever I've got. measure spaces, take measuring tape with me..take my time on finding the right stuff..having numbers written down and measuring tape always on me helps-that way when I see second hand something I can make sure I'm usually great at eyeballing stuff (which is very interesting given my spatial thinking is not that great)..but it still can be tricky trying to imagine X in an empty space Y. When you don't own the X yet. If you already own something it's easier, you get the feeling of the size much better Even though many sizes are standard as in case goods..so I kinda can look at it and tell: "that's 36, that's 48, that's 60.."...and I'm usually right lol But still make sure to have numbers written, measuring tape in my purse It's also height, depth..you need to know your windows, your clearance between this and that..you need to know lots of stuff before deciding unless you love it to the point you build all of your room around it

Thank you all for your feedback. I owe lots of answers...... Site: Our site is part of a parcel that is currently a wooded lot, with 15 year old trees. Prior to that it was pasture, ie it's relatively flat. Our lot's SW and SE borders abut conservation land. The house will be sited facing due south, overlooking this land. NE is the road, this is a dead end country road, this boundary will be wooded. NW also has a wooded border it abuts a neighbor. The lot will be cleared to make greatest use of the southern aspects. Laundry/Powder Room: I have switched these two. Visitors will not go through the laundry to get to the PR. The Office Nook on the first floor is for my DH. He wants it there so that he can walk outside and sit on the patio during calls when weather allows. I dont think traffic patterns to the patio door will be a problem since there will only be the two of us living in the house. The mechanical room hold the circuit panel, the well tank, the panel for the solar array, the hot water heater, and heating units(ducted heat pumps). The shower in the Master is 36x48. That's fine with me, it's what we have now. The Closet area in the front hall will have built-ins for storage and room for a bench. I discussed the air coming in the frontdoor with the designer. He explained that the wind will be blocked by the garage, but the position of the garage still allows someone in the kitchen to see into the southern yard and the treeline. I feel good about the door position now. Thank you all, again, for your feedback. It was all thought provoking and enabled me to work through some good good lines of questioning.

Always nice to have inspiration piece. In this room, we are working with key pieces OP wants to keep. With neutrals, I find getting the right sofa with preferred fabric, style, size and quality is hardest to find so I start with hardest and let that drive other choices. It is also one of the biggest dollar costs. That’s my experience. It is an iterative process so not set in stone either. Along the way, one might run into a rug they love. So we adjust. Then let that be the driver. So just guidelines and used to help avoid problems.