Brutuses - I didn't make the valance. Bought it off ebay awhile back. I recently discovered how cheap the fabric itself is ($16 something a yard) haha I'm not even going to tell you what I paid for it. The background is goldish kind of an antique color. Here's a close up. I was considering using a darker brown gold for in the bath. Color on the left is more accurate. Yeah I really don't think I can do red as a wall color for that whole area. I believe I'll tire or it extrememly quick. So let's nix the red and focus more on a cream since that seems to be the other suggestion. Cream or something else. I was going through my stack of SW color...can you believe I can't find the ones listed above!

I'm back again. I am having so many struggles with picking the right gray (as evidenced by by the million sample cans of gray paint in my house and painted on poster boards) I still don't feel qualified to offer any advice on your space. I didn't read through a lot of the responses. I just stumbled acrosss this article, perhaps it will help you. This woman is an expert. Speaking of my gray drama, I was lucky enough to be at the taping of the new Nate Berkus show yesterday. There was a moment that he allowed for a Q&A, and I am kicking myself for not asking about "The Perfect Gray" and "paint color on the ceiling". The question that was asked was the most ridiculous question ever--so long winded that it didn't allow for any more questions. ugh. Here is a little blurb about ceiling paints: Here is a link that might be useful: Colour Me Happy

You have a really nice chest in a good location. I would leave it there, but remove the cloth from the top. The lamp looks nice. If you are using flowers there, real or fake, make the arrangement larger. The striped seat is too large for that area. I like family pics, but it does look less cluttered without them. Do you have another area for the gallery? I tend to gravitate towards black for frames, but you can have a mix. You can help to set the tone you want by your choice of mirror over the chest and artwork on the wall where the striped seat is now. A rug in the style you like would also be nice. Pretty paint choice!

Completely understand, nice to have somebody else do it. I would personally feel slightly wary of making financial mistakes and so on without seeing the space at least drywalled to better visualize size. In my minds eye once you get your decor in and look at the selections you then might feel things aren't what they seemed as you envisioned and in reality how they look with your furniture/decor/paint selection(s) and the rest are in the room once you are done. I would keep a file of things you lean toward and wait :/ I know it's not easy and also is a pain to have your husband have to do the install. Then again, if you feel confident you know your furnishings well and all you could just go with your gut and take a small risk you aren't completely happy. It's an exciting time to have a new home built and I'm sure you want it near to perfect. Perhaps I'm WAY too particular and should relinquish some of the control over things as such (if it were me in this situation) and go with the hall and foyer light selections. That's as far as I'd go myself Caroline. You know your furnishings. I take it you own them already so know what style you are seeking and decor you will be using. The island pendants can be a bit easier as I'm sure you've done the math regarding spacing and how many you need over the island taking in to consideration the size light you've selected and the total size of your island. I hope I'm not sounding like Debbie Downer :/