Yep, that's right, though in some paints flat and matte are the same. With BM paints (and possibly others) there's also a satin finish in between eggshell and semi-gloss in some of their lines. That's what we have on our cabinets and trim to keep them from being too shiny. In theory, shinier paint shows more blemishes but is easier to clean, though of course both depend on the paint quality, too. We used BM Aura in the new kitchen and I'm super happy with that so far. Old kitchen was BM oil-based Satin Impervo, which was also great (but not readily available here anymore). It is ever so slightly shinier than the Aura Satin, but close enough. @Pepper, we have plaster walls and it started pouring the day the plaster guys came and didn't stop for about two weeks...."normal" dry time was supposed to be 3-4 days, and it took over two weeks! At the advice of the plaster guy, we put a dehumidifier and space heater in the room, which supposedly helped. Who knows how long it would have taken without that... (Meanwhile the electrical work hadn't been finished at the time, so we had the space heater and dehumidifier daisychained to several extension cords along with the refrigerator, which then stretched across our dining room to reach one poor little unsuspecting outlet that had never had more than a vacuum plugged into it before that. Fun times... ;)

There was a very informative discussion of this topic on Attic Mag's discussion board before it closed. You could write to its web address or post on the Life After Attic Mag Forum. Atticmag http://www.atticmag.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion Board

Again, thanks to everyone for the complements. I think it is going to my head. GGG! The great room paint that you see through the barrel arch near the banquette is a custom mix based on a camel colored flannel sheet set (easier to take a pillowcase to the paint lady than one of my favorite blazers). I know it looks greenish in some pix, but is definitely camel IRL. The hallways & small rooms are 1/4 strength of the same camel. The dinning room (I don't know if it shows in these pix) & powder room are SW Peacock Blue (yummy). Master suite is SW Softened Green (very, pretty but not as "sophisticated" as the other colors) & the guest suite is BM Jicama (gorgeous, soft, cheerful yellow which DH thinks looks like the hallways). The now blind doggie is Venus (Bearticelli's the Bearth of Venus since all of our breeder's dogs have "bear" in their name). When we went to chose our puppy from the litter, an as yet unnamed pup came bounding up to 9YO DD and said, "You're my girl & I'm your doggie forever & ever." DD thought she was getting a boy & had picked out Neptune for his name, but when she got her girl home she said, "You're too beautiful to call Neptune; your name is Venus." Venus has such an incredible joie de vivre that, a year latter, we agreed to have her littermate sister, Sadie (Bearcedes) come live with us for a while to see if Sadie could get a "personality transfusion" and show better since she is so physically gorgeous. Well, after a few months, she was less shy but wasn't likely to finish in a reasonable time and she had bonded to me like glue. Almost apologetically, our breeder asked if I wanted Sadie to be my "forever dog" & I said "Yes" in a heartbeat. The girls will be 15YO in February and were always meant to be together. There is a doorbell next to the door with the dog knob, so I will have to get a paw doorbell installed after we move in. What a great idea! This is a 2 b&tt kitchen in the sense that DH doesn't cook, but it keeps his b&tt out of my way when I'm cooking & he is doing his cleanup or making coffee. But, yes, it will be easy to have friends or my DD work in there with me which will be so nice. I'm capable of delegating. The secrets to a long distance build? Spreadsheets! I'm only half kidding because it really was important to be organized & the spreadsheets were invaluable, especially since this was the 1st (& last) time we ever built a house. I think the other thing that helped is that I'm a project manager for manned spaceflight hardware. I'm use to having the domain experts (in this case, the subs & suppliers) do their thing & bring me the results for integration (although this was really the builder's role, we did a great deal of the interfacing via e-mail & phone). I dunno, it mostly worked. I thought I was going to be sewing custom cushions for the seating on the banquette, so the height was designed lower to accommodate the cushion. DH loves the stained wood so much, and the bead board on the backs that I think there are only going to be a few throw pillows for color. Any thoughts on what I should do for window treatments? The octagonal ceiling was an add-on after we saw the half octagonal (larger) in our builder's house. The keeping room ceiling is a double vault. I'm so happy with the fan we got (MinkaAire Delano) because it has an uplight that just puts a wash of light on the ceiling. Pretty much all of this part of the house is at 45 degrees to the rest of the house. There were days when I was drawing it out in the software that I never wanted to see another angled wall in my life. But, it does create all these nooks & crannies & interesting views. Our current house is a 1992 spec house, but it is very well designed. This builder had a little blurb in one of his brochures about the importance of sightlines in a house and how the views should be interesting looking different ways in different locations. We tried to take that to heart. I don't want to go too far off-topic, but since y'all seem to "get" this house, I'd like to share one view of the master bath. Those clerestory windows over the vanities (lights upside down) were a moment of sheer brilliance on the part of DH. Also, to give perspective to the keeping room arrangement, here is a view from the side (again, unfinished screened porch). The room at the lower level is my sewing/crafts room and those windows are just amazing for the light they bring in. I am so lucky to have that space. Thanks, so much & I will post more pictures when there is further progress. Jo Ann

I don't know Sherwin Williams paint colors so I cannot say how any one would match to F&B. F&B All White is their brightest, whitest white without undertones if I recall correctly. What I do know is that most paint lines have an equivalent -- the brightest white. I would look at those from SW and from BM and others. A lot of the way any white will look depends on location. The same white paint will look much different in Texas, where the light is very strong and New England where it may look more gray due to the light. Noon has the brightest daylight. I would suggest looking at paint samples then. Also in the a.m. and late afternoon. See which looks best to you at all times of the day.