Tibbrix and all, Thank you for your help and for sharing your knowledge. To answer your second question first, I would like my fireplace to be transitional leaning a bit to traditional. The back of the fireplace is brick (no black mirror for me) and we want a hearth. We had originally thought to put stone around the surround, but we are re-evaluating that decision as we don't want a bossy feature that future buyers might not like (so it should be neutral enough). I love the idea of soapstone, but the stone available around her seems too blue to be in the neutral camp (I believe some soapstone is more grey/black than what is currently available here which would be more neutral and appealing). I wiould be open to another material aside from stone as long as it is classic and neutral and looks good with what we will have in the room. I don't like having just wood around a fireplace. I would like a wood mantel. As per colours for the great room walls, I will explore those C2 paints. I just looked and their is a retail outfit around 40 minute drive from here so it is doable. The reason, I tend to talk SW colours is I purchased a book from a decorator that describes her top tried and tested colours all from SW. I am sticking to only her colours from SW and not getting bogged down by thousands of choices. However, they are not full spectrum colours like C2! I will see if the decorator I meet with early next week is knowledgeable about C2. I like the second colour you posted better than the grey as I feel I have enough grey elsewhere in the house and in the kitchen. The one thing that is hard for me to understand is the rule you stated about sticking to cool or warm colours. I thought they can be combined (but what do I know). For example in my planned kitchen the brown stained island, and hardwood floors are warm, but the stainless appliances, island hood and wall colours are cool. The cabinets are planned to be Pure White by SW which I believe is a warm white as it does not appear to be a grey white. The back splash will be a simple subway that matches Pure White SW and picks up the same white which is present as one colour in the quartz we have chosen. Do other people have info on combining cool and warm colours. Is it a complete no go? I have been trying to learn the art of reading undertones after reading the book by Maria Killam (who is a well known colour expert here from Canada). However, I don't have natural talent with seeing colours as some people do. I have no idea how to pick out a brown that has blue undertones for example as you suggested. In fact, I would have assumed all browns would be warm colours (some would be warmer than others and comparison is key I realize). Good news is the decorator we have hired has completed the colour expert training by Maria Killam, so hopefully she will be gifted at reading undertones. In the meantime, I will continue to try to get ready for my meeting with her, by narrowing down best I can what I want. @ Sheilaaus122: Glad to hear from a fellow blue fan and to get your vote. I need to work out some patterns for sure or otherwise the room will be blah for sure. I too am puzzled by the colour of the chairs (looks silver to me in real life, more gold tones on the fabric swatch -- perhaps it is a chameleon colour?). I am growing less fond of the chair fabric each time I look at it. I will pay a visit to the furniture store to see if there are any more grey options. Carol

Thank you for the kind words, all. pattyk ~ the pic below shows my first fabric. Now I see that what looks good to me on the roll, and in my vision, didn't work as well as I'd hoped. Thank goodness fabric is easy to switch ;o)...

So, I think of everything I have seen, I really like the Bradington Young Barcelo recliner, linked in the post by gooster: It has the coveted swivel feature that DH wants, it comes in a gorgeous variety of leathers, and it doesn't have that typical recliner pillow-back look, which I like! The saga continues, though . . . because I can't find it on the floor in any store. I have found local stores that carry the B-Y brand, however, none have this particular model in stock for DH to try out. DH insists on trying out the chair, and I don't blame him. Especially given the expense of a chair like this, we would hope it could be viewed in person someplace. It doesn't help that we live in rural Wisconsin, I'm sure. So I called the B-Y company, left a message and am awaiting a call back. Hopefully, we can see this chair before purchasing. We are willing to travel, within reason, to see it. So close, and yet so far!

I recently bought mine from LazyBoy. I never thought I'd buy a recliner again because, like you, I don't like that "puffy, typical recliner look" in my decor. But, this looks ok, it's a smaller recliner and goes all the way back. And you have a choice of hundreds of fabrics. Plus, it was a very fair price for a decent piece of furniture. My husband LOVES it and it looks nice too.