I forgot to add that my builder runs a very small operation. He only builds two houses a year and does almost all of the finish work himself along with his pay-rolled three man crew. He builds the cabinets and interior doors himself. I've been pretty happy with his quality with a few exceptions which were addressed and dealt with. My biggest grip with him is that he said it would take a max of 8 months and we are now in month 12 and probably have 2 more months to go. I figured that by the time we are done, we will have paid over $7k in additional interest. Smaller and especially inexperienced builders don't have as much control over subs and often underbid/estimate what it's going to take to get the house done. They also don't have a lot of capital and really really depend on every draw to move to the next step. I know I'm making a huge generalization but this has been my experience and the experience of a couple of other people I know. If I could have done it over again, I would have micro managed the project to the enth degree. My builder is pretty easy going and we have a good relationship so he probably would have been okay with more involvement from me. In the end, we will have a house appraised about $100k more than what we paid for it so I'm keeping my eye on the prize.

My family and my sister's family loved the outdoors so we camped. We started out tent camping then as we could afford it moved up to a tent trailer. I had a trailer type camper in California but my favorite was a tent trailer. You may not care for camping but if you do it's much cheaper in the long run. We belonged to a camper's club and had winter meetings in the winter. We camped for 15 years.

This is far from a classic mcm home! the light is the only thing that looks like it's from the 50's-60's. Those cabs are builder grade oak from the 80's check ikea. you could prob do some lowers. as for the other part, save up so you can do a new countertop w/an overhang for that peninsula. also, trim out the front of the peninsula w/some panel trim work, and paint. the front of this looks like plywood! try something like this, and do the side as well, and paint and paint the cabs while youre at it. get yourself some inexpensive hardware for the cabinets. don't know what you can spare for a budget, but if you paint them yourself, can do some basic carpentry and look into a pre-fab countertop, you wouldn't need more than 2-3K. Ikea is another option if you just want to remove everything and start over. RTA cabinets are another option. for about 3K, and some install work, you could have all new cabs. countertops, another 2K. and if you want a tall pantry, remove that window and install one next to the fridge.

Replace the shutters with unlined light coloured linen-look drapes on rings. Ikea is a great place to find inexpensive clip rings and curtain rods. The brick colour looks nice to me but hard to see with the shutters closed. This will be a family room with TV and sofas? Decide on what furniture goes into the room, and then choose a light wall colour that goes with the furniture. Just paint right over the wood. Do you like the rug or will you be getting a different one? Your lighting seems to be all pointing downward and lighting little circles on the floor. Get some plug-in wall sconces that wash the wall with light. Add floor lamps, and table lamps on the end tables to give lighting to people sitting in the room. Choose lamps with translucent shades, not solid shades like your track lighting. Consider replacing the track lighting with a semi-flush mount light because that style will wash the ceiling with light in addition to casting light down and to the side. But first see where your furniture is going, and where you need light.