Thanks Ramses, but my DH vetoed anything brown or tan immediately...he doesn't like brown walls. I know, there are different kinds of browns and tans, but at this point I don't want to argue over, I mean discuss :-), it anymore. I was also thinking of a gray, but thought that would be too close to the black/white I'm known for. I want color! So, we decided to go with the Cornsilk in the Kitchen & DR and Wedgewood Gray in the FR and, I think, the LR. My DH is out buying the paint as I type! The color opinions here & on the Home Decorating Forum were split about equally...half for Cornsilk/half for Wedgewood. We decided to go w/our original plans b/c, as David123 said, it's easy enough to change it if we don't like it...or if after this foray into color I get bolder and want deeper/different colors! I'm taking baby steps here...! BTW...I did call a couple of BM stores near us and neither had color consultants any more other than the store staff. They both told me they discontinued the consultants...didn't really get a good answer why. So, what does everyone think about A TP holder w/room for extra rolls and a similar one for towels that are recessed into the wall OR A stand for TP in the corner in front of the toilet & towel rack for towel hung over the toilet OR A TP holder mounted on the wall in front of the toilet (sides are too tight) and a towel rack above it OR Something else all together?

You guys are the best. Please keep the ideas coming. I don't have a good drawing of the room yet. When I make a better one I'll post it. SheilaJoyce and Patti "Federalist" was one of the styles that interested me, and I simply couldn't think of the name. And I hadn't considered white. That just might work. The breakfast nook/sliver (LOL) is at one end of the living room. The two areas are separated by the undefined pathway from the front door into the kitchen. White furniture in the nook might help separate it even more from the "L/R" area. Gayle I love your cabinet! "Ugly Pine" is my very favorite wood. Wait till you see the buffet cabinet I built many years ago. It's still waiting for it's hutch. They will live on the sunporch; no room in the front part of the house. I would feel so blessed to know I had something made by my great-great grandfather. You daughter is one lucky gal! Adellabedella I'm going to try to make a to-scale graph drawing to show just how tiny this space is. I'll post pictures when I move things around. Sharon I like you idea of the one wide panel drawn back to one side. Do you mean to pull all the fullness to the right of the window...over toward the small bookcase? I'll try that to with an old pair of curtains I already have. Lydia Would a rectangular rug be better than a round rug under this table? Thanks for the coupon code; I'll be using it. Here's the floor plan of the entire house...maybe you can get an idea of the LR space from it. The drawing says "12 feet wide," but it's more like 11", 8".

Googling the name, Dar al Hadaya Sharqiya , it appears to be a boutique in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I assume they had the tea set custom made for the store. Given the poshness of the mall and the store, it was probably expensive stuff. Can't be older than the company, but I can't figure out how old they are. http://www.redseamall.com/index.php?file=c-shopping_details&iBusinessId=534&iParentId=1 http://www.redseamall.com//public_html/uploads/business_images/534/4_1380137666_96763.jpg

Linelle: your description perfectly captures the difference between my sample and what I'm looking for! My sample is flat and lifeless. What I want is for the wood to look rich and alive. The example I chose may be red oak. I know white oak can be just as lively as red oak though. There are plenty of QS white oak photos that look rich and full of figure. It's the rift white oak that I cannot find good photos of! ILoveRed: I have seen the photo of the tall cabinets in the first kitchen and it is gorgeous! It doesn't show the detail of the wood as clearly as I need but I'll add it to my photos. The second kitchen you found has some really good photos. Thanks so much for finding that for me! omelet: I'm not an expert either but I agree with you - the cut determines the figure of the wood more than the finish. But take a look at the figure on the unstained backside of my sample door: Unstained, it has a lot of wonderful richness and unexpected fleck in too. If they didn't leave the backside unstained I would have never known that RS white oak could look so lively and have such lovely figure. In one of my other threads, we seem to have figured out that they used a mix of woods and cuts on this sample door. The side rails look like RS white oak, top and bottom rails QS white oak and center panel is plain sawn red oak. That's a fantastic suggestion to post on the flooring forum! Off I go...