Thanks everyone for thinking about this and sharing opinions. Bungeeii, I have to admit I was a bit relieved to see your post this morning. Refreshing! We do indeed have a lawyer, the bills for whom have been ticking like the national debt. There were issues with the deal earlier this summer when we considered walking away and did not. It was extraordinarily emotional, not to mention expensive. But, we emerged from that process feeling like we should move forward. This resulted in a deepening of our commitment to the house. For many reasons, this house is right for us and there will not be another one like it. I know that's hard to understand, but where we live, that is just a fact. As for the P&S, yes we have one. We also have a CO. So, we are looking down the barrel of a closing very soon. We have close to $20,000 worth of materials we brought to the job, as well as a large deposit. To walk away now would mean putting all that at risk, not to mention the strong likelihood of entering into a prolonged and costly legal battle. We chose this house because we felt it would allow us to move on with our lives. (There is no other new construction going on here and we didn't want to build "from scratch" or take on an older home with all it's inherent issues.) Walking away would mean jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Somehow, the frying pan seems better to me right now. Of course, we will not close until this easement thing has been settled -- through both contractual language and actual coverage. The latest thinking is that insurance is the solution, so we are looking into that very carefully. I still feel like the builder screwed up and he's going to dodge the bullet -- the bullet that may someday come my way. He doesn't even want to pay for the legal fees we've incurred sorting out his mess. We'll see about that... Beyond the possibility of having our house bumped during excavation, I also worry about resale. I'd think twice, and probably offer less, for a house with this problem. Builder says he's already losing money on the house. The way I see it, every legal dollar we've spent sorting out his messes (rewriting the quitclaim deed, fixing the P&S, creating proposals to cover the easement problems) eats into my eventual resale margin. We are not looking to sell this house any time soon, so hopefully it will not make a difference.

I haven't read all the posts so if this is a repeat of what's already been said I apologize. Have you tried changing out your lighting to reveal bulbs if you don't have them already. They can make a huge difference in how a paint color looks. Just recently my reveal bulb in my pendent in my kitchen burned out and all I had on hand was a daylight flourescent. I like those bulbs and have them in my lamps. However, when I put this one in my pendent in the kitchen it turned my walls a muddy ugly color. I had to immediately take it out as it made me ill to look at my pretty walls so ugly. Needless to say the nest day a reveal went in. Also do you have items in the room yet or are you just judging the paint by itself? Furnishings and other decor can make what you think is an ugly paint look very good. Not sure if this is the case with yours but thought I would mention it. Good luck and I know how you feel, been there, done that to the tune of $100 in paint and many wasted hours.

Thanks for all the color suggestions.. I was finally able to go downstairs during the day (plaster walls are drying so NOONE is working down there today.. kind of nice actually) I think we are gong to go with BM Stone Hearth (thanks Sueb20) and for the bathroom I am going to go with BM tranquility (an affinity color). Its amazing how much color changes at different times of day. I am looking forward to showing you pictures when it is at least painted :) Thanks again for all your help!!

I think it's a personal preference, whether you use the same materials or different. I like the overall "feel" of the house to flow, and maybe see some flow or continuity of color. I like consistency of style, but not necessarily all the same choices per se. We have done gut remodels of the kitchen and master bathroom, and are in-progress on the main bathroom. Nothing in the rooms is the same, but I think the styles are all "transitional" and fairly neutral: The kitchen has natural cabs/mid-tone tile greyish-tan floor (hard to describe, it's tile that is supposed to look like some kind of stone and it has both warm and cool tones)/white glossy tile backsplash behind the range/Livingstone "Volcanic Ash" solid surface counters. The master bath has glossy white tile shower/white Swanstone pan/light yellowish-beige stone-like tile floor (this tile is bigger than that from the kitchen, and it has a very "tumbled/distressed" look, DH picked it from off-the-shelf HD), white ceramic counter/sink combo (from Ikea) along w/matching drawer-vanity, oak-ish. The main bath, though, has a medium-dark vanity, dark charcoal grey floor tile (not stone-like at all), and white glossy tiles on walls/shower but the tiles have a wavy surface. I hope to choose a vanity top that is lighter in color, to tie in with the light tops in the kitchen and master. None of these rooms are exposed to each other, so I figure why not have fun? :-) Our home is small, 1200 sqf, but we've lived here for 13 years and may not have a chance to move for another 5+ years. If everything was identical I think it would be too boring. Next year we are going to re-do the carpet (to hardwood I hope hope hope) and the living room, and I'm hoping that the living room will tie in better with the main bath. But otherwise I've been able to sort of evolve and figure out what I like over the years. One thing I've learned is that I really like blue and green! I did not realize this before, which sounds silly.