At the end of every job there is a "punch list" that are all the fixes necessary. With what you're describing I would do a written list, room by room, and hand it to him before the walk through. Even better, if you have time, is to take pix of everything and illustrate the list (even if only for youself) so you have something to compare the fixes to. Finish work -- the fine points of carpentry that you're discussing -- is a relative thing. By which I mean that one contractor's evaluation of good may not be the same to another. If you can see gaps in corners, uneven baseboards -- anything were there is a gap of space that should be tight -- needs to be fixed. But whether it's worth removing and replacing vs having the painter do a proper job of caulking and repainting is your call. Paint not coming down to baseboard and bad taping is something that I would go after. Because, later on, when the house settles, a bad tape job gets worse. The drywall seams can become visible along with indentations if they've used screws. The original builder here did a bad one and we had to remove some drywall and redo it. Our contractor had a great taper (not the easiest thing to find it turns out) so the differences could be seen. Nicks can be repaired by sanding or with caulk, then primed and painted over. Holding back money is the smartest thing. In the end, if you don't get things to a point where the finish work is really acceptable to you then I'd look at taking a hefty deduction in the final contract price, particularly in any area where it would be necessary to find someone else to come in and remedy or redo. This is awful and tedious to have to do. But I'd spend the time now even though it seems overwhelming. No job is perfect -- not saying it would be. But I'd go for the stuff that would bug me when I got in there and things that might not be expensive to repair now but would be if you have to find someone to come in later to do little jobs and fixes. I was so overwhelmed when we moved back into our apartment that I didn't catch everything and ended up with little dust-trap holes on the sides of baseboards and raw plaster edges (untaped) around an inset closet, which they just painted over as if it was OK. Those never stopped bugging me.

thanks all. I stopped by Penny's but our store only has dark walnut in stock and I am not ordering anything without seeing it first. I stopped by Lowes and picked up a couple of there real wood Allen and Roth blinds. They are also 1.5" slats. They are likely low end woods but I think they look way classier. Unfortuanately the color is a bit too orangey and after reading your comments I am now rethiinking the real wood option. With coupon the two real wood blinds from Lowes were $72 and the cheapie looking (but right color) Blindz Basic brand were $48. I am going to ask what a special order color of the Allen and Roth in th eright color would cost. To be honest I may just take everything back until I find something else. Geeez! HD faux line looks very much like wood but the suckers weigh a ton and are almost impossible to raise and lower. Plus the 2" slat looks a little off too me. So, I am thinking of just putting the old ones back up, or keeping the cheapies until I find something better...or maybe just getting the wood and see what happens. I never would have thought this could be so challenging. Maybe I'll start a post looking for longer term feedback on the basic blindz and Allen and Roth from Lowes. If anyone knows of another place where you can get the blinds reasonably priced and see them first..let me know.

I love the pattern you've chosen. The white does look a bit creamy, but being outside, most white becomes off white (or off white/pewter) eventually, even with regular cleaning so they might work. It's hard to tell with the photos if it will blend or not. I like the idea of a white coping, simply because it will frame your design better and better delineate the edge of the area. If the slightly creamy white blends, I'd go for it. If it looks "dirty" compared to your white/pewter you may be best going with more white/pewter for coping.

Oldbat2be, thank you so much for the mock ups! This was the kick in the pants I needed to talk to my contractor. I forgot to mention that our w/d will be white too so the cabs will likely clash with those, so I think we've got to paint. mdln, good suggestion -- I'm pretty sure they are warm. I'll check and see if cool lights help. daisychain01, thanks, reveal hopefully coming soon! raven, I just looked at Krypton and it is beautiful. I'm going out to get some samples tomorrow and will paint a sample board of my top 3 colors and put it in the room and report back.