What a great home you have to start with!! I love the look of modern furnishings in traditional homes, below are some houzz photos that came up with that search. IMO it adds instant warmth and uniqueness. I think sofa and accent chairs will give you more flexability and a more open sight line will be achieved with a low back sofa. I think the art and decor you should take your time with and let it speak to you and your families interests and tastes...is the art modern and artsy, or classic with a love of nature, is it fun and colorful with a nod to the bold. The backs of the built in bookcases could be wallpapered to reflect this too, and lighting will add a huge statement about you and how you want others to feel in your home.

Find a paint chip card that has the colors of the lightest, medium and darkest bricks. Use the lightest color for the siding and the darkest for shutters. A new pinkish white will be fine for the trim that is already white. Test your samples on foamcore board cut to the width of the shutters.

I'm not a fan of painting brick as it turns a no maintenance product into a long term maintenance issue. The brick seems to have more browns than grays in it but the roof is gray. You need to find a color that marries the two. Something in the taupe family would work. Also, a couple of other things. If you plan on keeping shutters I would switch to a wider shutter that is correctly sized for you windows. The current ones are too narrow. Also, the area without a railing in front of the door needs to have one installed. Building codes require them if the change in elevation is more than 30", which yours definitely is. If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers of your house check out my website, Creative Visual Concepts.

So much fabulous feedback - THANK YOU!! @jhmarie - I think you are right about the white oak floors - they are very hard and don't really scratch. I'm going to consider quartersawn oak now... and you are definitely correct about a drab grey/brown combo. We are leaning towards the greige colors for the floors and backsplash. A cold hard grey won't really fit in with the rest of the house. @olmama - your kitchen looks fabulous and it really does remind me of ours. The ceilings are almost identical. @nosoccermom - I like the colors, but the shape is too modern. I think something between rustic and farm fits us better. I went to the website and saw those cabinets are oak... wow I had no idea oak could looks that good. lol. :) @Olychick - yeah I'm starting to have second thoughts about the knotty alder. with so many knots already, it might be too much "clutter" for such a small space. Out kitchen is not really that big - it just feels like it because of the open ceiling and the sun room with the windows makes it feel huge. @herbflavor - Thanks for the input on the flooring - I'm to the tile store this weekend to look at tiles like the ones mentioned above. @OneRidgeOff - Holy smokes!! I love your granite and backsplash. My partner also loves blues like that. He is going to flip when he sees your kitchen pictures. I'm so excited to pick our granite. :) @SJ McCarthy - you are 100% correct that we are going to struggle until we update the windows. the rest of the house was updated since building, but they did not update the sunroom, probably because of the cost. Those windows are HUGE. @Filipe Agostinho - I see what you are saying about contract - I'm going to focus on making sure there is contrast between the floors/backsplash/countertop and cabinets. This is a huge help. Ok, so to recap - definitely going to focus on greige floors, and will look at quartersawn oak, since it will match the trim in the rest of the house, and modern shaped cabinets will still update it, without having to update the rest of the house. You all are awesome. Thank you so much. :)