Have you searched through the picture on Houzz? I've found a lot of ideas there.

Thx everyone!! :) I am so under gun...I thought I would have another week to decide but the contractors want to start painting tomorrow BEFORE the cabinets go in. I decided to go with the darker shade in the pics....the Stratton Blue. I agree that the colors are not showing up well on the monitor. After the job is done, if I truly don't like it, I will take my time and try to consider a brownish gold tone like in the suggestions above. Part of me really wanted a spa-like calming blue which is why I am trying to work off the Palladian Blue card. olychick - I love that picture of the room with the palladian blue ceiling. I never even considered doing something like that and I really would love to know what the color is on those walls! That is really a gorgeous beautiful room! Soooooo if I hate the Stratton after it is all up and done, I will re-paint....

We started with one smaller idea..., but as we found more things that we wanted to replace— each possible solution has come with additional little problems... Welcome! Yep, that's how it goes. It's fine to realise this in the beginning. You can assess things & plan properly now. After you've ripped everything out is not quite a great time to start planning. Project mushrooming sometimes means saving & starting at a later stage, for a better result. We have realized now that we need to step back and start at the beginning with a directed vision and goal rather than just slapping together ideas and hoping it turns out well. GOOD! Any tips for choosing a good designer and questions to ask would be appreciated. A lot of people will have a lot to say on that one. You might consider starting a new thread on that specifically in fact. Check referrences to find people, and check referrences after you've found people. Check actual work, check work that's been done some years back. Do not go for the least expensive. They will provide the least pleasant experience, and your actual cost will be more. Check referrences. A good few. Take overly glowing or overly bitter referrences with a pinch of salt. Find imaginitive & knowledgeable people. People who find solutions, don't avoid issues, people who bring up matters you hadn't considered, people who don't just agee, but tell you straightforwardly when things aren't good or realistic choices. Check actual work... Ask what common issues or flaws are, and how they work around them. Get things written down, everything. Pricing, time frames, who sources fittings, specs of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Ask who'll be actually doing the work, who'll be overseeing it. Don't work with the guy who'll check up at the end of the week. Find out what they actually do. Design, contracting, both... Check those referrences. Find out how long they've wrked with their employees & subs. Avoid working with friends or family. You think you have a good relationship, so you should. That good relationship is the reason you shouldn't. Check work that's been done some years back. Don't expect a free consultation in the beginning. Some pros do it. A lot (of good ones particularly) are far too busy to spend time in that way. They'll send you some pics and contacts of old clients to start off. Ask when they'll be available to start on your job. It's alright to wait a few weeksfor a good pro busy on other jobs. Once you have a good pro, deal with them straightforwardly, and trust them. If there's something you're unsure of, ask them, before asking the neighbour's cousin's dentist's brother. Oh yeah, and check referrences. It's the most preached, least practised tip. Guess how I know... For a project like this, what is a ballpark estimate for designer fee? There, I can't help, in the least. I'm a continent away, I assume, and things are... different. I do like that design with toilet immediately to the right upon entering bathroom. It’s in the master and would be fairly far to the right from the door so would not be visible easily from outside the bathroom The concern of a toilet near the bedroom is more regarding the sound, than unpleasant sightlines.

I like the quartz with your theme. It's like a gravel version of the pebble tile. You get the gray without the heaviness of a solid gray quartz like in your first choices. But I sure wouldn't use that pebble tile as a vanity backsplash. There is enough going on with the heavy grain of hickory, the speckled quartz, the faucet, mirror and light. Adding pebbles everywhere becomes too thematic. Just use the quartz as a backsplash. Add interest with the mirror and light if you think it needs more around the vanity. My cabinet maker has a display for dark stained hickory. They did slab for the shallow drawers to let the beautiful grain show. I recommend slab drawers for grained woods like cherry, hickory, and walnut. I like the dark stain because it eliminates some of the stripeyness of hickory that you can see in your sample, as do the slab drawers vs. a pieced drawer. These cabinets appeared a little darker in person so I think it's a darker stain than what you selected. The cabinets are inset. Aren't they beautiful?