Hope everyone had a good 4th of July! We would like to seek for advice on the following: 1. What are your thoughts on the flooring for kitchen and family room? Originally we were thinking to do all engineered wood (chocolate color) since both kitchen and family room are in an open area in one big room so for a better flow, this would look better. However, I am now considering doing tile in the Kitchen area for maintenance purpose (easier to clean spills, scratches from the chairs and bar stools.. ) Below are some pictures from an inventory home. We are doing woods everywhere except for bedrooms and game room on the second floor. 2. The builder recommended us a 8 ft door, maybe its the trend now? but we will lose the transom at the top. With our floor plan and hallway, do you think 6.8 feet or 8 feet door would look better and more natural light? (Our entry is 10 ft ceiling and then the hallway is 19 ft) 3. For the exterior, I plan on getting white stones in the front porch area and the study room portion. Others would be brick..any suggestions on the color of brick? I am thinking a very dark color, maybe brown but not red bricks.. Any suggestions on the brick color, trims, and garage door color? We are adding a third bay to it, so there will be three garage doors instead of the one showing in the inventory home pic. Appreciate any suggestions! :) Kitchen Flooring 6.8 ft or 8 ft Front Door Pics: Look with 6.8 ft door and transom at the top: Exterior stone and brick color, garage door and trim suggestions

Practigal - We are in San Diego. Water is at a premium and I have a ton of grass. I'm ok with the water bill but it is tough to keep green watering 2 days a week. BTW - I really like the covered entry also. Most examples in the neighborhood no longer exist because they either removed it to pop out the corner or they hit the brace with their car and had to remove it. Justerrilynn - I did mean the front door. Our neighborhood has quite a few examples of our similar home. One neighbor has the door right where you have it. Here are a few examples. Hope they don't mind me posting streetview photos. These are all homes built by the same designer in the 50's. The above home was the same as ours, flipped. I love the huge porch but, in person, the thing that really makes it look nice is the roof - heavy tile. Above are my across the street neighbors. House on the left is exactly like ours, just flipped. Both houses had the inset door and popped them out many years ago.

You have to start with the stone and the roof before you even pick up a single paint chip. They will both inform all of your color choices going forward. White windows will make it more challenging to pull off the look you're going for. Sometimes there simply isn't enough budget for a color other than white. If, however, you have any wiggle room at all, the windows would be a worthwhile investment = value now, and at resale.

Thank you so much for this idea! I've been looking more at warmer colors...like greige or warm off-whites. I am so undecided so thanks for your thoughts on this!