Hi Sharon, I LOVE French Country decorating and there are lots on this board who also love FC. Parma42 is also a huge FC decorating fan. I agree with what the other posters have said about following your own vision. The blue you are describing for your cabinets, along with the SS appliances, and the dark hard wood floor would be sensational, IMO. It does beg the question though of what you would do about your countertops to make everything work together? But that is something that can be determined later. I can't tell you the number of times I've said "I'm going to do X" to my house and my extended family stares back at me as if I'm crazy. Half the time whatever I planned looks fabulous and and a quarter of the time, it's so-so and a quarter of the time it's disastrous. I'm okay with those odds! Not everyone (not even a designer) can get everything 100% right every time. Decorating and designing a home takes practice and a willingness to try things and sometimes make a mistake. It's the best way to learn about what really works for you in your home. I'm dying to see a picture of your room and a picture of the blue finish you are putting on your cabinets! Please post pics if you can!

Yardvaark, thanks for your comment. I wrote a reply earlier that ended up in the internet ether, so I’ll try it again. I am beginning to think that scale is key in the look I’m searching for. Large trees rather than small (especially small ornamentals) and large shrubs as specimens, or large, mass plantings, are found in acreage (country) rather than on suburban lots. I suppose what I’ve been focusing on is my experience in Central New York, where we lived for several years. Most of it is rural, and houses are old (sometimes several centuries). Invariably, those houses originally had very large deciduous trees planted quite close to them, obviously for shade, in an era sans air conditioning. What we’ve found is that contemporary homeowners often are terrified of trees, and dislike deciduous trees and plantings as well, so the old, majestic trees are cut down, or new ones that are planted are taken out as soon as they get to be roof-height. (One of the most common phrases we heard in CNY, I think, was “that tree is too big”.) Then, to correct the lack of green in winter, evergreens are planted, including trees, and also in the form of the ubiquitous yew hedge to serve as a foundation planting. It seems to me that these things may have to do with a difference in tastes as well as knowledge between people a hundred years ago, and those today. I do think that very few people realize that there are wonderful varieties of large trees that can be planted close to a house –not all trees are the same! People used to plant trees with tap roots and ones not susceptible to breakage. Those trees not only protected the house from sun, but “ensconced” the house, often to great visual advantage from the outside, and to a wonderful effect from the inside as well. And: Overall, I think there’s less appreciation for the various forms of natural beauty that many deciduous plants can give; whereas, most folks I talk to today think only about green leaves and colorful flowers. I love evergreens, but they seem somewhat out of place, or at least a preponderance of them do, in regions outside of the Northwest and upper reaches of the entire U.S. In summary, I suppose I associate certain plantings, especially evergreens, with the suburbs due to my experience in New York, where all the rural homes had an emphasis on the deciduous. Also, I think scale, as you mention, and type of trees, such as the small, ornamentals, are to be avoided in the look I’m going for. My vision is a classic sort of looking house (such as Georgian or Greek Revival) without a lot of the detail that I associated with a “city” look, set off amid some well-placed enormous trees. (Unfortunately, I likely won’t be around long enough to enjoy them as “enormous” trees!)

The Mediterranean is a very big pond, with 1000s of miles of coast, and while it is true there is precious little hard wood anywhere on the Med that people can use to build houses (rather than heat and cook with it), the style and colors of their houses are really very, very different depending where you go on the Med. If @Alexandra has visited places in Mediterranean that left her with happy memories, that might be her reference point for what “Mediterranean” style is — which can bear no resemblance at all to what gets called “Mediterranean style” in southern California or Florida. If there is no hope of using stone or stucco in the house design, but still a desire to incorporate some Mediterranean color palettes, then consider From around Nice: canvas white, strong yellow, navy and aqua blue, gray/lilac From the Italian Riviera: creamy white, mustard yellow, coral, olive green-silver From the Amalfi coast: stark white, turquoise, lemon yellow, deep green From Sicily: stone white, gold-yellow, aqua blue, purple, rose From Tunisia: stone white, sky blue, terracotta, black From Spain: Gold, pink, sandy white, emerald, cobalt, iron gray Just about nowhere on the Med do you find red anywhere (maybe in Sardegna) Interestingly, there are many parts of the coast in both France and Spain where modern rectangular 2-story houses made of light materials are really quite popular (around Barcelona, around Marseilles), but they make a lot of use of glass. I think a house in New England with modern windows (without grids or grilles) that used pure whites, strong blues (both deep sea and sky) and lilacs, with touches of yellow might pass with the neighbors and not look out of place, while bringing in a lot of Mediterranean sunshine, even with a great big green American lawn.

 Such a beautiful ranch! That brown stain on the current porch overhang would look gorgeous on the rest of the house, including the foundation. I love the idea of dark flat forest green trim on windows and doors. Also agree that fewer but bigger rustic posts, with those diagonal y pieces at the top, would balance the roof and give the porch a solid, welcoming feel. If there are some big conical evergreens native to your area, consider planting a couple in the yard. Their lines would echo the roofline, and reach for the sky, further connecting the house to the land. And that would also work well with the green trim. Reuse that pile of boulders strategically, integrating them with some plantings in front of the porch and a pathway from the parking area to the porch. Over the years, you could change up the front door color with a lighter green in the same family, or a lighter brown,  a sage green, or even a mustard color if you are feeling bold. Here's my very rough scribbles to show what I mean. Also put a bigger stoop on that side door if you plan to use it,  and a bit of gravel or stepping stones to unobtrusively connect it to the front porch as well.