thanks, blfenton, olychick, debrak2008 and debi! boopadaboo, i was a little concerned too about all the white and light colors with two toddlers, but we re-painted the white coffee table and put a layer of poly over top, so it easily wipes down. The white curtains are el cheapos from IKEA so if they mess them up, it's not a big deal. Hopefully the carpet will stand up to them -- my youngest actually drew on our old icky green carpet with a black sharpie a few months ago. It (mostly) came out, but the carpet looked faded in the spot from where I stain treated it. All Sharpies have been banned from our house after that experience! hi autismmom, I love that little rectangular pillow -- I found mine at TJMaxx recently. The rest of the pillows are from a variety of places -- I think the light turquoise one with buttons is from HomeGoods, the brown geometric one I found at the fabric district in downtown LA, etc. thanks roobear, the golden peacock is one of my favorite pieces in our house. It's moved around a lot in our house, but I finally feel like this space does it justice. thanks, bee, i just got your email! writing you back and I am in love with your swan settee! autumn, the back end of Pip is in the top photo lounging in the sun :) This post was edited by pipdog on Tue, Jul 9, 13 at 9:54

I think all of us that have been brave enough to post our plans here have felt like they are ripped apart and the statement that there are no good redeming qualities is said quite frquently. Based on this I hypothesize that close to 90% of the houses in the town I live in would ever meet the standards set here. That being said I did get some good ideas that we incorporated (and we used an architect that apparently shouldn't be allowed to practice based on what he designed for us). I found the kitchen forums to be a much more helpful bunch, they give lots of great ideas and help without making you feel like your entire plan is horrific. Frankly, I am so THRILLED that my plan and especially my early elevations were ripped apart. It is because they were ripped apart over and over again, that I will be building a much better, more well designed house. I would much rather live in a well designed house that meets mine and DH's needs and looks like it belongs in the neighborhood, than something that was just so so. After all, if I'm spending 6 or 7 figures for a custom built house, shouldn't I get the best house I can possibly get for our needs? My advice is to listen with an open mind. Yes it's hard at times. I remember several nights where I repeated the same thing over and over (the fact that because of my lot, my house size downstairs was limited) but the good folks here, still wanted to try and figure out how to give me more space. :) Or when they basically bashed an idea of mine (can we say entry laundry?), I felt extreme frustration. However, even what seemed like a silly idea or an undoable idea, sometimes sparked a workable idea that helped improve my house. And I would absolutely listen to the architects on this forum. Without their extensive knowledge, my craftsman house would have looked like a mashup of every applied craftsman gee gaw without having any cohesiveness.

Thank Sims Luxury Builders! My DH has agreed to let me choose the sofa color so the first choice is charcoal gray. The problem I am having is we want a sectional and it has to be relatively small (about 100 x 70) with a left side chaise. Ideally we want leather upholstery to stand up to our kids. And...... it needs to be "cool" and not a typical oversized ugly sectional. All of these "conditions" is leaving me with not too many choices unless I get it custom made. I can find black sectionals that fit all of this better than dark gray. Dark gray seems to be mostly fabric and not leather. If I can convince DH to go for hard wearing fabric then that may work. I also have found places to make a custom sofa for me with prices comparable to ready made. DH is a bit leery of this though (quality wise). On another note, our drywall guy has extended his start date twice now. Suppose to start today and now supposed to start Monday. Grrrrrr...

I totally feel your pain! Remodels aren't cheap and it's not easy for everyone to picture what something will look like before its done. I had a similar situation - I just didn't feel that I could afford to redo the tile in the entire house - so I only did part of it. Huge mistake. I "solved" the problem with carpet squares. You can buy just what you need, get pretty creative and install them yourself. I'm sure there are many companies, I used Flor. I recommend getting samples - as it's impossible to accurately assess color from the computer monitor. (Samples are free during promotions and sales are frequent.) I would also suggest that moving the sofa to face away from the kitchen will not only cover up some of the transition, but also define the space in a way to enhance the separation of the rooms.