Ugh, I haven't seen the color in the light yet, but I'm having the first real freak out of the build. I hope, Marthaelena, I'm not kicking myself for not going the believeable buff route. I thought of going Ivoire like many had suggested, but for some reason it read too tan. We are in a rental right now that has tan walls, and I don't like them at all. They just seem really drab. So, we were really trying to get away from tan. We were basically going for creamy with undertones of yellow. We had that in our last house, unfortunately, I didn't have the name of the paint and we don't live there anymore. I used that paint so often to do touch ups around the house, that I thought I had the color burned into my memory, but may be I was off in my recollection. Here are some links to our old house: Does it look like this: Here is a link that might be useful: SW Concord Buff

Many years ago Matha Stewart did some elaborate Christmas decorations using gold paint - Her sister called it "Martha's gilt trip" So now we have "Kathleen's gilt trip" LOL... Looking forward to seeing the results. Jim

I couldn't log in yesterday to respond but here goes. What I did not include in my OP was the fact that this painter has brought 3 diffrent crews to the house. The first crew was fired after two weeks because he said they were "messing things up." The next crew stained the staircase then disappeared for another job. I understand they have to go job to job. The current crew is "his best" crew and is "fixing the mistakes." abower1-I am sorry that you see my posts as negative and complaining. As Lindy pointed out, most of us are building and this is supposed to be a place to share frustrations AND accomplishments. I've done both and try to respond to others with encouragement, links, and/or things I've learned through the process. You've obviously missed my posts to kygirl when she went through a terrible build and personal tragedy; or my posts to Lindy about granite and paint colors; to trudy about stained concrete; and I could go on. I also realize that when you post on here, you open yourself up to be slammed and I have been on more than one occasion. That's ok. But I would hope that everyone can find this an open, friendly place to vent, encourage, ask questions, and learn. I imagine that you demand a job done right and that is all I am after. Not perfection, but definitely not shoddy workmanship. To answer the question if anything is ever good enough/fast enough for me-yes and when it is I thank the crews, pass their contact info on to others I know that are building, and even give bonuses to those who go above and beyond. Our foundation subs were great. The company that scored and stained the concrete was awesome. Our electrician is terrific. With that came framers that left reminders of their less than par work that I will see each day and that I would never recommend to anyone. With that came a plumber that did not measure correctly and walls had to be furred out. With that came the roofing bubba who has an attitude because the flashing is crooked and doesn't want to redo it because it is "functional." Would you settle for that? I do not expect perfection and understand that this is a project. It is also my home and I do expect people to follows instructions and care about the quality of their work. jmagill-The painter walked the house before giving me his bid. He told me 2-3 weeks but that included the exterior and interior. The job was ready. All his references had him highly recommended and I checked with people that he did not provide as references and they checked out as well. worthy-I know that you value quality work and would not have let the problems we have encountered go. You would have made the guys correct them just as we are. The painters have not redone rooms eight times as you mentioned. I assure you that I am not one of those homeowners. It is things like, they had a list with all the paint colors and still painted my kitchen cabinets the wrong color. Redo. Roller marks all over the family room and foyer because they used someone that had never painted. Redo. And, of course, painting part of the crown molding the wall color. Redo. busdriver-more power to you! I wish I thought I could have painted the house. Lots of work! Lindy-hope your granite arrives today.

Land sakes alive! I was hoping that one person would answer and then it'd be a chorus of "Yep" and "I agree" after that so that there would be an easy answer for us! Thank you all so much for your thoughts! I'm more confused than ever and that's saying a lot :). On Tuesday we met the painter at the house and went over all of the colors. In our "written" list of colors that we'd provided to the builder (weeks ago), we indicated that all ceilings and closets should be "vanilla milkshake", a Porter Paints color. All was agreed and the last thing we did was give all of our phone numbers to the painter so he could call if he had any questions or concerns. DH stopped at the house on Wednesday afternoon and took the photos. He was surprised by the ceiling but after deciding I must have asked for it, decided he liked it a lot. I'm ok with the fireplace end, but not the kitchen end and I think it should be all or nothing. I'll see it in person tomorrow and will let you know....I'm sure we only have a short time to get it fixed. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and ideas! Nanny2a - the lighter color is Porter Paints' True Blond, a copy of SW Blonde. The darker color on the kitchen walls is Porter's Antelope.