Summerfield- I showed my husband the plan and he thinks it's wonderful! He thinks the wood storage idea is great and also likes the pergola. He can't believe how much it looks like the farmhouse, but so much better! LOL Is it okay if we make just a few changes? (I tried to show it on the plan.) His only concern is that the furniture is too close to the fireplace...which I told him, is the way I drew it :) Could we move the sectional down a bit, towards the entry? It could be a little shorter on the end seat, just enough to put your feet up, when sitting there. It would also be great to move down the TV console and the chair and ottoman. It's a big fireplace, and even with a screen, the furniture has to be at least 3' away. The good news...I have room to put the window seat next to the fireplace! There doesn't have to be a lot of room in front of it...since it's mostly for visiting nieces and nephews to use. That's why I took out the chair in front of the shelves and put the floor pillows...that's their toy area. I have a lot of Fisher Price and coloring books we keep on hand for the little ones. In the kitchen, I made the island just a little shorter, which let me move the chair and put a plant in the corner window. I also added a plant table under the window, with the window box and plants on either side. I really want a place to have some star jasmine and some smaller plants and that's a nice south corner. Thank you SO much for all your help! We really appreciate it and it's so amazing that you've brought our little farmhouse to life. Thanks again :)

I do a lot of the wood tile and folks love it. Durable, easy to keep clean, as well. You might be able to hit your "price point," depending on your area. Lowe's generally has some very nice product for about $2.25 per sq. ft., as I recall.

Yeah, get your budget and professionals in order first. I don't have experience to tell you if hiring separate contractors or one remodeling service is better for a whole house remodel. But after knowing about some nightmare stories I can say look for licensed, bonded, insured. Contracts, orders, and paperwork is important to keep in order and up on. Check with your local building inspector/s and develop a relationship with their office, ask them who is good or not. Don't just trust your contractor, also keep "in the know" with your building inspector/s as much as you would with choosing your kitchen counters or wall paint. And yes, check for references and reviews too, but don't rely on those exclusively- they are great for the customer perspective. But asking your building inspector/s is good because these folks work and inspect those professionals work on a regular basis. If you don't already have some sort of a plan for the house.. develop one before approaching contractors. You gave a nice short list for your OP. But be prepared with a much more detailed list and even floor plans for your house when you start sitting down with contractors. Some rooms may only need a new floor, lights, and paint, other rooms like kitchen or baths more extensive work. And I would imagine some things just make sense for the order.. Like the popcorn ceiling should be done before new floors or interior painting. Or exterior doors installedafter some of the big stuff inside so if the doors get pinged or dinged during the remodel, it's the old doors getting pinged or dinged. Some of your timeline might depend on how special-order you want things to be. Like if you want the kitchen cabinets or bath tub that takes the extra couple weeks on the order time compared to off the shelf stuff, you might want to get that kitchen or bathroom planned in for ordering sooner rather than later. Some of your timeline might also depend on where in the house it is too. Like it might logistically work better for the professionals to do an upstairs bathroom at the same time as the kitchen because of the way the house is set up the plumbing and electrical is better to work on all at once rather than in any sort of room order. Your professionals should already be aware of this kind of stuff- and be able to tell you some timeline and order to things too.

Yes, that is home made custom, with known paint colors! I did that once in our previous house. This was back in the early 2000s when SW Kilim Beige was in. The Kilim worked great in my foyer, but was too light for the family room. The next colors on the same paint strip were too dark, I think it was Nomadic Desert. So I mixed up my own ratio. I used measuring cups to get the right color and then I mixed whole cans when ready to paint the walls. My ratio ended up something like 1/3 and 2/3. Not the best thing to do if you think you will need to touch up the walls at some point!