I'm loving all the ideas and am going to have a hard time deciding what to do now! Justgotabme- A BIG, thank you! I have such a hard time "visualizing" what the end product will look like and I really appreciate the time you took to help me out! Thanks to EVERYONE who responded for all your great ideas. This forum is awesome! I agree that the hole would definitely look better gone OR as part of the "built-in" instead of being just a separate hole. Now, if I can just figure out how to make that happen.... Here is another picture after we added something else to the hole tonight. Thoughts??? (ie. can we leave it this way until we fix it and not be too embarrassed?!) We definitely started leaning toward the 50 inch TV because it's HARD for me to find stuff that will look good in this room!

Are you in love with some color choice that #1 doesn't offer? The fact that a cabinet place has floor models that are not perfect would actually turn me off. That is their way of getting business-people being able to see in person the quality and look of the cabinets. Even if cab maker 1 is repairing/replacing to make their displays look perfect, at least it shows they CARE about their product's look and their image. I'd be more likely to go with #1 just based on this unless there was some look I HAD TO HAVE that only #2 offered. And, if this is the case, I'd find another place that also offered it to see an option 3 so I had an apples to apples comparison on exactly what I wanted. Maybe you can find another place with high quality that DOES offer the finish you want.

Azan, no offense to others expressing their opinions, this is where you really do need the service of a competent designer, who truly understands what constitutes good design which you will NOT get from the contractor who's giving you a quote that covers design, materials & labor, or friends, family or neighbors. Speaking of which, do you live in an HOA? If you do, get a copy of the design standards or architectural guidelines and find out what you have to do to get your proposed alteration through the review committee. You may well be stuck. You currently have a modern builder's silly notion of what constitutes a "colonial". I am so sorry to say, again no offense to others who think it's a beautiful colonial house, it isn't. And there are probably another 20 down the street from you, with minor variations, all designs that would have given colonial era master builders (where design and construction are combined) a convulsion. There are all kinds of things wrong with the facade composition, like 3 different window proportions and shapes, which no amount of landscaping will solve and you are absolutely right that the porch is a problem, but it's not about brick vs stone. Changing a consistent material on a house is the last thing you should do to "improve" the look. When I was in graduate school, a one-off course was offered on "facade composition" one summer. Finally, a professor teaching us aspiring architects how to design a facade, rather than all that nonsense about "form-making"! I stayed just to benefit from his wisdom. Guess what, there were 30 plus grad students taking this course, and the historic preservation expert told us, we will team up in pairs, analyze historic facades, and we'll talk about it. Really, that's the class? Yes indeed, it's called a graduate seminar. Imagine that happening in med or law school! (Hey, I may be the professor but I am not a practitioner, why don't we just get together and learn from one another?) He didn't teach us the principles and theories of facade composition, though here and there he offered some useful observations. Undergrad & grad arch'l school, not one professor taught us anything about facade composition. Not one. Imagine! So I went to the library, dug up old architectural magazines, from the early 1900s, and taught myself, by analyzing facade compositions I admire. You can do the same. Get a couple books on historic colonial architecture, or better yet on your next getaway, go visit historic places filled with colonial architecture, like Colonial Williamburg, Annapolis or Alexadria (if you live in VA). Not everyone can design well or cook well, but everyone can learn to appreciate good design or good cooking.

Congratulations on your new home. It looks like a great first place. The carpet looks less green in the pictures. I agree that once you move in with your things it will be less noticeable. Without knowing what furniture and colors you are bringing in these are just general suggestions. Keep in the back of your mind what you ultimately want it to look like and work towards that goal. Without spending to much money find some pillows that have some of that color in them. With the great natural lighting you have in the space live plants will bring life and more green into the room. Get neutral drapes that will work with any change you plan. I would paint and change lighting first. Habitat restores are great places to pick up things along with Craigslist, Facebook marketplace and thrift and consignment stores. Think less about finding the perfect piece that may take years to find and more about the perfect piece for now. If I don't spend a lot for something I don't feel guilty changing it when I find something I like better. Check out houzz pictures and save ALL that you like. You will find there are common colors, styles and arrangements that you like. Use them to put your home together. Copy the feel more than the look. Buy things you love instead of following a trend. Let the fun begin