My first question is What is your favorite color? You have excellent neutrals that could work with any color. If you love the cool gray green of Farrow and Ball's french gray I say go for that color. That is a color that can compliment many different colors from the gold warm tan drapes to a fire hot red chair or a deep green alligator. Go with what you like and you will be amazed that it works. If you think the Farrow and Ball French Gray is a little too green based you might consider another FB paint called Light also by FB French Gray FB Light by Farrow and Ball I like mixing cool and warm in different venues for drama. Obviously not all the colors but keeping it simple to two basic hues and working with them is ideal. You have one small wall behind your china cabinet that you could paint in a gold tan to match the drapes but the rest of the walls the Blue gray Farrow and ball you are thinking of would be perfect. Here are some combinations of gray blue and tan that look stunning. Living Pod Dining room rescue blog Clear Skies by Benjamin Moore French Gray Farrow and Ball (The color you love) French Gray FB by designer Brooke Gianetti amazing with the soft cream. Other Neutral colors if the farrow and ball is too scary for you to try Fools Gold Benjamin Moore New Penny by Valspar Blonde Benjamin Moore Skylight Farrow and Ball Camel Hair on left and Gustavian Grey Shaker Gray by Benjamin Moore

Your ideabooks don't give much of a clue to your style, but what you've done so far--painting the walls lilac and that dining chair--are not very modern or contemporary. And painting always comes last. There are infinite paint colors, so we match paint to furnishings, not the other way around. That said, what furniture do you need? If you're trying to furnish a living room, can we have photos of all walls of the space with it empty, please? From what little I can see so far, I'd say get rid of the blinds and count on replacing all the light fixtures.

I would create a "foyer" by floating a 3-seat sofa or a reversible chaise sofa facing the two windows with a flat screen TV on a low credenza. Hang the clock on the wall opposite its present location. Flank the large front window with a pair of fabric armchairs, a new side table and a table lamp. A new rug should be at least 2 feet wider than the new sofa. For proper installation of a dining chandelier, your table will need to sit under the current fixture. Try doing that to see what you can achieve. Do you want to hire an electrician to remedy the offset? You can probably find a paired semi-flush and a pendant or chandy for both your ceiling lights and maybe the kitchen too. Once you find the seating and rug, we can find a new, brighter paint color to really bring this room out of the shade!

@ SapphireStitch While it would be nice to wave a magic wand with an unlimited checkbook - I don't have that. I do have access to some money (got a HELOC). If some of the changes need to be done in stages and can be done effectively - we can do that, because the more money I have to pull upfront from the HELOC, the more I'll end up paying in interest. (yuck). I'm also not averse to acting as my own general contractor/project manager, if needed; I've done that before (successfully) But I'd rather not have to overall manage the project, just because my current employment is a boatload more demanding than my previous employment. The nice thing is that we don't have a defined deadline where "this must be done by" - no one is getting married, boatloads of relatives aren't coming to visit, etc. However, the kitchen as it currently stands is a source of daily irritation. We're getting to the point that if anyone is already in the kitchen, we try to avoid going in there until that person has left the kitchen. Tempers flare....we've got my boyfriend (who was envisioning a quiet, child-free retirement), my teenager (while she's not as much of a drama queen as some teens - she's just starting the teenage years, LOL), and me - frustrated as the primary food purchaser, preparer, organizer, clean-up person. And if my boyfriend happens to suddenly realize his blood sugar has dropped - get the hell out of the way in the kitchen. He's not very good at listening to his body - he literally passed out one time when his blood sugar dropped too low - he dashed into the kitchen, grabbed a glucerna and the last thing he remembered was opening it up - but he woke up on the floor sitting in a puddle of the stuff. (I wasn't home at the time). When either I or my teen are in the kitchen and if boyfriend does the mad dash into the kitchen - we pretty much have to drop what we are doing so he can grab something and while he stands there and he starts shoveling whatever down his throat. And since the space is so tight - it can mean leaving stuff cooking on the stove, etc. One time he dashed in, grabbed a breakfast sandwich out of the refrigerator, yanked what was already cooking in the microwave out, and threw his sandwich in. Anyhow, I digress. I know that some of the things we want are going to be big-ticket items - new cabinets, granite or quartzite countertops, slide-in induction stove. That's why I'm also looking for cost-efficient plans, such as instead of moving the sink to the middle of the room, let's keep it on the same wall and just shorten the distance from the hot water heater to the new sink location. Let's not blow out any of the exterior walls, and we can keep the current windows, dishwasher, and refrigerator. If replacing the 10'x13' current laminate would be cheapest to match new hardwood to the existing hardwood, rather than ripping it all out and putting tile down in a 20'x13' space, I'm fine keeping hardwood. If a nice, medium-stain maple cabinet is cheaper than white painted cabinets, I'm find with the the stained version... I prefer it, personally. Rather than a huge pantry cabinet, if building a pantry closet with adjustable shelves is cheaper, I'm fine with that (plus with all the small appliances and bulk-purchases from Costco and BJ's - I think it would suit our storage needs better). If getting an island fits the layout, but is out of reach - I'm fine holding off on installing island cabinets and countertop and using a kitchen table in the meantime. And because we don't have a "get it done by" date... once I have a really solid design/layout... I have the time to shop different cabinet lines and stoves, wait for sales and then to be ready to capitalize on hopefully a decent deal. I don't know if it's true, but I did see some articles that indicate the best time to shop for kitchen cabinets is November to early January.