hi bama, painting is almost done. the martha stewart sale glaze looks really beautiful. we start putting down the hardwood on saturday. still in an undecided state about light fixtures. i love the bagatelle pendant (although in silver finish) at link below but it is out of my price range. lowes has a pretty do-able knock off i will look at today. caera is still missing so no pics. have to just bite the bullet and buy a new one. Here is a link that might be useful: bagatelle pendant

I'm running out now, but I wanted to quickly show you what LRy511 did in her kitchen. I'm also building from a modified Don Gardner plan and I'm changing my kitchen to an L-shape with an island. I had the sink on the island first but struggled with the openness so I moved it to a wall where it would be blocked by the island a bit from the great room. Here's a draft of my plan to give you an idea. Without seeing your plan, I doubt you need a door from the kitchen to the dining room. Can you easily cut through the foyer to get there? My current kitchen/breakfast nook/family room is almost identical to the one in the original plan. My kitchen seems dark, but that is because there are only 4 can lights and 2 pendant lights over the peninsula. Make sure you have plenty of can lights and under cabinet lighting and you'll be fine. I think you're wise not to have the 2-story living room. You'll still get plenty of light from all those windows on the back. BTW, my current house plan is very similar to the one you are proposing, except we don't have the first floor master. In our plan the stairs go off the the bottom left corner of the family room and take up the space you have as a hall between the LR and FR. That opens up the foyer a lot. It's something you might consider if you can find another doorway to the master. Of course it might not work with your second-floor layout, but I thought I'd mention it.

Saxa I don’t think those water fountains goes with our rustic/farm theme. I think they are to contemporary for my taste. Also my three cats would have a field day with them. They love playing in water. Thank you for your suggestion! Much appreciated Daisy and Val as stated in my OP we are going to lower the tv. It is too high as it is. The plan is to remove the mantle and lower it about 5” and then lower the tv. Everyone in our house is in agreement that putting it on the side of the fireplace would be ackward for anyone sitting on the couch in front of the windows. And yes the cable will be put inside the fireplace. We specifically added a wall plug behind the stone. We just haven’t gotten to it yet. I’m still looking for that perfect rug!

Hi Ash- Some people are great at the packing and unpacking and set up thing. Some are not. God gave us all different gifts. Perhaps one of things you may need to help you find places for your things is a closet system. Maybe not a fancy expensive closet system, but hooks and racks and dividers,etc. Maybe you need shelves on which you would place your books and certain collectibles. If your kitchen storage is minimal, maybe you need a pot rack from which you can hang pots and pans. attractive cookware looks nice hanging from the ceiling. Just remember to rinse them before you use it each time. If there isn't that much storage in your kitchen, maybe you can screw in little cup hooks to the inside of your kitchen cabinets for your measuring spoons and measuring cups, that will clear out space in your kitchen drawers and cupboards. There are myriads of tips like these if you do internet searches for small kitchen tips or small kitchen hacks, or small apartment tips and hacks, etc. You can raise up your bed in different ways giving lots of storage underneath for whatever you need storage for, out of season clothing, office supplies if you work from home, whatever you need extra storage for. HOWEVER, and I I put this in upper case letters not to yell at you but only to emphasize the following point to you, you don't want to start to do things piecemeal and then get yourself in a worse situation by doing things like buying containers, or setting up inadequate shelving and then making a whole lot of holes in the wall in the wrong places. It seems that at this point you are a bit overwhelmed, and could use some guidance. That's why there is a profession called certified professional organizers. No, I am not touting them because I am one. I have friends that have used them , and they raved about their services. You don't necessarily need to use them for the placement of every piece of paper unless you want to. You can decide what service(s) you want from them. If you need for example the shelves and pot racks and closet system, they can figure out what type and they can arrange for people to set that up for you, or you can install it yourself. once the organizer figures out what you need. You and she/he can meet and decide what will work for you. Now here's the thing, you need to be really honest with yourself and decide what you need. Can you get by with one meeting and someone writing you a battle plan ans you can follow it all by lonesome? Foreelz as the kids say these days? Or do you need more of a guiding/instructive hand? The fly in the ointment here is not a fly but a virus. It might be difficult to find a professional organizer that is working now. On the other hand, they may be really needing the $$, and may have a mask of their own, or can get one or order one, and so can you and you can do your preliminary talks on the phone and Facetime or Skype or whatever with videos/photos , etc. And you can stand 6 feet away from them. Or even arrange to be out of the apartment when they come over if that's what you both agree to, just remove your jewelry and money and Picassos. And you know, the more orderly your place is, the easier it is to keep it clean! Good luck!!