Linelle, Thank you for replying. The Paint sample card and formula for SW Antique White and BM Bone White are very very close. I was told my Sherwin Williams the difference is SW Antique White has a tiny drop of brown in it and BM Bone White has a tiny drop of Magenta or Red in it (I think it was BM that used red and SW used Magenta). I would have to match the SW Antique White in the BM Aura paint and I am not sure how close they would match it so I decided to stay with the BM Bone White that I love that is in the family room that has more light so I feared it would be too dark in my home office. But after moving the painted board around (from over 2.5 years ago when I was choosing wall colors) and paint chips around my rooms (recent ones.... 4 - 5 for each color cut out and lined up in a row on white paper), I think I can't go wrong with the BM Bone White or the SW Antique White. I like the BM Palace White but I am glad you told me you liked it but don't love it like you do your SW Antique White and BM Camouflage. Any pics of the BM Camouflage for maybe the spare bedroom that had BM Philadelphia Cream in it that is way too yellow for that room and needs to be repainted? By the way, I LOVE my BM Bone white in my family room, hallway upstairs and the area going up the steps. But I only like it in the laundry room and in the kitchen and in the storage room. Lighting and what is in the room really affects the color of the paint. I have not yet bought the paint so I am tempted to buy a pint of the SW Antique White and BM Bone White in the Aura formula and try both on the wall to see how I feel. Thanks again for your help. I work in my home office many hours during the day and many times at night and when I am not working but instead on my PC doing other things like being on this decorating site as I eat dinner, I am in the home office also so the wall color is very important to me. I like wall colors that are happy and peaceful which do not clash with furniture or tile around them.

Architectural Styles often don't get a unique descriptive name until after the fact. CA contemporary or 80s contemporary is about as close as you are going to get other than "Late 20th century American Vernacular" which doesnt even describe as much as 80s contemporary. The name that I have for this type of interior is perhaps a bit negative, but I dont really mean it to be: "high interest rate, or recession interior" Many houses built during the 70s and 80s when interest rates were very high are all exteriors. The inside is a white box with minimal trim, hollow core doors and a mixed bag of lighting and hardware that is generally in conflict with the interior spareness (neo-victorian lighting comes to mind). The architect's or custom builder's version of this home would have had slate or quarry tile floors, exposed brick or stone, probably some real wood paneling, wall to wall in a post seventies shag or sculptured finish--and antique brass or bronze hardware with some whacked out Paul Evans style pendant lighting. (Also known as a "seventies p o rn interior" :-) So perhaps you are better off with the blank slate as far as adaptability goes.

Your kitchen is beautiful. It just needs a little fun added to it. The valance that starts from the ceiling with the stage coach ties would be a good choice. I think that picture is a great example of how you can bring colors into the room from the fabric. Also, I would suggest using the same valance in the dining area. The picture with the shorter valance looks too choppy. I would look for a print fabric that had some of the colors of the granite in it. I really like the iron art over the stove although I would prefer to see a tile BS, if funds allow it. The dining table needs a large colored art bowl. I agree with Igloo, the colbat just doesn't make it and you need to pull in the golds and rusts. Colbalt blue actually sticks out like a sore thumb but it may work if you have art or fabric with a little colbalt blue in it along with rusts and golds. I would not use any rug in an eating area unless you were using a glass table. The patio doors look fine without any treatment but a valance would add some warmth to the room and still give you full view (use one that starts from the ceiling) Don't worry about tying in the white appliances. I would just ignore them since the wood trim is painted white (that's enough white). Once you get the window treatments squared away, I would like to see some colored accessories in the glass cabs instead of plain white. JMHO

Thank you all so much! The handholding helps more than I can say. Herbflavor: MA will certainly make the hood a custom size and in fact I am going to tell them to make it 16" high. mtnredux: I decided to leave it at 24" deep. There's a pic on the MA site where a huge hood of the same type I'm ordering is partially under a 24" soffit and it looks kind of neat. So I'm going with the "it will look interesting" idea, not because I don't want to make the GC redo it, but because as you suggested, I slept on it and decided in the am that it would be okay. April_Lorraine, mastiffmom and sioushi: I decided to go with the solid floor for the reasons that 1) once the island is in, we actually won't have a lot of floor space showing, and 2) the range and hood and island will have such big visual impact that I want to give them a nice pale surface to stand out against. I think I have to give up my beloved F&B Pavilion Blue as well (don't think it will go with the hood so much), so I decided that when I have some money again (HAH!) I will redo my foyer with Pavilion Blue and a checkerboard floor. Plus, although he wouldn't have fought me over it, DH slightly preferred the solid floor. willtv: Thank you! It is very helpful to hear from someone taller with even less space between the hood and cooktop that you don't bang your head. And I'm ordinarily not much of a drinker but I'm having a glass of wine right now and boy, is that some good stuff. V. relaxing. Sayde: I know 31" is within the normal range but it just seems so low to me that it bothers me! I'm sure it will be fine. blfenton: Hahaha! One of our cats does behave that way. The other one always has this slight startled deer-in-the-headlights expression. I guess I looked more like her at the time. rosieo: I know, I know...and I really do count my blessings every day and try to keep this in perspective (like, there are people with nothing to eat and I'm worried about this stupid sofft depth?!?). Normally I'm pretty unflappable but this was kind of a cumulative effect thing that got to me. I've compromised on lots of little details and over time it has a way of building up such that I feel that what I had planned and designed won't be anything like what I end up with. But truthfully you're right: It is, after all, just a kitchen. muskokascp: I think I was just exhausted. You're right...one thing at a time. It's tough, though, when you consider changing one major element and you have to think carefully through how that change would effect everything else. It's tiring. johnliu: No, I really haven't made that many changes. This was after we were waffling on the sink being next to the wall, decided to switch it with the DW, and I was so miserable over the thought of it all night that I switched it back in the morning. This GC has remodeled two baths for me plus installed a completely new one and painted my house, and for all those jobs combined, I made exactly ONE change (to replace a window molding that didn't match others in the adjacent rooms). This was just bad timing. SusieQusie60: Hmmm...I don't seem to be able to make decisions piecemeal. I am compelled to consider the whole package. Not sure if it's because I'm a graphic designer and tend to think in terms of "overall packaging" but I have to visualize the entire kitchen and how everything works together. Which unfortunately makes me terribly indecisive! I'm probably my GC's worst nightmare, and here I think I'm so easy to work with. *g* katkatf: Thank you! That helped a lot. I've decided this is like childbirth: It sucks while you're going through it but there's no other way to get there. Although hmmmm...I didn't have any drugs when I had a homebirth. I wonder if I could get my epidural now. aliris: Thank you, that was a great post! It's good to know I can both feel incredibly blessed and lucky and at the same time occasionally pull my spoiled princess act (as long as I don't do it too often). desertsteph: No, not really. I had meant to tell him earlier and just didn't. Lesson learned. I must say that he is a GREAT GC in terms of quality and competence and reliability. His crew has been with him for a long time and they're great too. It's just that most of the kitchens he does--and he's built some very high-end homes--are the same generic thing over and over. So he thinks I'm a whackjob when I propose some new thing he's never done before. Like I told him 15 years ago in another house that I wanted a wood floor in my kitchen and he said that NO ONE does wood floors. I also told him about radiant underfloor heating and he looked at me like I was from another planet. Fast-forward a few years and he's telling me that wood floors are wonderful in kitchens, or if I do tile, I should consider radiant underfloor heating. :-) He doesn't know about my secret weapon, the GW Kitchen Forum! I told him that while he thinks I'm crazy and always wanting to do something he's never done before, look at how much he's learning. (Currently he's telling me that NO ONE does marble countertops. Heh.) So thank you so much, everyone. All the electrical went in today and we're moving along. I'll just keep taking deep breaths and repeating "It's just a kitchen. IT'S JUST A KITCHEN."