That's a tough one! Once we got started and picked our cabs, we wanted to find a granite that was beautiful in its own right, and complemented, but didn't detract from the wood grain on our cabs. Same thing when we looked for backsplash tiles--we didn't want ones that would steal the show from our granite or cabs. However, the initial things we built the kitchen around were gaining storage space, and gaining a bigger stove and a bigger fridge than we had in our old kitchen, while staying within the same sq. footage we had started out with (in the old kitchen). Doing that saved us a ton of money that would have gone towards building an addition. Also, the one thing I made sure we'd have, right from the early planning stages, was a feeding zone for our cats. Too many water dish spills made that an A-#1 priority in this house!

Thank you for your insights. Unfortunately, I do not have a better picture of the whole wall right now. This is in a great room and the fireplace wall is about 28' until the back of stairs. Eventually we want to have a bar area on the opposite end of the wall, behind the stairs. We think built-ins across the whole length would be too much. We want the fireplace to be the focus so we want the built-ins to not protrude out into the room more than the fireplace. We want to use cabinets with doors on the bottom, so not sure how we would incorporate the window with cabinets? The window is close to the corner. We added this window so we could have a few of the creek from this direction. Wondering if maybe the bookshelves should end in line with the top of the windows, or under the 10" crown molding? Here is an earlier picture of the great room. It doesn't show the whole fireplace wall but you can see that the window next to fireplace is near the corner. But the adjoining wall is mostly windows.

Really nice house. You could remove (but not discard) the existing mantel and live a while without, taking the time to consider all your fireplace options, including a more bulky but less wide mantel that is a part of a fireplace surround. (The current mantel could be reused as support for shelving or a new mantel.) Would not paint or widen the existing built ins Would not paint the wood around the cased door opening to the entry unless you do decide to put white (or wall colored) built ins on that wall incorporating the tv behind where the floor lamp now stands (third pic). If you do keep the built ins beside the fireplace their current wood look, then definitely leave the baseboard the treated wood to match the built ins. If you paint the current built ins white, then paint the window trim white, too; however, otherwise, if the current built ins are going to stay wood as is, you could decide to paint the window trim white only if you're not going to add drapes that would cover most of the window frame anyway. Would definitely paint the trim at the top of the wall the wall color since ceiling white could visually shrink the height of the room. As you consider wall colors, in addition to considering blue or gray, you might consider a wall color that is a tan (but without pink or yellow hue) such as the lightest color in the stone in the fireplace -- and keep the ceiling white. If you paint the new built-ins surrounding the tv either white or a light wall color, you should seriously consider updating the ceiling fan with one that is silver metal and tinted semi-clear plastic/vinyl blades. As to the front porch, does any part of the floor of the existing stoop extend beyond the front wall of the house or do the steps start as you walk out the door (as the sloped rails suggest)? Something you might consider is building a treated lumber deck over the steps from the front wall of the house to the sidewalk from a point midway between the door to the right front corner of the house, with wooden steps leading from the side of that deck to the sidewalk and having it built with posts extending above the deck for the railing and to build to in order to add a porch roof later.

Some things for you to consider: Though it might be irrelevant at night ... How much natural light is in your room? How much bright light do you need? Are you adding side tables and lamps to the furnishings in your room? Found this but it may have been written to SELL high hats: "A common rule of thumb is that you use one recessed light for every 4 to 6 square feet of ceiling space. Doing so provides even, overall illumination. This is an important rule to keep in mind when you are going to rely exclusively on recessed ceiling lights to illuminate your kitchen." https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+high+hats+per+square+foot+of+ceiling Not sure the same formula would apply to a living room or if ceiling fan lights are to be left. If you do choose to have a pair of ceiling fans with your high hats, I'd think you'd want smaller ceiling fans -- lights with shorter blades ... but, again, I'm not a pro. If you choose to have two ceiling fans, I'd think the most you would need would be seven: two rows of three high hats evenly spaced -- a row on each side of the ceiling fans -- and, perhaps ( or perhaps not), a seventh high hat in the center between the ceiling fans. This ceiling omits the high hat between the ceiling fans but does not appear to be as long a room: https://www.wolberg.com/2016/07/12/a-good-time-for-a-ceiling-fan/ Also found these -- likely made with selling more high hats in mind: https://www.google.com/search?q=13.5%27%20x%2016%20%27%20living%20room%20with%20two%20ceiling%20fans%20and%20high%20hats&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACcuGgQZiRfKgYUchvFzs69As&client=firefox-b-1-d&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQuIIBahcKEwioks2liOXqAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQDA&biw=1349&bih=654