Either B or C...we're not the cheapest house in the neighborhood but there are some that are significantly larger/more extravagant/ pricier than ours. The neighborhood began development about 20 years ago. The original builder is completing the development. We actually chose the neighborhood before we decided to build. We chose it for the school system (best in the city), location (very close commute to work, shopping, highway, etc), and the overall feel. When we walked around while shopping for houses, other people stopped us to introduce themselves and tell us how much they liked their house, neighborhood, and the builder. We also ran into about 7 different acquaintances that all lived there! We looked at another development that is newer but the houses all backed up to each other so the backyards were not private. That was a deal breaker for us. We couldn't find a house in our price range to buy in our chosen neighborhood, so we bought the last lot and are currently builder. So far, relatively smooth sailing.

There will be some changes. The top painted area stays. It looks pink in photos for some reason but it is actually salmon. The lower painted area (currently looks raspberry) will be painted a deep blue green. I will be adding trim and a new textured anaglypta border to separate the two painted areas. The trim can be painted any color; I will see how everything else looks before I decide on that. I was thinking a vanilla color but IÂm open. Adjacent rooms have a peachy white on the trim which goes well. Also in the room, which do not show, are 2 gold framed mirrors: a dusky antique gold. The buffet lamps are a silvery gold. Once everything else is done I can always add touches of whatever color is necessary to the mirror or lamps to tie them in better. Yet I didnÂt want an all gold chandelier. I had reservations about the shades too. I went through a LOT of choices, and many were more amber than these. IÂm thinking that this is something that does not photograph accurately when they are shooting catalog pictures. They need to show it lit, so have to put a low wattage bulbs in. A proper wattage bulb will show whiter. I noticed this and asked about it when I was still shopping locally. Most shades looked yellowish to me, but in the stores they were all using low wattage bulbs. I do like the style of the shades in #1. I noticed that the shape looks exactly like the shade in the second chandelier, which is from a different website. Yet the second one looks whiter. So the shades in the first one might look whiter in reality than they do in the photo. I never thought about rotating the table! I just placed it oriented to the long axis of the room. Yet with the furniture in there, the open floor space may not be rectangular. Something to try. You are right, that rug does not belong there normally! It goes in front of the outside door. But in winter we donÂt want salt/dirt on the good rug, so move a cheap expendable one into its place. Down the road we may get an oriental for under the tableÂor maybe not. The room is busy as it is.

Contract types are frequently interchanged on this forum but are essential to understand as one does not get to treat their build like cost plus in one aspect, and then treat it like fixed price in another aspect. Which is this contract? One doesn’t know for sure but can assume with allowances it is likely a fixed price contract, so in this instance, one is getting a price for the job, not itemized lists of costs. Fixed price contracts can and often do provide fairly detailed bids, but this is not the same thing as the builder opening his books to you. If you want that, then proceed with cost plus. On the topic of markups, expect to pay markup on cost plus or fixed price contracts, as the home buyer should and does on any product they purchase. Trying to remove half the materials from mark-up as frequently suggested on this forum is asking the builder to work for less amount with greater risk. More expensive and complicated materials are frequently more to project manage, more effort in labor and skill to install, and CERTAINLY more risk for the builder should some of these materials need replaced during the build or the warranty period. If one paid markup on $5,000 worth of counter tops but changed to $25,000 worth of counter tops with no additional markup, it’s easy to see how the builder is in a terrible spot if he had to replace $25,000 worth of counter tops on a $5,000 worth of mark-up fee. Simple math really. Mark ups never cover all the potential things that can go wrong in a build, but they are a way to manage risk, which is real in any build. Increasing risk and work load to the builder by adding lots of expensive and complicated materials to manage without correspondingly applying the mark up fee is essentially asking them to take more risk for nothing in return. Many, especially those with sound business sense, will refuse to do it, rightfully so.

ok, in my humble opinion, you have a lot of varied texture and finishes going on. I think between the polished fixture over the nook and the rustic fixtures over the island, your eye will not know where to land if you add another fixture to this space. I would not put two different pendants over the sink area, either keep all the 'kitchen' pendants the same or put to recessed lights over the sink. If it gets too busy it will end up looking like a mish/mosh of lighting. since you seem to have simple clean soft lines through most of your space I would not get carried away with too many lights. also as a side note the fixtures you have now probably give great lighting, the one you are replacing them with will not. Long and short: if you go with the heavy fixture from progress lighting I would nix the ones over the sink all together. but if you go with something a bit softer you could potentially mix it up a bit, as it is now with the two sizes.