I like your house ,,, nicely done!! As far as paint color, in my opinion ,,, the blue in your kitchen is a "bright" color whereas the sage color is "muted". If you took that sage color and turned it into a light lime green (think granny smith apple), then the colors would pop together (look at the inspiration photo of the spider plant next to the blue paint). For that blue ,,, I would pair with (in the same tone and intensity) lime green, yellow, tangerine, or crisp white. It really depends on how much color you want. I can see a yellow or tangerine in your dining room with those teal chairs, but I also like lime green. I would not go with tan, I would do a crisp white before tan, if I wanted to go neutral. A "tan" that would work with that color blue, I think might clash with your hardwood floors. With the hardwood floors and the mix of woods in that space (which I really like, by the way) I would put white on the walls and bring in color with accents (pillows, rugs, pictures). Also, what's up with the red room in the background? Do you like that room? Is that color staying? I really like your fireplace. Have you ever considered painting the brick? If you do go with a bright color on the wall, you might want to consider painting it white and leaving the accents black. Good luck ,,, can't wait to see the after pictures!! :)

Im back! Here we go with my progress so far... Room dimensions are: 13Â3"x 13Â3" (plus bay window alcove) and 9 ½ foot ceilings with the double-wide doorway into playroom, single door into dining room & single door into front hall (just to help with scale). This is the outside of the house Here is the round skirted table in the new location (haven't moved the mirror lower yet) I doubled the valance (as suggested) and the panels too. What do you think? The curtain/sheers colors look very funky here, but it is just the lighting at night with the flash! Should I get a smaller harp for this lamp so it is a bit shorter, or does the scale look ok? magnaverde, I think ceiling medallion is plaster, though definitely not original to the house (nor is the crown molding  karenn, great idea to update that to something thicker -- I hadnÂt thought of that). And youÂre right, they ARE super white. Honestly, I donÂt think they got painted after being installed (by the previous owners in the early 80Âs when the room was last redone). We skipped painting the ceiling in this room when we stripped the wallpaper & painted the walls (for time sake), but I will definitely add that to the list! The lighting fixtures look to me to be from the 40Âs or 50Âs maybe, and are just poor quality and not my style (matching chandy is in the room we use as our playroom right next to LR & I told DH we could keep that one if he letÂs me replace this one!). I really wanted a vintage crystal chandelier in this room (too much for DH), so the lamp with crystal prisms was our compromise. Ideally, I would like a bit more seating in this room for when we entertain, so more than 2 couples can sit comfortably, which is why I was thinking of replacing the 2 wood frame embroidered chairs in the bay window, but I didnÂt want to overwhelm the room with a loveseat. We went with a slightly larger couch than is probably "ideal" for the room, b/c this room is also used for family quiet time, so itÂs a great couch DH & me to snuggle up with the kiddos and read (and all 4 of us fit comfortably :) Here is a close-up with those chairs & the bolster - definitely a no-go: I do have 2 of these (currently) yellow chairs. If I painted the frames and re-upholstered the seats, would that work? I do like the idea of adding a large ottoman, which could also be used as seating. A little worried that the kids will use it as a jumping launch pad, so weÂll have to work on that! Wall with wing chairs has doorway to dining room to left (was hard to see in pics), so I actually canÂt move the table that was in the bay there, but have moved it out of the room, b/c I think it is too large to put on right side of couch. Here are what the different pillows look like. The tan ones that used to be on the couch look too big to me, but I like the zebra ones. Better than the bolsters? The artwork that is to the right of the couch is our ketubah (marriage contract) and is hand-done calligraphy and copper work, so I canÂt hang it over the radiator (due to heat fluctuations). IÂd like to keep in a prominent place in the room. Is there anyway to make it work on this wall? Can someone explain though why the 3 stacked smaller framed pieces donÂt work over the radiator? I thought they looked good there with the proportion & stacking, so tell me why I am off on this? Each are only 16 inches, and the space above the wing chairs is large and I think could handle a larger piece (4 feet x 3 feet)  I know it is hard to tell the scale from just viewing pics though. Thank you dilly-dally for the map suggestion. The one I have been looking at has a similar feel, and I hope the scale will be right for over the chairs. The single window is off-center, which has thrown me off as well, because I keep wanting to center the couch in front of it. The wall to the right is 4 feet, while the wall to the left is nearly 6 feet. I need to buy a decorative rod to try the hanging the panels farther from the window frame (currently on cheapy white metal-must-be-covered rods) and with the couch centered (if I leave the panels doubled in the bay, I will replace them here with decorative rod, no valance): And finally, below is a link to my finished kitchen post in that forum so you can get more of an idea of our style (it is a bit warmer now with accessories & valances added). Oh goodness, I have written a book. Thanks if you read this far!

I love the clean, uncluttered look of your home and you've made some great furniture choices. My first thought, though, is that I would try to rework the sofa/sectional placement. It really is unwelcoming looking to me to have the back where it is facing a wall, when it could be oriented to look into the room and out the windows. It seems like if it were placed in the corner under the stairs that it would feel open and invite you to come in and sit. I'd hate to be cooking in the kitchen and have the family or guests with their backs to me. If you are having a TV in another room close by, do you need one in that room, too? If, so placing a 70" unit will probably only work as you have it. But, to me, it's not going to look like a living room but more like a movie theater, which is fine if that's what you're going for. It seems like it won't be a cozy conversation area, though. I might actually flip the rooms and put the dining room where you have the sofa now. I was looking at lights used with dining rooms and ghost chairs and saw this, maybe would work in the living room? Kind of fun. don't know if it would look as good without the colored walls though. And I thought something like these were interesting to consider for over your table:

@ 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.