carson - we didn't build new but we did gut our house down to studs and plywood and moved out for the 6 months of construction. I don;t know what your GC provides in terms of those services. Our GC has a complete firm which includes project manager/interior design teams. The interior designer took control of the kitchen and house in terms of floorplan and size, floor colours, paint colours, choices in the bathrooms, etc. She moved some walls throughout the house and that was all included in our contract price. I knew the basics of what I wanted and she fine tuned it, shoved me out of my conservative box, and gave me a great basis from which to decorate. When we moved back in I was in the position of your third choice. I needed an interior decorator to finish with window coverings, accessories, some furniture choices, placement of art, and to tie the rooms of the house together. We found our ID one day when I was out for a walk with a girlfriend and we happened to serendipitously (no other word for it) walk by their studio. We had some consulting hours at our home and then they presented their ideas in a portfolio with their suggested samples (fabrics, etc) or pictures of suggestions. Sometimes, for example our bedroom curtains, they gave us two suggestions both of which would work but it depended on how much we wanted to stretch our decorating style. We stretched it big time. We made our choices and then they gave us quotes for the various items. We only changed one thing and that's because of cost and they found us something that was less expensive. So I think your choice needs to governed by how much will be done by the time you move in, how confident you are in your ability to make choices and how much support you have now in making choices..

Thanks for all the input. I still don't think I'm going to go for electric--I heat up about a cup of water every other day. I will check out the Revere, Chantal, and Le Creuset kettles. I found the Simplex online, and it was WAY out of my price range. I may go to Chinatown and look for the classic Chinese retaurant tea kettle touted in mtnrdredux's link (Top 10 tea kettles). Aliris19: That's why I need one that whistles. I also don't heat up that much water at a time, so it only takes a couple minutes--not enough time to wander off and forget it. Marcolo: Yes, most tea kettles steam when you pour, but the KitchenAid actually spattered. I had to have my daughter stand back 2 feet, and I always ended up with a puddle under her cocoa mug. I think it's a design flaw (neither of my other two recent kettles had this issue). My husband had a tea kettle when we got married that I used for many years. I don't think it was expensive, and it worked fine. No issues, no complaints. But he kept it when we separated. It just never occurred to me that I was going to be fussy about tea kettles, or that there was so much variation in them. Thanks again, all!

Wow lots of heated opinions! But thanks for sharing them! It's interesting to hear all the different thought processes. Olychic: Ouch! We are very good friends, I just tend to overthink things! And I'm also just ridiculously curious about how people think so it's sort of fun for me to hear all the different opinions. :) But I am super glad I just went with my gut. Anyway I just wanted to update you all. It all worked out much easier than anticipated. I asked her how the project was going and that got her talking about how the ID is now delaying the project by quite a bit and blaming her for bad communication....(smh) Anyway turns out she's already having second thoughts, so I didn't really need to say much. I just mostly agreed with her and threw in a couple of ideas too. She's going to try to somehow renegotiate. Hopefully it goes well! I'm grateful to everyone who posted. Thank you!

Thank you. I will consider making a more specific post and looking for help that way. This is just a picture for reference. The couches and tv will be staying otherwise all other furniture is going. A new front door will be coming.