I would definitely do lighting that includes uplights to light the ceiling. Look at houzz.com and you'll see cans attached to the beams, or cable lights that run parallel to the beams. You want the lighting to be most obscured, and put it on dimmers so you can control the amount of light you get. Think about cans in the ceiling carefully as they can be very energy inefficient. [Traditional Family Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2107) by Seattle Architects & Building Designers jARCHITECTS: Jim Rymsza, AIA [Contemporary Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by Ann Arbor Design-Build Firms Custom Design/Build, Inc.

I'll take a crack at this. You can do any color you want, of course. BUT when you go to sell the house, the real estate folks will most likely insist it be in a neutral. Two-story walls are hard to paint. So do you want to paint them twice? Or only once? I painted my entry (was off-white) a golden tan only a couple of years ago. Because it's two stories over a staircase in places, it was a horrid job. Now I am redoing my entry because of changes I've made, and frankly, I'm bored with that color. I'm painting it a flat pale brown, kind of coacoa au lait, with white wainscoting. Flat paint. Satin on the wainscoting. Why? Because I'm no spring chicken and I don't want to have to do it again in a few years to sell the house. Touchup will be enough work, thank you. Besides, I think it looks sophisticated. When I moved out of my last house it took me three months of work to turn it into "perfect for the market" because I'd put so much of myself into it. It was so not fun. So if you don't mind doing it twice, and/or you're going to live there a long time, go for it with whatever color you like. Otherwise, you might want to consider resale on the tougher paint jobs and "do your thang" on the easier paint jobs, eh?

Call me crazy, but if a house has a foyer that "feels more like a hotel lobby", you have other, much bigger problems -- like creating a warm and welcoming home. lindsey, I do know about cutting off the blossom end : ). As for shorter canning times, I was born a city girl and have always been nervous with recipes from family and friends with canning times considerably shorter than what district home economists, Ball Blue Book etc. recommend, which is usually 15-20 minutes for quart jars and no less than 10 minutes; my mother in law has been trying to convince me for 25 years that it's safe to chicken in a boiling water bath in a regular canner rather than a pressure canner, and I'm just not willing to risk it, esp when it comes to my husband and kids. We're also probably pickier about taste than some people -- for example, I used to process in the canner 1- and 2-quart jars of the apple cider we press every fall, but we realized we don't care for the "cooked" taste, so we freeze the cider now instead. Some people have wine fridges and we have a pickle fridge lol. And several chest freezers for cider, our own beef, chickens, turkeys, venison, fruit and vegetables! april, the chicks stay in the incubator in the house just until they're dry and then out they go. We don't always have helpful broody hens to do the setting for us so the incubator is a huge help.

You might post a pic of the wall with the window. On the wall above the door beneath the window, you could leave it blank, especially if you're adding anything to the wall to the right of the window (interior side of the window). If the blank part of the wall above the door actually disturbs you, might consider a pressed metal sculpture or something other than framed art -- if you find a piece that "speaks to you" . https://www.touchofclass.com/infinity-sun-wall-art-bronze/p/W842-001/?kc=DMFPFS8&code=DMF03&color=Bronze&size=&tid=DMFPLA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIv9LIv_fz6wIVQAiICR1bbQDrEAQYAyABEgIcg_D_BwE https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Branch-Sculpture-Rustic-inches/dp/B07WFZ2NMJ or add color https://www.amazon.com/Liffy-Outdoor-Sculpture-Colorful-Decorations/dp/B07Y7VVZK9 or reflects a personal interest https://www.google.com/search?q=pressed+metal+wall+sculpture++music&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwibq4ew-PPrAhUZSzABHf38B4QQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=pressed+metal+wall+sculpture++music&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1DQ7QRY4PcEYOn5BGgAcAB4AIABcogBsgSSAQM1LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=xk1lX5uwHZmWwbkP_fmfoAg&bih=654&biw=1366&client=firefox-b-1-d