What a timely post for me! My DH and I just retired, sold our large and primarily formal home in two weeks and then moved several states west to be closer to family. We have been house hunting the past two years during visits to this area. We have finally decided to custom build a small home, but highly functional for the way we live. We are also making modifications for our continued aging in place. We almost bought a much larger home with a formal dining room but I just could not see myself using that space. It was nice to have while my daughter was growing up but I really do not wish to have a dedicated formal dining room. I do plan to use my formal dining room furniture on a daily basis. It was my grandmother's and I know she would be happy to know it is being used. I will also have the kitchen island to use for breakfast and snacks. We do not have a lot of family left so small is okay for us. At least, I hope so. I keep on second guessing myself thinking maybe I should have gone with the bigger house that my husband liked. My new home will have a combined living/dining/kitchen area. I hope I will like that. I am excited that the house we are building has a laundry room with a door into the master bedroom closet. You can go from the yard into the laundry room on into the closet and then directly into the master shower. We both enjoy gardening and this is just a handy set up when you work outside in the yard. I am planning on having this whole area including the closet tiled. The rest of the home will be the wide hickory hardwood floors. I live in Texas and it is hot here more often than it is cold so the tile floors will be cool and easy to care for. I am just hoping I will be happy in a much smaller space. I sold a lot of my furniture before the move and I do not miss it. The last few years we lived in the big house, we never used the upstairs. We did all of our living on the main floor and it was quite comfortable. DH and I only have one grown daughter and she has not lived near us in years. We have no grandchildren either and very few family members left. I lived in the Atlanta area when they had a terrible drought several years ago and just could not bring myself to use the whirlpool tub knowing I was wasting precious water. I am trying to be very aware of my water usage since I am in another state that has been undergoing a drought. I hope I will be making a smaller footprint with this retirement home.

Hi jmcgowan, Can't wait to see your F&B Pointing painted cabinets. Pointing was one of our top choices -- such a beautiful color! Our kitchen isn't that big by kitchen standards these days (it is 274 square feet). So the calm continuity of the same color on cabinets and trim works well in our ''smaller'' space. In general, however, I do like the play of different shades of white layered together in a room. So I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with picking a different white for the trim. In some cases it might add the depth or slight contrast that the room needs. My sense from your drawing is that your kitchen is quite a bit larger; perhaps that is why your architect thinks that in your space having different trim and cabinet colors will work well. I'd encourage him to tell you a bit more about his thinking on this. Again, he may well be right. In any case, once your cabinets are installed, if you decide you want to match (or not match) you can make that decision at that time. As for the counters, we had some rough ideas about what our counter top colors/material might be before we ordered the paint color for our cabinets; but we didn't know for sure. That was a bit of a gamble.

Hi. I have a sort of odd question. I recently purchased a drum chandelier with a fabric shade. It holds 3 60w bulbs and is open on top with a glass diffuser on the bottom. Though I love the look of the chandelier itself, I am not crazy about the way that it reflects a lot of light off of the ceiling. I guess I prefer the look of more downward directed light. I got a great deal on this light and hope that I can find a way to make it work. Would it be possible to use some sort of opaque material to cover the top so that all off the light is reflected downward? I’m not sure what type of material I would use, but it would have to be heat-proof of course. Would doing this create too much heat inside of the shade? The sockets are labeled 550W And I’m using LEDs.

I would continue with China White. In my experience, the surfaces of the ceiling and the crown molding change as the materials acclimate to their new environment. You will be more happy if you don't see those differences.