I haven't read all the posts so if this is a repeat of what's already been said I apologize. Have you tried changing out your lighting to reveal bulbs if you don't have them already. They can make a huge difference in how a paint color looks. Just recently my reveal bulb in my pendent in my kitchen burned out and all I had on hand was a daylight flourescent. I like those bulbs and have them in my lamps. However, when I put this one in my pendent in the kitchen it turned my walls a muddy ugly color. I had to immediately take it out as it made me ill to look at my pretty walls so ugly. Needless to say the nest day a reveal went in. Also do you have items in the room yet or are you just judging the paint by itself? Furnishings and other decor can make what you think is an ugly paint look very good. Not sure if this is the case with yours but thought I would mention it. Good luck and I know how you feel, been there, done that to the tune of $100 in paint and many wasted hours.

Wow everyone, thanks for the input and the compliments, we are at that stage where we are just tired of remodeling, even though we are in the home stretch, so it's really nice to have positive feedback! Suero and Justgotabme, I really am liking the idea of the pergola it's something I hadn't really considered before. Thanks Suero for trying the cedar shakes on the gable ends, I'm sure it didn't do much since it just accentuates the low slung roofline and that's something we'd like to down play. Oceanna I completely understand what you are saying about painting. We do have a really good painter who has done work for us for years and is very reasonable so I could ask him what he would charge. Scoobyruby I hadn't thought about natural wood like cedar, I may have to think about that one, if we don't choose to paint the brick it could be really complimentary to the tones of the brick, but less cottage like I would guess. Socks and Megsy it's good to know that we don't *have* to paint the brick since it appears that people on here don't hate it, which is great. I do think better landscaping and shutters would go a long way in making things look better. I had to laugh at the white shutter/white sock analogy, we think they look like white socks too! :-) Kitchenkelly, I have long admired your kitchen and your photos of your backyard so your compliment really made me smile! One of the best parts of my job as a writer is that I've been privileged to write about some amazing homes, both large and small so I've been filing away ideas for a long time now. My husband loves my job and hates it all at the same time. I do a lot of designer and renovation homes so I come home and say things like "hey we can take that wall down!" When he gives me the "no we can't" look, I simply say, sure we can I've seen it done! I'm amazed each time I do a renovation story, I've found over the years that most of the time it's the homeowners with the vision. Few, if any, of the homes I've covered used high powered design or architectural firms to create their dream homes, most of them, like me, have just had a picture in their heads that they are lucky enough to make into a reality! I'm not knocking either designers or architects, if my MIL hadn't had either she would still be trying to make decisions and with their help she and my FIL have a lovely home! And like it has been said before, good architectural plans can often save you money and give you a more sound structure in the end. My husband has been playing around all day with Photoshop Elements to try and color the house, we just need to figure out how to import BM or SW paint colors, so far all he's been able to apply are crayola primary colors lol! Kat :)

I haven't read all of these messages. But I have to tell you that I grew up in a home where my step father treated us like DIRT! Kids were to be seen and not heard! That was his favorite line! At 16 I was ready to move out on my own. Life was horrible. I got NOTHING- yelled at, told I was lazy- you name it. I had to buy my own school clothes my own everything. He controlled the whole household. I never got a kind word spoken to me, never a praise, never a pat on the back. No help for college. NOTHING.... He had his own two kids, to this day he still supports them. They are both lossers. But those two kids got anything they every wanted. I didn't want much REALLY As hoaky as it sounds, I just wanted a dad! Someone I could call dad again- not Phil. I was about 12- had lost my dad two years previous. I missed my dad- I missed my family- we moved out of state. It was a sad childhood. My mom was the calming force. She kept the peace. But it wasn't enough. The constant stress from the day to day living with this man. I stayed out of the house as much as possible. I had a horse. I rode for hours. When that wasn't enough I found a boyfriend. At a very young age I became more 'involved' with my boyfriend then I should have. I worked, anything not to be home. I HATED it! As an adult I would wait for the man I was dating to turn into Phil. See, he wasn't always like he was when my mom married him. He was actually one of the nicest men I had ever met. Until the vows were exchanged. We weren't bad kids. We accepted him. He never could or would for us. I can't stress enough what your doing to your daughter. SHE WILL NEVER forget this. You are destroying her piece by piece. My advice is to leave this man. You will get over the loss- she just might never get over what he is doing to her! I know this man your married! Not in the literal sense, but I LIVED THIS...... I still think about my 'lost' childhood from time to time. But you know what, I BEAT him.... I'm succesfull! I'm happily married with two kids. I have a wonderfull relationship with my mom and brother. And my husband is NOTHING LIKE HIM! My mom left him about 6 years ago. Sad it took that long. My brother who was younger then me, lived with him from a small boy up. I see the horrible traits of Phil in my brother. My brother grew up thinking he was dumb. He drifted from job to job. NEVER a harder worker, but he had trouble reading and writing. So he'd drop the job as soon as more responsiblity was sent his way. It was sad.... He's just recently regained some of his self esteem. He's 29 years old! Took him all this time. He's found his place in life. So have I! Guess what! I can even eat food in my living room LOL.... So can my kids.. I'm sorry if this is harsh and I'm sorry it most likely didn't make sense. If it helps your 16 year old daughter then I'll sleep better at night.... HUGS to you and your daughter. Kristi

Lisa82, how nice of you to take the time to post the pics for me! I do like all three and especially like the middle one though I think her hair is long and she is pinning it up. You can see one long curl hanging by her earring. I have some dilemmas. First I have almost no brows so showing brows isn't working for me. My hair is so curly that if I had it cut that short I would have corkscrews all over my head and like Cattyles said, the models have great features. At 62 I can't think of one feature of mine that looks all that great. My eyes are still a pretty green color but no brows to speak of and while I don't have wrinkles I have a lot of texture to my skin. I really thought that letting my hair go curly was going to be easier and it really is but I never have a good hair day when it's curly unless I spend almost as much time on it as I do when I pull it straight. Yesterday was hair appt day. I wouldn't let my stylist do anything other than color and blow dry it because I go every five weeks and though my hair grows really fast she kept trimming off all the new growth. So one more five week period of letting my hair grow to see if I can get a prettier curl or next time it's getting cut shorter and I'll try to blow dry it as best I can. I do think maybe if I have it cut short and have less to deal with I may be able to start appreciating the curl.