I think you are doing the preferred way...it's more difficult to match granite to a paint chip (as you said) than the other way round.

However, I tend to do things more like your friend. LOL I find a detail I really like and then pick everything else to match with that. For instance...this is what I want for my kitchen backsplash tile. Once I found it, it determined all my other choices and influences the rooms around the kitchen. {{gwi:1448093}}From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

It sounds like the piece that you designed everything else around is your 'amazing custom cherry table that your Dad made' which sounds beautiful! That determined your granite, cabinets, flooring...so I guess in a way, we both chose a different approach :)

Before and during construction I built a design plan in a binder. We decided how we wanted the house to feel and its overall style then I wrote a general description. I then planned and described each room, deciding how each would relate to the whole. So furniture style, wall colors, floors, etc were all decided before we started decorating. The plan was flexible but it made shopping for furniture, accessories, paint etc very easy. Although each room has its own personality with some quirky touches and whimsy, I think the home has a cohesive character. All we had to do was ask ourselves if the item being contemplated fit the concept described in the binder so we never went off track. Looking through the binder now, 6 years on, it strikes me how remarkably close to our original vision the house became.

In answer to your specific question, sometimes the inspiration for a room would be a fabric then paint etc followed, sometimes the inspiration would be a lovely paint color or a rug, but always the choices were referenced to the original plan.

Paint last because it is easiest to match/coordinate with other choices.

Our builder uses a design consultant and a design center where the buyers go and select their materials. I chose a paint color (SW Macadamia) and a granite (Santa Cecilia) before meeting with the designer. I walked in for our consult and the designer had a selection of granites out on the table---apparently to encourage the granite choice first. I showed her the granite we had chosen and she saw right away that the paint color we had chosen was too "green" to go with the granite we had selected. She pointed out a warmer, darker (SW Latte) paint color (saved me from a disappointing paint choice. I probably ever after would have wondered why things just didn't quite work well together.) We already knew generally what we wanted in cabinets (Merillat Alder Sedona). From there, we made the flooring and bathroom counters and the paint trim color (SW Softer Tan). I guess it all flowed from the granite choice...But I think choosing your colors around a precious keepsake like the table your dad made you makes the best sense and I would have done the same. You'll have that table forever!

We had to build the whole house around the table! It's a square table that seats 8, but when you open up a leaf folded under each side it becomes a round table that seats 12. It really is a precious keepsake. :-)

Gone south
Pictures of that table please!! It is exactly what I'm tring to describe to my husband. I have a thing for tables that morph (gateleg etc) Sorry for the drift.

Oh yeah
Paint comes last -- when you put it on the walls in the room where it will live you may decide to change it because one color looks better this time of day vs another due to lighting (think dining room for that table) and you really use it more for evening dinners for example.

I guess it all depends on if you are choosing neutral colors for your tile, granite, etc. I am big on neutrals for the permanent, non-changeable things like tile and counters... then any paint color can be used anywhere in the house. But if you are choosing to go with colored counters, tiles, etc. then it would certainly help to know what paint color you are using.

Ppbenn, I'm travelling. It will try to get table pics up shortly.

Paint last. Point in case:

I've decided to change my current bedroom paint color and want a deep teal blue. Looked at swatches; picked my favorite and then thought..."I hope I can find a bedspread to go with this." So I shopped around and finally found one I liked, bought it and brought it home. Then I was stumped as to the right shade of teal. Everything I chose made the pale teal background look dirty. Then I took it in my daughter's beige room...and the colors POPPED. No dingy looking spread. I found teal curtains to go with it...one was BB&B and the other JC Penneys. I've yet to paint the room...need to get the 80's border off the top first; it gets bumped to the bottom of my "To Do" list.

So I'll find my bed linens and match my bedrooms to them. I made that mistake in my current living room--painted, then had a hard time finding the right sofa.

BTW, the deep teal paint will go in the master bath.