Having the white and black in the kitchen will allow you to decorate using virtually any color.
What is the flooring going to be, and will it be the same in each room?

Well it helps to know what style you are drawn to and the style of the house. You don't have to, but many people like to decorate in the traditional colorway of a particular style. If for you example your home is arts and crafts, you might like that style furniture (Shaker style cabs would fit in this style which is why I mention it) and would pull from Arts and Crafts colors.

On the other hand if your home doesn't have a strong particular style and/or you aren't tied to one, then inspiration can come from anything and it doesn't even have to be something you use in the room or home. For bedrooms I always find the bedlinens and use those for inspiration for the rest of the room - patterns and colors on bedlinens are the most limited and difficult to choose where as finding drapes and paint colors to co-ordinate is easier. For other rooms, again look for what is the most difficult item to find - maybe a rug to start off the room. Other sources of inspiration could be a painting, fabric, table cloth etc.

For the main part of my house I'm using fabric which will become decorative pillows in my living room. While the pillow fabric will only be in my LR, it is influencing choices in the powder room, LR kitchen ceiling color and FR.

A good inspiration piece offers not only excellent choices for colors that play nice together, but also the feel and style you're looking for and a direction for pattern and texture.

Good luck with your new house - it's always exciting to move into a new house.

Sky

Thank you for responding! The flooring will be hardwood (Brazilian cherry? Walnut? You get the picture) in the kitchen/breakfast noon, and then carpet in the family room and bedrooms. It will be some sort of a neutral frieze style carpet.

I am naturally drawn towards cream furniture...I have an almost-two-year-old. Am I just asking for spills? Plus, does the cream go with the stark white of the kitchen, or would I be better off doing a deep leather? I also love the look of the darkest brown leathers, but cost (of course) is a factor.

*sigh*

Like OS mentioned, finding the style of your house will help lead you to the right colors. I am collecting fabric swatches to find one or more that will lend to the decorating colors throughout the house, but they will start with the great room. I just told a friend of mine, with the number of 2 yrd. pieces I'm collecting I'm going to have quite a collection of pillows. LOL

What I do is go online to different fabric stores and order samples. Some actually send samples free, others for a minimal amount of money. This journey has led me in a few different color directions, but I always end up coming back to my original choice, kind of a modern country style that includes yellows, blues, browns, reds, greens and gold.

Carolinachair.com have a wonderful array of fabric samples, some are free and others are $3.00 each. I think I've ordered just about every color fabric they offer. I've decided they are the ones I'm going to let make my sofa using one of their microfibre fabrics. Even if you don't buy a sofa from them you may want to order some samples just to help you along in this journey.

Go to the BH and Garden web page. I think House Beautiful is another. I think they are the ones who have tons of photo's of different style rooms.

If you chose material for the sofa you might want to consider microfibre as it's very kid and animal friendly, i.e., resists spills and cleans up easily. I believe it's a lot less expensive then leather.

You could also go online to Art.com and see if you find a print that you really like. It's colors could lead your selections also.

Is the great room finished as far as drywall, yet? If you could, post a photo for us so we can get a feel for the room.

Good luck. Keep on posting so we know how you're coming along.

Are you buying all new furniture or just a sofa?

If you need to furnish the entire room, I would urge you to enlist the help of a decorator. One of the furniture stores, such as Ethan Allen that can help you pull fabrics together.

Starting with a blank room, if you've not been down that road before can be overwhelming. Many of the stores have computer programs that can place fabric choices onto the piece you're considering. There's also more to choosing fabric than just what you like. For ex. some sofa lines will take certain patterns much better than a stripe for instance. This was pointed out to me by the decorator on a sofa I was considering. Once the fabric was placed on the frame (on the computer) it was clear one style fabric worked, while another did not.

Have you snooped around at the pictures in our gallery? There is a lot of gorgeous eye candy there to use for inspiration. If you close this thread and then look up near (but not at) the top you'll see a link to the gallery. There are some great posts there with color names on them, like Reds, Greens, etc. That refers to the wall colors and a lot of different rooms are pictured along with the paint colors used, and some stunning furniture is pictured too. You may find some inspiration rooms there that will give you a good direction.

The green gallery is my favorite. Lots of great pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green gallery

Is there furniture you can move in with temporarily?
I am a firm believer of living in a space first before you make any decisions on furniture. It's not just inspiration that is needed, it's feeling for your living space.

Shaker kitchen cabs can go in many directions style wise, contemporary, transitional, traditional, art deco, retro, and arts and craft. Have you decided which way you are heading with them? You have an open slate.

If you must buy furniture beforehand, I would advise the use of a decorator/designer. A good one will talk to you and get the feel for your style (even when you don't know), what you needs are for the room, and make sure you get properly scaled furnishings.

I just used one for the first time in our new house and was very thankful. I had decided not to use an Ethan Allen or Thomasville person because I did not want my room designed around their furniture. I wanted furniture designed for my room. The cost probably came out close to the same and all the furnishings I purchased through him were made in the US. We worked really well together.

You don't have to buy everything at once, if you like what they offer. They will work with whatever budget you have.

You can also hire a designer for just a room lay out. It's well worth the $$.

Start collecting pictures and photos of rooms you like from magazines and websites for ideas. Also, visit Ethan Allen, their stores are decorated nicely for ideas. Check out Calico Corners if you live near one.

Most people on this site have portfolios of inspiration. It's not something someone can give to you. They will share but furnishings are very personal.

Thank you all for your responses. I'm leaning more toward hiring a local decorator for some much-needed help. I am already overwhelmed, and we don't even have drywall up yet. My DH is working more electrical stuff today and hopefully the plumber will be finishing up soon. Here's a picture of where (eventually) the living room will be :)

We have more done than is in this picture, but it is so dark in there when I get home to take pictures, that this is the only pic you can really see the shape of the living room. Here, I am standing in the kitchen looking out.

And here's our view:

And kitchenkelly, nice to see you over here! You inspired my kitchen, now I might have to steal your ideas for the rest of my home! :) I think I remember at one point that you were going to paint the whole first floor one color, correct? The Divine Moss?

Again, thanks everyone for responding!

Your view is stunning! You might consider using that as an inspiration!

Hey kbmas0n, I am over here alot. I have received lots of help from the lovely people here for my family room and front entry. (My house wouldn't look half as good without squirrelheaven, les and lindybarts. Oh and that igloochic.)

I am soooooo jealous of your view.

And yes, I paint my whole first floor the Moss. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

As far as inspiration, I spend a small fortune on magazines. I find what I like and copy it.