Build Smart, Renovate Right: The Right Design Decisions at the Right Time

If you’re building or renovating, what really saves you isn’t the big Pinterest board—it’s making decisions in the right order. You don’t need a design degree to avoid costly mistakes, but you do need a plan. A timeless, cohesive, and beautiful home starts before you ever pick up a paint fan deck. And spoiler alert — most general contractors aren’t going to guide you through this part. They’ve got framers to call and concrete to pour. That’s where someone like me comes in.

Every timeless home starts with a plan — and a whole lot of selections made in the right order.

We’re currently walking through another home build — this time for our son and daughter-in-law — but this certainly isn’t our first rodeo. After years of building and remodeling homes, we’ve learned exactly how overwhelming and fast-paced the selection process can be. With time and a whole lot of grit, it’s possible to figure it out on your own — but having someone guide you through it can make all the difference. So, I’ve pulled together these 10 design guidelines (in order of selection importance) to help you make smart decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and create a home that feels just right — both now and ten years from now.

1. Start with the Style (and Let It Lead)

   
   

   Design decisions should flow from the overall style of the home. A sleek modern fireplace in a traditional shaker kitchen is like wearing flip-flops with a cocktail dress — it might work for 1 out of 1,000 people, but odds aren’t in your favor.

   
   

   Think about it: is your home a cozy cottage, a clean-lined farmhouse, a modern Craftsman? Once that’s clear, everything — from your windows to your cabinet profiles, lighting, hardware, flooring, and paint colors — should support that identity.

Before you start picking finishes, it’s important to know the architectural style of your home. Whether it’s traditional, farmhouse, modern, or other, your style sets the tone for every design decision that follows. A clear style guide ensures your choices feel cohesive and timeless — from the exterior to the interior.

If you’re renovating, this applies double. That old honey oak trim isn’t going to magically look good next to waterfall quartz unless you plan for continuity. Fixed finishes need to relate. One of the biggest mistakes I see is people upgrading one piece (say, quartz countertops) without updating the surrounding finishes, which ends up feeling like the design equivalent of Botox on a dinosaur. Harsh? Maybe. But true.

Your home should feel cohesive, not like it was remodeled room by room in different decades. Every fixed finish talks to the next one — so let them speak the same language.

2. Exterior Stone, Brick & Windows: Set the Tone Early

These are big-ticket, immovable items. Sure, you can paint brick but it’s expensive, high-maintenance over time, and certainly not something you want to bank on doing right after closing. The undertones in the brick and stone will impact your overall goal and must be taken into consideration.

Don't underestimate the important of mortar and accompanying sand in between those hard finishes either. White sand and custom mortar colors cost more, but they can make or break your vision. You can spend hours agonizing over the perfect brick — warm but not orange, soft but not pink, classic but not Tuscan — and then slap a default gray mortar on it… and suddenly, the whole house reads cold, pink, muddy, or just off. The undertone shifts dramatically based on what’s around it, and that includes the mortar in between. Brick and stone are forever (or close to it). Mortar color is not a contractor’s decision — it’s a design decision. Treat it like paint, tile, or countertops. Because when it’s wrong, it can undo the rest of your beautiful choices.

Same brick, but a totally different look. The only change? Mortar and sand color. It’s one of the most overlooked decisions in exterior design — and one of the most important.

When it comes to exterior trim details, your trim color should typically match your windows or provide intentional contrast — not land somewhere awkwardly in between. Your soffit and fascia should then coordinate with that trim or windows themselves — so it all feels married, not like three relatives who don’t speak to each other. Exterior cohesion starts here and influences everything else inside.

Te color of your windows — especially if you’re using vinyl or aluminum — can seriously impact your future design decisions both inside and out. Whether you choose bright white, cream, taupe, or black, each one sends your home in a different direction and limits how flexible your interior finishes can be.

Speaking to the interior color of your windows since they are often the same color on the interior as the exterior if vinyl or aluminum, they should blend or, again, intentionally complement your trim, cabinetry, countertops, and flooring — not fight them. A bright white window will clash with creamy trim. Personally, I lean toward a soft white window color (like Sherwin-Williams Pure White or Benjamin Moore White Dove) because they offer a neutral, timeless backdrop that plays nicely with just about any palette. But the real key is coordination.

Windows and trim should always work together. Soft white windows create a timeless backdrop that blends seamlessly with surrounding finishes, while black windows demand more intentional styling. Notice how the black elements — lighting, art frames, and accent furniture — subtly echo the black window frames, creating a cohesive, pulled-together look.

Black windows? Beautiful, yes — but they demand a more specific look and can be tricky to dress without custom treatments (and some people prefer not to go bare). Black windows are absolutely stunning from the curb (modern, bold, high contrast) — but let’s talk reality for a second: on the inside, they can box you in. It’s harder to find window treatments that don’t look awkward or clunky against black frames. Roller shades are usually the only option that feels clean; drapery and blinds often add visual weight. And because black repeats itself so strongly, it tends to dictate your palette — pulling you toward decorating with black whether you intended to or not. Many designers leave them uncovered altogether, but unless you’re living alone or love flashing the neighbors, that’s not exactly practical.

 I don’t know about you, but I walk around in my robe—or let’s be honest, sometimes less — and I want some privacy.

So whether you go bold or play it safe, just make sure your windows are part of the overall conversation because they’re not going anywhere for a while.

3. Timeless Floors First

Floors are like the jeans of your home — they need to go with everything. That’s why choosing them early in the build is so important. Your flooring sets the direction of warmth and undertone for all your other finishes. Light to medium neutral browns are the timeless choice. Avoid orange-honey tones, cherry reds, charcoal grays, or anything that screams “trend of the year, regret of the next.”

Hardwoods are still the gold standard for a classic look. They’re pricier, but one big advantage is continuity — you can carry the same wood onto your stairs and handrails without second-guessing the match.

LVP and laminate are more budget-friendly and have come a long way in looks and durability, but they do bring extra challenges. If you’re mixing materials — say hardwood in one area and LVP in another — your goal is to make it feel like they were installed at the same time. That means not just matching color, but coordinating undertones.

Light to medium hardwoods are the blue jeans of home design—classic, comfy, and they go with everything.

And when stairs are involved, the complexity goes up another notch. Matching LVP to stair treads or blending different wood species isn’t impossible — but it does take skill. Real wood absorbs stain differently depending on the species, which means the same color can look completely different from board to board. This is where a specialist comes in — a painter or finisher who understands wood tones, stain blending, and undertones can work their magic to create a seamless, intentional flow instead of a patchwork of “oops, we’ll deal with that later.”

4. Coordinate Kitchen + Fireplace

The main thing to remember here is simple: your kitchen and fireplace need to flow together. Especially in open-concept homes, these two features are often visually connected, and when they clash — it’s obvious.

Nine times out of ten, especially if you have a traditional white kitchen, the best way to harmonize is with a classic white millwork mantle. It’s clean, timeless, and plays well with almost any cabinet style. It brings a softness and polish that heavy stone just can’t match in most interiors.

A classic millwork fireplace mantle paired with a timeless white kitchen—this is how cohesion feels. Both spaces speak the same design language: clean lines, light finishes, and subtle details that never go out of style. {Credit: Left and Right}

From our own experience: our current home has a beautiful stone foundation, and we carried that same stone onto the fireplace. While it is beautiful and a bit more rugged — just as my husband wanted — it doesn’t perfectly reflect the feel of the kitchen and overall design. The work-around is layering in décor elements that bridge the two spaces, tying the tones and textures together.

The lesson? Even when a feature isn’t a perfect match, you can still create cohesion by repeating materials, colors, or textures across both areas so they feel intentional and connected. A classic millwork mantle would have flowed more seamlessly with our kitchen, but this taught me firsthand that consistency matters.

This was a remodel—and like most remodels, some elements had to stay. But by repeating the wood tone from the mantel in the range hood and echoing the brick’s texture in the backsplash, we were able to create a subtle connection between the spaces.

The above image is a great example of how thoughtful finishes can bridge styles and make a home feel more cohesive, even when you’re working with existing features. Design is often about balance and working with what you have.

Oh! One more thing on fireplaces, please don’t pair a modern linear fireplace with a heavily paneled white kitchen. You’re just asking for design whiplash. This is where people mess up. They need to look like they’re in the same house. This comes back around to what is your house style; if your home is traditional, stick to traditional, with these major components of your home or whatever home style you have.

5. Countertops + Tile: Choose Early, Choose Wisely

Countertops and tile are best friends. They have to get along. Pick these before cabinets, before paint, and before lighting. Because everything else needs to relate to them. And when I say relate, I mean undertones. I discuss the four gradations of white in my blog post, "How to Choose the Right White Paint (It’s Harder Than You Think)." Along with my True Color Expert training with Maria Killam, she presents her color wheel which has become a staple for using with my clients in identifying undertones.

This neutral color wheel is a helpful tool I’ve used to better understand undertones — especially when choosing whites and neutrals that work with fixed finishes like countertops and tile. © Maria Killam – image used for educational purposes only.

An acquaintance once told me, proudly, that she had made all the design decisions herself for her new build still in progress — and then she showed me: dark brown (almost black) floors that fell in the green-gray category, maple cabinets, which pulled yellow-orange, she had already painted the walls a dark green wall paint that related to absolutely nothing as furniture had not been purchased, and then had no idea what countertop she wanted. It was undertone chaos.

The lesson: choose fixed finishes first — flooring, tile, and countertops — then layer in cabinets, stains, hardware, lighting, and finally paint. Get the order right, and everything else falls into place.

When it comes to kitchens, that means your countertops, cabinets, and backsplash need to be considered together. This is where timeless choices shine. White cabinets paired with a white subway tile backsplash have lasted for decades because they’re versatile and flexible. Trendy patterns or Tuscan granites, on the other hand, can lock your kitchen into a specific decade. Countertops may come first in the decision order, but the best ones will flow seamlessly with your cabinet and backsplash choices.

A classic white kitchen with subway tile backsplash is timeless for a reason. The clean lines, bright cabinetry, and simple tile pattern create a look that never goes out of style — fresh, versatile, and endlessly livable.{Credit:}

6. Appliances: Don’t Let Them Boss the Room

Stainless is still the most forgiving and widely accepted. Paneled appliances are the prettiest (and the priciest). Black and white appliances? Tread carefully. If you do black, repeat it somewhere—like black hardware or soapstone counters. White appliances? Contrast them with non-white cabinets so there is an obvious contrast more intentional. Don’t make them disappear.

And if you’re hanging onto an old appliance, tuck it away so it’s not stealing the spotlight. Some people say, "Oh I’ll replace the appliances later" — which is fine, just make sure the surrounding finishes don’t revolve around something that’s getting the boot in six months.

When it comes to appliances, stainless steel is still the gold standard for the budget—classic, cohesive, and versatile in nearly any kitchen design. For the most custom, seamless look, paneled appliances blend right into the cabinetry—but they also come with the highest price tag.

Both options work—it just depends on your priorities.

7. Hardware: Simple is Better

Feeling overwhelmed by all the decisions? Take a breath — when it comes to hardware, simpler is often smarter.

Pulls, especially oversized or heavy black ones, can quickly dominate a space if not balanced well with the rest of the design. I’ve seen kitchens where 4” pulls are placed on every cabinet door, and suddenly the room feels more like a hardware display than a home.

Too many varying sizes or shapes can also make the cabinetry feel chaotic rather than cohesive. That’s why I often suggest using knobs on doors and pulls on drawers — it’s a classic combination that works across many styles.

If you're running out of steam near the end of your selection process, there's nothing wrong with going with a simple knob. A timeless shape in the right finish can feel clean, polished, and intentional, and you can always swap hardware later if you want to make more of a statement.

The details make the difference. These classic cabinet knobs bring depth and character to painted cabinetry, proving that hardware is the jewelry of the kitchen. Choosing the right finish and shape can completely transform the look of your cabinets. {Credit:}

8. Plan Your Lighting Before the Drywall Goes Up

Want a designer look? It doesn’t start at the switch — it starts on the blueprints. Lighting isn’t just about choosing pretty fixtures; it’s about choosing them early, because your electrician needs to know exactly where the electrical boxes go — before the drywall goes up.

If you want sconces beside a bathroom mirror, or pendants perfectly spaced over your island, you’ve got to pick your mirrors and lighting layout in advance. Once the walls are closed up, you’re stuck (or you’re patching drywall and making calls you didn’t budget for). In a current Bee Cee build, we've already mapped out every fixture before framing is even finished. Each light has a basic slide for our electricians with dimensions, placement, and purpose — from chandelier height to pendant spacing to sconce centerlines and even the bulbs. This step eliminates guesswork later and ensures the lighting feels intentional instead of random.

Every light in our projects gets a detailed plan—dimensions, placement, and installation notes—so there’s no confusion on site. We even include clickable product links for bulbs and fixtures, keeping sourcing organized and making sure the exact items are installed.

Recessed lighting has its place — task lighting in kitchens, showers, or hallways — but you don’t need it flooding every room. Cozy living happens under lamps, sconces, and soft glows, not spotlights. In our last build, I did get my beautiful chandelier, pendants, and sconces, but I let the electrician do his thing a bit too freely with recessed lights and ended up with entirely too many which I rarely use — except in the areas mentioned above. Lesson learned.

And let’s talk bulbs for a second:

• 2700K warm white is your best friend—it’s cozy, not yellow, and flatters skin tones and interiors alike.

• 40–75 watt equivalents usually give you enough glow without glare.

• If you’re using clear glass pendants, which can be gorgeous, be mindful of bulb type—frosted bulbs or antique-style LEDs soften the light without blinding you.

• Shades are my favorite, but you don’t need them on everything. It's about balance.

The key? Plan your lighting with purpose—and do it before the sheetrock shows up.

9. Paint Comes Last (Yes, Last!)

The more selections you've already made — floors, countertops, tile, furniture, textiles—the easier and more custom your paint color choice becomes. Paint should be the supporting act, not the star of the show.

One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes is picking a paint color first and then trying to force everything else to match it. That’s backwards. Paint is one of the easiest and most affordable things to change — but fixed finishes like flooring and countertops are not.

For example, I chose Sherwin-Williams Stardew for my foyer after I chose the rug. The wall color was chosen to enhance what was already working, not to lead the design.

This is a project I designed earlier this year, and it’s the perfect example of why paint should always come last. Once the art, textiles, and rug were chosen, the right paint color practically picked itself.

Fixed elements first. Decor next. Paint last.

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10. Leave Room for Decorating!

This is where people blow it. They spend every penny on trim and tile and then sit on beanbags for a year.

Leave at least 10% of your budget for furniture, rugs, window treatments, and styling. These are the pieces that bring your home to life — and they also guide final color choices. That soft green-beige veining in your countertop? It needs to flow with your sofa. Pick those pieces early if possible.

Big pieces (sofas, drapes, rugs, and artwork) come right after fixed finishes in importance. They need to relate in undertones and complementary colors. These can help guide your paint decisions and all relate to one another.

Final Thoughts: The Trend Trap — Why Safe Doesn’t Mean Style-less

Let’s talk about the word "boring"—because somewhere along the way, it got a bad reputation in design. Homeowners are often on the hunt for that one unique thing that will set their home apart from everyone else’s. And while there's nothing wrong with personality, here’s the honest truth: that super-unique showstopper is often the very thing that feels dated a decade later.

And let’s be real — most people don’t have the time, budget, or energy to redo their backsplash every time Pinterest pivots. There’s a reason white cabinets and white subway tile have stuck around. They’re not boring — they’re timeless. Clean. Classic. Flexible. It’s the heavy black grout or geometric patterns that give them a trendy twist and that’s what tends to age quickly. Especially on the walls.

Here’s the secret: timeless doesn’t mean dull. It means versatile. It gives you a solid, neutral foundation so you can layer in the fun through the things that are meant to change —l ike rugs, lamps, pillows, art, and accessories. Those are the fun bits that add personality without requiring a full-on remodel when your style evolves.

So yes, play it “safe” with your hard finishes. Let the boring do the heavy lifting. It’s not a lack of creativity — it’s just smart design.

Trust the process, even if it doesn’t feel flashy right away. Future you will thank you when you're still loving your home ten years from now without feeling like it needs a facelift.

Timeless design = future you looking in the mirror like this.

Need help making the right selections in the right order? Let’s work together — virtually or in-person. I help homeowners create homes that feel pulled together, not pieced together.

👉 Link to our website: www.beeceeandcompany.com 👉 Link to our Bee Cee & Company blog: https://www.beeceeandcompany.com/blog