Caroline "NOT" in the city....

Well my days of existing as a Manhattan city dweller are dwindling. (Ok, I am being a bit dramatic...I will only be 10 minutes across the river in Hoboken and still working in the city...but still)! Lauren from Pure Style Home inspired me yesterday by her posting, asking for help on her new home that she just purchased (congrats again!) and I figured I would do an SOS of my own. We close on 4/20 but I wanted to get some ideas before we actually move in for this old pre-war brownstone . Here are some pics of the new apartment as it stands now....
This is the living room looking on to the kitchen and the entryway. The room with the french doors (love!) to the left is going to pose as an office/den for the timebeing. We are also keeping the blue back tile in the kitchen...but getting rid of the blue island tile and putting a nice wooden tabletop for that partial island. (we are not really doing anything more to the kitchen right now...that will be a project for down the road).

This is the rest of the living room if you are lookng from the kitchen. This piece of furniture should be gone by the time we move in and we are building built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace and we are going to mount our flat screen on the fireplace (non-working). The bookcases are also going to come forward and hide the heating vent that covers the front of the brick (ugly!). It's a big open space but I need to figure out how to divide the room between a living room and little kitchenette/eating area. Since our kitchen is so small, I want to do something like this... (not properly sized but you can get the idea). Thoughts?

This picture does not include the bookcases that will be there...but you can get the jist... And I am thinking of painting the living room and very light blue (basalt from RL Paint) but I am stuck with the curtains for the living room...any advice!? Maybe a simple white like this from A Cup of Jo ?

Any ideas on colors for the kitchen curtain?? I love the exposed brick here and I am going to love to hang pots on those hooks above the oven!

Another view from the living room to the kitchen. Again, keeping the blue backtile but getting ride of the blue island tile.

Here is the view of the bedroom...I am thinking of painting the walls a light yellow and going with a light yellow/green theme in here. I love these curtains that I am 99% going to buy from Anthro for this room...like/dislike?

This hallway will not exisit anymore. We are pushing down this wall and creating another hallway from the entryway....kind of confusing but I will post pics once it's all done :-)

Our lovely backyard...lot's of potential! Any tips/advice/comments are welcome!! I'll be sure to post everything once it's complete - we move in on May 1 and it will probably not be all pulled together until at least the end of the summer. But a fun project none the less! :-) Thanks in advance!