"missingtheobvious", THANKS FOR THE REPLY. We're new to the forum. Your questions are great, so let me answer them. Also, we're out in the country on a 1+ acre lot, so everything you see, plus some, is ours. DIRECTION: The house faces due west, so what you see gets direct afternoon sun. SHADE TREES: We have definitely considered shade trees, probably a couple in the front yard to help with afternoon sun in the summer afternoons. We're open to any suggestions on numbers, species, and placement. STEPS ON LEFT: Those are going. They are an artifact from the walkway instillation. You've point our our laziness :). We want to landscape from there past the UGLY propane tank to conceal it. We actually thought about putting in a shadow-box fence to conceal it and the furnace. ON THE RIGHT. The out building is ours; it sits about 25 ft behind the parking area. We want to tie it in to the steps on that side of the house. There is a change in elevation between the pad and the stairs we're scratching our heads on. We had some ground work done, so the green you see is ryegrass to hold onto the soil until we can landscape. STAIR RAIL: Yes you are right. Along the lines of the previous statement, we're going to tie it into the parking pad, maybe with a river stone walkway, and a walkway to the back. PROPANE TANK: It is horribly ugly. We have to do something to conceal it. Thanks again to anyone and everyone that can give any advice. We've been staring at it for the past ~4 months trying to decide what to do. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

I love your home and your furnishings! I could happily move right in. I have some thoughts about what I might do in the space, so I am going to throw them out at ya. Keep in mind that of course how things appear on a computer screen might be very different than how they are in real life, and most importantly, it is YOUR home and you have to live in it the way it works for you. What I see now is a living room in which almost everything furniture-wise is on the same 'horizon', except for the one secretary(?) or cabinet. All the color, all the warmth, all the interest, is pretty much at the level of the back of the seating or below. The room doesn't feel warm because from about waist height up, you have plain white walls and white drapery. The second thing is that you have all kinds of interesting chests and cabinets around this room, in your hallways, and in your other rooms that we get a glimpse of in this thread. But they are just stuck one per wall section around the room - no connection, no relationship, and no real sense of purpose. The third thing is that the arched window that you say you love, that has a good view, instead of being featured, is blocked by the largest seating piece you have. So, here we go. I would like to see the couch facing the arched window. Opposite it, centered on the arched window, the mission chair and ottoman by the fireplace, the butler table moved in between, and the rocker on the other side. Or, face the couch to the fireplace, and put the rocker on one side of the fireplace, the chair and ottoman on the other. If you do that, consider turning the rug so the long side runs parallel to the fireplace. In fact, you could try that with either seating arrangement. I would love to see an iron coffeetable, or something with a copper hammered top, and round, if you still want a coffee table. I think the butler table could sit nicely with all sides up or down by the chair near the piano, if you don't use it between the chairs in front of the arched window. I would move the piano to the end wall opposite the fireplace. Place the upholstered doggie chair next to the piano, on the side closer to the corner. Put the floor lamp between the chair and the piano so both can benefit from the light, and you can create a nice reading space there, removed a bit from the central seating. Since you have so many cool chests and cabinets, I am wondering if you have two that would fit in the arched window niches on either side of the fireplace? They don't have to match, just compliment one another. A pair of low bookcases would work, too, but you seem to have chests around that could work and not cost a dime. I would think about getting rid of the curtains in those niches, and replacing them with wood blinds or woven woods that compliment the wood tones in the room. The white panels don't do anything to make those charming window niches an asset, imo. If you had a chest or table that would work behind the mission couch, that would be great. A lamp there, a pretty plant, or a great piece of pottery. I would think about moving the secretary/cabinet to the entry or another spot. I don't think it works well in the space, and doesn't let that nice piece shine as it should. The white drapery wouldn't be my first choice, but it isn't bad on the arched window and the one opposite. Personally, I would rather have something with more color to bring the eye up in the room. Or, working-louvered shutters in a warm wood stain that could close over the windows or swing back against the walls on each side. The fireplace wall. I know the little niche is fun, but I am not sure it really works there. I would be inclined to add a thick wood mantel, at the height the shelf of the niche is, perhaps that could sit over that shelf lip and hide it. Then put a big piece of art or a mirror (which would bounce light around the room) that would hide the niche. That way, it would always be there down the road if you decided to use it. I would love to then see the area below the mantel in a tile, something with an Arts and Crafts design in some of the tiles, the rest just in colors. Be sure to leave the stairstep design around the firebox, tho. Then paint the area above the mantel in the same wall color as the rest of the space. As for the wall color, I would be inclined to keep it light. Something like SW Interactive Cream, perhaps. Then start looking for artwork to use over the piano, on the mantel, on the now empty wall spaces where the secretary and the chest on the opposite wall once sat, as well as where the piano was.

We sort of decided to wait for the perfect teak modular system to arrive in my province. And it basically never will. Poor me! But also I think I need something a little sleeker and more built in just because the dining room is a bit tight. Teak credenzas tend to be in the 18-22" deep category and I'd be happier in the 12-15" territory. There will always be SOME bottles on the bar thanks to my husband's notion of hospitality. I'm hoping to wean it down from what you see above. Having glassfront cabs should help in that regard. The shelf units are 25" high wi/adjustable shelf so they should be able to hold all liquor bottle heights. My dust level tolerance has gone WAY up since I got help around the house. We use the glasses fairly often. My tolerance below waist height is not good however b/c I have three furry cats. This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 18:14

I like SW Shoji White. Here it is in different lighting. In the fireplace picture below, the Shoji White is the lighter color of the triangle. The darker color around the triangle is SW Worldly Gray (they are on the same chit). The rest of the walls are Shoji. Looks great with grays and is warm. Your cabinet.