Beth, I have been so delighted and educated with all these posts. I love the evolution of your wonderfully charming home! You are an amazing woman! I share several of the decorating dilemmas you've mentioned. My "living room" is about 2' more narrow and 2' shorter than your area. I'm learning a lot from your post. The repurposed gun cabinet idea is absolute genius. Please share a photo when you've installed the shelves and contents. Regarding the non-glare glass for your larger artwork. The price of non-glare glass has become simply ridiculous. I have an entire hallway lined with (Gasp!) a family gallery wall. It includes photos from more than 100 years ago to this year's school pics of the great-nephew. Color, colorized, sepia toned, black and white, all mixed together and mostly in their original mismatched frames. That just about breaks all the rules, but I love my wall. Several of the older photos - Mom's 1954 graduation photo; MIL's 1952 wedding photo, etc. - had plain glass. I can't tolerate the glare either. I made a note in my iPod of all the frame sizes that needed replacement non-glare glass. Every time I'm at a thrift shop or yard sale I check out the "frames" area. You can often find large pictures that may be in horrid frames, but they will have non-glare glass! I buy the frame, take out the glass, and toss the rest. I found one very large print of ballet slippers framed with non-glare that was big enough to cut down into several pieces. It made one 8x10 and three 5x7 pieces of non-glare glass for my wall, all for $1. With their permission, I took the glass out at the shop, tossed the faded print, and re-donated the empty frame back to them.

Busybee, you are right, a more appropriate place for the DVD's would be closer to a TV, which is in the family room right around the corner. A re-do of that room is coming soon (which will be a whole new post), so the DVD's will probably stay parked here until then. But I like your idea of storing them in a basket or something similar. A thought *did* occur to me to transfer the discs to a CD holder (like what you might carry in your car), something nice, maybe leather-bound and looks like an old book. Like this one I found on Amazon: But would I *gasp* toss the plastic cases??? I just threw out a bunch of old plastic butter bowls -- oh, the waste... That wing chair is awesome, isn't it? Looks like it would be small enough to be comfortable as a dining chair, yet big enough to be comfortable for a few hours of studying, or even just reading. Re: retraining the family -- oh, my liver! LOL. You see those French doors across the foyer from the DR? What would it take to open the door and drop the backpacks there instead? One would think... But noooo, it's more fun to leave it one step inside the door, so one's parental unit can trip and break an ankle after coming home from a long day at work. :-O The lesson here is that my darling children will probably be off to college before they'll be trained enough to lift the lid on a storage bench. I've thought about it, and that's the conclusion I've drawn. A settee, however, is open underneath, and I can just kick the backpacks under it when I walk in the door. :-P Tablecloth and curtains -- I will probably need some serious help here. I should probably get the rug and chairs in place first, and then I'll solicit opinions on those accessories. I admit, I tend to put something up that I like, and there it stays for *years*. (Wait 'til you see the living room curtains...) It's time for a change. I like your ideas about floating shelves and using the wooden chairs to "bookend" the china cabinet. However, I like the china cab where it is because it looks nice through the window from the street. :-) (But I am always open to hearing fresh ideas!) Looking at my pics, it becomes glaringly obvious to me that the upper fourth of my walls are quite naked. I think the chandy that I've honed in on, however, will add some interest higher up. I thought this would coordinate well with the other wrought iron accessories in the room: It still has curves, but not all the scroll. I guess it just feels "old world" to me, which is why I like it. I wish my budget could keep up with my mind; this would be an awesome room already if it could! I work full-time in a male-dominated field, so I am sorely lacking in access to female opinions. It is so cool, being able to bounce ideas here.

Here's a thought: If your wood stove has a good viewing window, it would be wonderful to be able to sit on the couch and enjoy the fire. Fires are much more entertaining than t.v! : ) I miss relaxing conversations around the wood stove at our old house. (We have a wood furnace now, which is lovely for heat, not so much for ambiance.) This plan gives you a nice conversation grouping so that everyone can enjoy the fire while visiting. It also makes an entry of sorts, with a sofa table that could help hold items necessary by the door. It would be pretty with a matching pair of lamps on it. I'd love to see a simple chair, maybe between the corner cupboard and the garage door, for a place to sit while putting on or taking off shoes, but I didn't draw one in. Since you said tv watching isn't your main goal, I sidelined the television by the closet, next to the front window. If you get a wall mount unit, it can swivel out for watching a show, and then tuck back in unobtrusively when you don't want to focus on it. Below the tv could be shallower shelves that could hold books, cds, etc. Depending on the sofa table, some of these items could also go in there as well. The entire wall to the hallway is freed up for art. Maybe a gallery wall? Hopefully others will chime in with ideas soon. : )

I like Elizabeth's idea. If you decide to move the laundry to your coat closet, keep the existing supply and electrical lines in the garage for the future. If you decide to sell your house, you can always move the equipment back to the garage for staging. The realtor can let potential buyers know there are supply lines in the closet should the buyers want to use that arrangement.