I was at a friend's house and they had a built in similar to yours. They had the TV on a sliding shelf in the built in and pulled it forward for viewing , but then had the option of pushing it back all the way and actually had doors that shut to hide it. That may be overkill to close doors to hide the TV, but it looks like you could have a retractable shelf in your built in for the TV. Can you do without the loveseat in the room? I think the loveseat interrupts your flow into the room, both physicially and visually. Instead, how about moving the chaise where the loveseat is and maybe getting a nice upholstered swivel chair to put over on the fireplace side which could be turned to face the TV or the fireplace. It could be placed close to the couch and angled in so it doesn't block the fireplace. Or, if you aren't set on having a chaise, an upholstered swivel chair could be placed on either side of the couch-nothing too big. That would leave the entryway less blocked. I think that would made the room look larger. I really like to look into a room and see an unblocked expanse of floor all the way to the other end, if possible. With a chair on either side of the couch with a small table between each chair and the couch, you'd only lose one seat from what you have now. If you really want something to recline in, consider a smallish lazyboy for one of the side chairs. We love our leather lazyboys. Also, I would move the grouping as far back toward the breakfast nook as possible. I love the built ins, the fireplace and the glass doors out to the deck. It's going to be lovely when it's all furnished.

As a wedding photographer myself, I have to agree with Tess. I understand the initial desire to have the digital negatives or the film negatives to make your own prints. However, there are some thing you need to understand before doing this. 1. No one works for free. If a photog is giving away a CD of images, you can be absolutely sure that you are paying for them someplace else, like in the upfront fees. Wedding photography is a business, like the limo service, the cake, the DJ service. It's all calculated and any wedding photog who's making a living won't be giving away his/her work for free. 2. Some of the photographer's costs to take into consideration; $15000 equipment taken to the wedding. $3000 editing machine at home, equipment and liability insurance. HOURS and HOURs of processing your photos AFTER a 10hr day of shooting. ...many more hours processing print orders and albums. AND equipment takes a TON of abuse at a wedding This very expensive gear can need replacing upgrading every 18 months or less!!! 3. Hours before wedding charging LOTS of battery power, cleaning equipment, etc. 4. Web space and site fees (can be very expensive). ...poing being; good photographers are not making as much as you think they are when you first see their prices. Many are just scraping by. If a couple really want the digital negatives to their wedding, I'm certainly willing to build that into my pricing and give it to them. It saves me a lot of time later to do it this way and I have the money upfront! ...BONUS! BUT, here's the kicker for me. A good print is only as good as the lab printing it. My equipment is all calibrated to match my printer. What is seen on my monitor is what the final prints WILL look like. If you take a CD of my images to walmart and get prints made, I can personally guarantee that they will not match colors, aspect ratios, etc. You aren't going to get a professional print. Then a couple takes those washed out, odd-cropped prints home and show their friends/family and there's my advertising. ...not professional. This isn't the market I want to cater to. Additionally, when digital negatives come out of my camera, they have received no processing. They are flat, unsaturated, unsharp, etc. I choose to do ALL of this processing in post, as to provide the highest quality final image. What you are paying for to have me shoot your wedding day is my time and talent as a photographer. When you order prints from me, I build into that cost, the extensive time it takes me to post-process all those images, to calibrate my equipment regularly to match my pro labs printers, to resize your prints for the sizes/ratios you order. In the end, this is how you end up with a killer product...not a kiosk-printer's rendition of my work. So, if I'm going to give away a CD of negatives, they are going to be just that...the negatives, having received none of this processing. In short, the prints from this CD are not going to look the way you want them to. I think, as a Bride/Groom, what you really need to do is decide what your ultimate goal is. Do you want cheap prints that you can pass around at will and do what you want with? OR do you want a professional, high-quality collection of memories from your most-important day? Ultimately, the answer to that question should help guide you to the right photographer. Talk to your photographer before hand. UNDERSTAND what you're getting, what your not getting and why. I spend hours with my potential clients doing this. If a B&G are not a match for what I offer, I have no problem being upfront about this and it always works out best for both parties in the end. Ask questions and get answers. If you don't like the answers move on to another photographer...BUT realize that it doesn't do anyone any good to complain about prices, not getting certain shots, not getting a certain style, etc... after the wedding. You should be absolutely confident in these things before putting down your deposit. Some other questions to ask yourself when considing asking a photographer to give away his/her work: -Will you ask the pastry chef to give you the top tier of cake for free? -Will you ask the limo driver to give you the last 1/4 of the trip for free? -Will you ask the reception venue to give you the back 20 tables/plates for free? -Will you ask the bar to give away spirits when you only want to pay for free beer? -Will you ask for 25% off of the dress or 3 of the tuxes for free? Wedding photographers are professionals too. They deserve to be paid for their work. Like Tess said, if professional images are not worth paying for to you, then you always have uncle Bob's and aunt Suzie's point-n-shoot images. A good wedding photographer WILL work with you and get you a wedding package that you love and that they can provide and still feed the family. I know I will. What I won't do, is give away my work or pretend to be able to provide something that I really can't or won't. Honesty is the BEST choice...always. -daniel

I cannot imagine watching TV in that position - I would put the TV in a different room. Otherwise I would put one sofa facing the TV with a sofa table behind it in the middle of the room, and have a conversation area behind that sofa. We have two lounge chairs facing our TV, and we moved our sofa (which no one uses) to a wall perpendicular to the TV. We have speakers for surround sound placed so that we will get the optimal effect in the lounge chairs. I have a TV in my bedroom, and I have to turn my head to one side to watch it, which I do not like, but I only watch it for 30 minutes to one hour in the morning and never in the evening.

You might check out ruggable.com for the wine area - washable for spills. Perhaps the colors from your art pieces would be good in the rug and pillows. Since the wine are seems quite dark, look to add brighter colors there. Do you plan/have window coverings for the sliders?