I think a nice bookcase on that side in a color matching the mantle would be lovely. It would showcase that whole wall. Make it a little taller than the height of the mantle and put some greenery and vases on the top. I believe if you'd paint the white walls a color that would compliment the brick (pick out a medium color shade in the brick) then that whole fireplace angle would be softened.Good luck!

kmcg85 - omigosh, that floor mirror IS stunning and would be lovely but for two things, the $700 price tag and the 75 pound dog that would chase her ball into the room and run headfirst into the mirror. :) teacats - good point on the gold in the painting. The candleholders look better in the picture than they do in person and may not stay in the room. My bronzes will likely go in there though. justgotabeme had mentioned gold METAL and there isn't much of that around at all. Shiny brass doorknobs that are going are all I can think of. My rug for the sitting area should be here on Saturday. I am in love with it on the computer. Hopefully I will love it in person. :) And I just walked out into the garage and saw the black cabinet we used to have the TV on in the library. I think it might work in the sitting space for now. There are a couple of coffee tables on craigslist I'm going to go look at today. I am getting antsy. I hate having to wait for men with muscles to be here to move the big furniture back into place. Wah!

Our house is in the process of being built, but we bumped out into a hallway so that a standard depth refrigerator can be put in the bump-out. This was not a problem, because on that wall a bank of bookshelves was planned. We just eliminated some of the shelves so that the bump-out will be flush with the built-in bookshelves. Now I've not made a decision about the refrigerator--what kind, etc., and the cabinets haven't been built, but I believe the bump out will accomodate just about any size frig. I guess I'll be in part making that decision on which a frig best fits the space, which might have been sort of a backwards way of doing this. Or if there's room on the sides, storing a folding step-stool there or something. I'm not obsessing about it looking totally built-in; I just didn't want it sticking out noticeably from the cabinets on the one side that will have cabs. On the other side of the frig is an open doorway, no door, just an opening to the hall and then the din. rm. beyond. I think it'll look sorta like abbycat's but on the other side of our frig will be counters with uppers, etc., not a bank of floor to ceiling cabs like she has.

Hi dekeoboe, Thanks for your comments! No, the doors we wanted are true bi-fold -- just like you put on closets. We don't want the kind the slide in and disappear on either side of the TV. Thank you for your explanation of what might be the complexity behind the flip down doors. You are right that we would need very strong hinges to hold the door at 90 degrees and prevent it from flopping down further. I hadn't thought of that. Does anyone know if strong enough hinges are available? It seems in the posted Houzz inspiration picture they have a strong enough hinge that is holding the door at 90 degrees. Our doors won't stay open long, as we hope we can use remotes through the mesh. I can imagine putting in a DVD, CD, etc would be when we needed to briefly open them. Also, the weight would not be that bad as there is the frames with mesh metal in between so they should weigh less than solid wood doors would. The flip down drawers are to be beside each other (the top row on both sides). The flip downs are not stacked on top of each other. The lower drawers (middle and bottom ones) are standard drawers. We have no desire for an interior shelf inside the flip down cubbies, but perhaps the cabinet maker thought we did. Carol