Thanks, guys! Keep the ideas coming. The picture above is of the shelving unit I found on the street. That one IS possibly from the '80s. I will try to get a picture up of the other shelving unit. I bought it in the '90s, which would have had the original owner buying it sometime in the '60s. The unit above has plastic feet, and the one I bought at the estate sale has black-painted wood cubes for feet. Very MCM. Circuspeanut, we're on the same wavelength. I suspect the manufacturer may be European. You're right, these units are not the usual MCM wire shelving. As a side note, that was a fantastic estate sale. I got there in the last 30 minutes and scored the first shelving unit, some Stangl "Colonial" pottery, and some beautiful teatowels. I only wish that a) I'd gotten there earlier in the day and that b) I had known the owner in the first place. He had beautiful taste! Here is a link that might be useful: Stangl Colonial teacup set like mine

I would go same distance on either side of doors (but adjust for outlets since it looks like you have tape going right over one, so equidistant from the edge of outlets may be better - no one will notice an inch difference from doors, but will notice an inch from one outlet and right against the cover of the other). As far as going to the ceiling, if you plan on these being "traditional" looking with base and crown molding, then yes, go to ceiling, have carpenter case out your door openings and trim windows too. But how would that look with the rest of your house? If you want to keep the house "modern" looking and don't have any trim except baseboard, then I would go with bookcases that don't have a lot of trim, either no trim at all if you end short of the ceiling, or very thin trim, flat or quarter round, where the cases meet the walls and ceilings. Ditto other posts about electrical (think of where you want TV and have drawers under for DVDs, have support for TV unless it's lightweight flat panel, and plan for depth required for TV. Some shallow drawers for DVDs/CDs, deep drawers for board games (if you don't want them to show), and shelves with bins/baskets for small toys would work best. I can't wait to see end result! I want to do the same thing on either side of my bay window, am thinking of shelves/window seat/storage under windows since when they put up sheetrock the corners got built out, my baseboard doesn't fit tight (and they cut 1 piece of baseboard too short anyway). Only thing is, we've already bought a loveseat that's there in the summer (will move in front of slider during winter, put tree in bay). Don't want to hijack the thread, but would like advice - try to fix walls and buy new baseboard, leave bay open, or do built-ins under the window and buy new baseboard to go in front of them (make sure front is flat even though walls are slightly bowed)?

I suspect the mugs are things he has been given or are souvenirs of events he has participated in rather than cold and abandoned beverages. Yep. We have several mugs that have been picked up on travels (UK, Iceland, etc.) that are incorporated as decor in our bookshelves. Mementos, actually. They've never been used, but are fun reminders of happy times spent in interesting places, and I would imagine it's the same for the gent in the photo.

@Laurie Fryett All too often we go about renovating a home without a plan for the whole home and we end up with choices we regret. Paint is one of the least expensive of the choices. Making your choices on furniture, flooring, countertops or cabinets should never be predicated on wall color. The wall color should be chosen based on the other more expensive finishes. It would be great if we could afford to gut our homes and pick all new finishes and all new furniture, but most of us can't afford to do this, so my first step in deciding colors for a home is to determine those colors that must stay. (either you can't afford to change or you don't want to change). The second step is to determine what colors bring you joy. We all have colors that we are drawn to. We don't make a conscious decision to buy things that are these colors, but end up bringing home the painting, vase, shirt, towels . . . that consistently have the same 2 or 3 colors. I happen to be attracted to purples and teals/blue greens and a few wine red accents, Darker colors vs pastels. These are some of my favorite things. Most of my walls will be neutral as will the flooring and shower tile, but which neutral I pick is predicated on the colors I love. Walls and floors are the backdrop, not the main attraction. I was lucky in that there weren't many colors that needed to stay in my home, full renovation with only a white tub in the master that had to stay and a pink brick wall and slate floor that had to stay. Before choosing my flooring or sofa or cabinets I picked the undertone that would work best with the colors I love and the colors that have to stay. Here are my things with Blue gray and green gray/greige on the left and Orange beige and green beige on the right. Greige is often touted as the color that works with everything. Looks muddy with my things. The blue gray is the best of the 4, but my things kind of blend in instead of stand out. Here are my things and the next 4 neutral color families Taupe (gray beige with purple undertones) and violet gray on the left and pink beige and yellow/gold beige on the right The two beiges don't look good with my cool colors, but both the taupe and violet gray work well with my things. The taupe with the pink brick is much better than the violet gray. Notice how the different color families pull the color from the brick? It is the exact same picture with just the color blocks changing, but the taupe and violet gray pull the grayer colors from the brick while the gold and pink beige pull the yellow/orange colors from the brick The other big consideration was my wood furnishings. Almost all the wood furniture in my home is teak. It is the warmth that my color palette needs. You may have wood flooring that is already in place. You have to consider the wood tone with your neutral choice. For me, I again like the taupe with my teak furnishings (Taupe is actually an orange color that has been deeply subdued/grayed down). My choice may be quite different if I had all oak furnishings. But I would have been unlikely to choose oak considering the colors that I love. My sister in law has oak, but look how pretty it is with her peaches and cornflower blues. Knowing what colors bring you joy can help guide you through the design decisions that will stand the test of time. If your design is based on what you love you won't have to redecorate every 10 years to keep up with the latest trend. You won't get stuck in the rabbit hole where every room you decorate makes the next room look off or out of place. You won't make a decision that boxes you into an uncomfortable corner. You will be able to build your inventory of art, furnishings, décor one piece at a time over many, many years instead of starting over every 10 years.