What a lovely cozy room. I think you've done a great job on it. Anything I say will be nitpicking so please take it as such.

I think the vase may be a bit tall. Have you tried it without the greenery?

Now for the nitpicking: is there room to move the candlesticks so that they are sitting just in front of the mirror rather than on either side? And I would do one picture on the tiny mantleshelf, rather than the two - just looks a teeny bit cluttered with two. I'd also move the grass on the shelf to oneside and have the two pictures facing forward and beside each other -one overlapping the other a bit.

But like I said that is just the way I'd do it. Everything really looks fine as is. You've done a great job with the black tying things together and not letting it get too cluttery. That tall black cab is perfect there.

I think the vase on the book shelf is too tall and linear. Maybe consider some white frames to balance the other side. Perhaps one wide and narrow on top and two squares below. Any thing can be in them; even empty frames with objects hung on the walls in the frame space. I'm not crazy about the mirror perched on the ledge. I'd rather see it hung on the wall without the candles. In fact I think I would remove the ledge; hang the mirror a little higher.
I like the way your entertainment pieces are installed.
I don't think the lone little ledge to the right is quite right. Maybe if you hung three in that space? Or consider a long piece of art instead.

The wall color on the fireplace wall might be nice painted an accent color as well -- but not if you think it would chop that space up too much. l would put some side curtains on the window.
I think it's a very pretty spot, with a lot of potential -- It's a great cozy space to make your own.

Love all of these ideas! I think the tall vase is a go back. Like I said, I just got it today so no attachment to it. I will try some of these ideas and take a new pic for you all to see.

Keep the ideas coming!

It's a very pretty room.

I'm just repeating mostly what has already been said. I'd put up some type of blind or shade with some curtains or something to dress the window. I have a thing about an undressed window especialy at night, even if privacy is not an issue. It just looks better than a black hole. The greenery needs to come out of the tall vase. I'd hang the mirror on the wall. Can't make out what's on those bottom shelves. Is that toys the children play with?

I know people love photo's, but I think you have too many on the bookcase. Maybe you could rotate them out from time to time and put some decorative accessories and nice looking books on the shelves. I think another color brought into the accessories would be nice too, maybe another color out of your window treatment.

IMO if you paint the fireplace wall as an accent, make sure it's a light color, as a dark one will pull the wall in even more.

Can you take a photo into the room from the playroom?

The mirror above the fireplace is just hung right above the shelf. It is not leaning. I was trying to create a "mantle" but I guess it only looks like a mantle to me :) Yes those are baskets of toys on the bottom shelves of the bookcase. The bookcase and mirror are a dark brown and not black. I agree the window looks bare. At night we have the shade you can see in the pics below but that is just for privacy and to block out the sun on really hot days. Would framing the window with white molding dress it up enough and give it that finished look?
Here is a pic with a few changes based on your suggestions...
{{!gwi}}

Here are pics from first the "playroom", then from the doorway into the kitchen/family room and one from inside the kitchen...
{{!gwi}}
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{{!gwi}}

When I click on your photobucket link, all I get is the main website. How do I get to your pics? Do I need to be a member of photobucket to view? Help!! (I am new to posting on gardenweb.)

How strange. I show the actual pics in my post. Can anyone else see my pics in the actual post like I do?

Okay, after I posted and came back to this thread, the first pictures of your room showed up on your post. But the playroom pics didn't. Now I suppose after I post this I will be able to see them too.....

Any help you can give is much appreciated!

I see your photos. Your room might be small, but it is neat and tidy. Your furniture is scaled to your room. The only thing I'd advise is softening some of the hard horizontal edges. Perhaps you could consider placing some flowing greenery on top of the bookcase and maybe a plate on a stand on the small shelf to the right of your TV. Your room is quite nice.

I rebooted my computer and all the pics came up. Yes!

Maybe try angling the bookcase in the corner to relieve the line up against the wall. I like the grass on the bookcase, but maybe consider putting a trailing plant (that is still squat, and not tall) to soften the edges of the bookcase.

Is there room to put a door (or a pair of doors) over the audio components? I like the simplicity of the room; I think you have done a very beautiful job in a small space!

This may just be me, but in addition to the tall vase being too big, your bookcase needs books. :-) Books really warm up a space. Otherwise, I think it is a lovely room. I might prefer art over the "mantle" rather than the mirror, but the mirror is nice too. Don't feel bad about the toy baskets. Here's my "living room":

I bought the bookcase because there is NO space to put frames or nick nacks in this house. I like the idea of a few books, but have no idea what type of books. Just regular reading novels or special hardcover books of interest?

I think I only saw the first pic initially. Now I can see what the fabrics are and more of the room.

My initial idea was to do shelving to the sides of the fp and paint the fp area out to the tile surround color (which seems to come out more of a gray) to unify and highlight that area. I'd also paint the lower mantel portion white and do a long mantel piece across the top, which gives the area more focus and definition, I think. Played around with some paint colors too.

The green really makes the room look longer.

I love the tall vase in front of the mirror, Squirrel.

Wow- Thanks so much for taking the time to do the photoshop! I showed my husband and we LOVE the way you did the mantle! What a difference! I also love the shelvs you made. Question: The bookcase is fairly new and I really love it in that room. If we did a few shelves on the right side of the TV would it look OK if the other side had the brown bookcase? Can you help photoshop that combo and if you don't mind help me accessorise the book case with photoshop.

Did you just paint the shelf area? Does painting only the area that indents add depth and make the area look larger? Or did I see it wrong and you painted the whole wall? I like the idea of using a brown paint in the indented areas. Our home is all beige and the beige and darker brown might look good together...what do you think?

Can you also photoshop to show me what the window would look like with white molding/casing around it?

And also what the wall between the playroom and family room would look like with molding around it and casing it in white molding/wood along the shelf part of the wall.
Thanks!

You're welcome! It would seem fairly easy to do the mantel piece. (haha)

Moving the bookcase back in, here are a few things to look at (before I crash :) -- using brown paint, as I think you'd said you liked. Darker and lighter to see the effects.

Yes, it's just the back wall portion of the recesses that are painted.

Fixed the mirror! with that nice warm glow from the cabinets. (It got all washed out when I brought out the white paint :)

{{!gwi}}

What a cozy room. When I look at these photos, all I see are squares and rectangles. Corners, corners, corners. I'd love to see you put something round or oval over the fireplace just to give our eyes something to rest on. It would add a bit of softness that the room needs I think.

I love the color on the back of the shelves--whatever you pick will help add dimension to the room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soul

Great ideas above -- and some wonderful creative virtuals too!

My first concern would be to raise the height of the curtain rod holding the valances ...... that would make the windows appear to be taller and there the room would appear to be taller.

And I do love a vase in front of the mirror -- how about a blue one -- or a blue-and-white one to echo the colors in the gorgeous lamp?

Here are your openings framed and trimmed out. I think painting the trimwork around the tv area in the same color/finish as the fp wall helps to un-chop the area and make it appear more as a whole, as with highlighting and stretching the mantel area across. I've warmed up the wall color there a bit -- not too much or the contrasting areas start to make it look too choppy.

I'll try raising the valance later, and see what else TeaCats has suggested. Am also wondering if shutters on the right would look nice and add a nice texture. They don't have to be fully closed -- although with a playroom next door that might be nice sometimes :) I am wondering if the narrow room would feel too closed in with bright white along the sides like that.

Oops! and an oval mirror.

I'm intentionally trying to keep the focus on the center of the fp wall, and not putting bright accent pieces in the shelves, as it starts to look very busy and confusing. Subtle seems to work nicely. The candle on the mantel, though, is a deep burgundy to bring a little more attention there.

You have a cozy room that looks comfortable!
There is one thing that does bother me, however, and that is the placement of the photographs. I do not like seeing all those dinky mismatched frames. Although I don't, btw, think frames need to match. I would consider buying one of those large frames that have openings for a dozen photos or so and tinting all your pics, perhaps a sepia or amber or just b &w. It would be so much more harmonious to have all faces in one area.

These are all great ideas. I love the oval mirror and the idea to paint the recessed areas as well as the molding on the wall between the rooms. Given our budget, I have to priortize what I want to do. I for sure will paint since that is cheap and easy, I think the molding between the rooms and around the window make a huge difference and I like the shelves you added to the recessed areas beside the TV.

I wish I knew how to do those virutal changes so I could play around with it myself. Thanks so much for doing that for me!!

I'll try to post some "after" pics when I make some changes!
p.s. I am returning the vase you have on the mantle. It is really too large scale for that room.

P.S. My wall color is Dunn Edwards Bone 1+1/2. How do I select the right shade of brown to use as the accent color in the indented wall area.

I swear, decorating is like a foreign language to me! I wish it came easier to me like it does to so many of you!

love the oval mirror and the picture in the TV niche, pulls it all together very nicely

trim at openings definitely adds to the rooms

is there somewhere in your home that you can put some shallow shelves just for pics, since this seems to be an area that posters are unhappy with?

One thing you can try is to look at the color strip your color is on to check out the darker ones on it. What brand is your paint?

Here's another rendition. I've warmed the colors up more for you, remembering your sofa color from another shot, while trying to keep things from getting too choppy by introducing a color/value contrast in that area.

I like the vase with the graceful greens in them. I think it works nicely off to the side like this with the oval mirror. You actually need some larger scale items, rather than too many small ones.

I worked on the bookcase just a bit. I think some vertical books and items other than small frames would make it flow better and add interest.

{{!gwi}}

Very cute room. I found this forum very recently and love reading all the posts, so I will finally stop lurking and add my 2 cents. I know others have talked about the frames, but I don't think there are necessarily too many, I think part of what bothered me with the frames on the shelves was simply placement. The way they were arranged it is too symmetrical for my taste. I like to see more staggering of items. I currently feel there is a visual line drawn through the center of the shelves vertically. Also understanding the constraints of a budget all too well-- if the new mantel is too expensive for right now what if you remove the small white shelf below the mirror and paint out the top part of the fireplace surround, not sure how to refer to that part, but the area that creates a horizontal edge directly below that white shelf. I persoally like the green vase, but only if it is empty so it has a more contemporary "pottery" like feel to it. I think if you want a "vase" it is not the best. I like it empty off to the left of the mirror, but if you remove the shelf and do not add a mantel I assume the vase will not sit on that edge?

I would definitely raise the curtain rod several inches to give the illusion of a more dramatic window. I was also wondering about switching the sofa to the wall below the window--does it fit? I just think it will soften the bottom of that window to have the sofa there, just move the chair to where the sofa was. I would think that it would be more comfortable to watch tv that way as well as you wouldn't be turned at the direct 90 degree angle you are currenty when seated on the sofa. I would then like to see a small table of some sort between the chair and the fireplace wall (under the wall opening) and then move the floor lamp over to the side of the chair closest to the kitchen. (so that pass through side would start with the lamp, then the chair, then a table. ) The table would be a great spot for a few more of those family photos. OK those are my thoughts, but keep in mind I always move my furniture 16 times before I decide what I like.