Love the room! I admire your courage in going dark (I love the look, but am into a 'neutral walls' phase right now. Might be laziness, really.) BTW: re: RH pic of the books with the covers ripped off. Do you suppose they do that because of liability issues? I mean, couldn't the publishers of books featured in ads go after the advertiser for using their books without permission? So, it's easier for ad directors to simply remove the covers rather than have to get permission from all those publishers to use the image?

thanks, MamaG! I love the rug, too. At first we thought it was a blue-green, then it looked green. Now it is green with a touch of blue in it. I think I forgot to answer somebody's question about the lawyer's bookshelves earlier. There were actually seven bookshelves in the lot. Two were 30" wide by 8 ft high. I sold those. We used all five of the 36" by 8 ft ones. I am somewhat amazed at how well built and how good looking the project turned out. That is all Jim. I am awfully proud of having the idea, though. I find myself constantly thinking about how this old piece of furniture or that old thing could be turned into something new. How I wish I could make them myself! (My hands and elbows and wrists and shoulders won't let me do the work.) And how I wish I could do something this creative for a living!

Deb, one question that I haven't heard yet is, is your library-media room the main gathering/ tv watching in your home? It's a really lovely room (actually every room you've shown us is lovely). I'm so impressed with the gorgeous bookcases your DH built. I see that you have steps down to this room, which would mean that you'd be carrying platters and bowls of food, plates, glasses, etc, down those steps for every meal that you serve in there, as your new dining room. It's only two steps, but you need to seriously think about whether this would become a real irritant after a while, let alone a possible tripping danger. Unfortunately, having the steps would make it near to impossible to move the wall between the present dining room and library, to give you more space in the dining room. That would have been ideal . . . if it was possible. More questions and thoughts: ~do you have a family room or living room that you can move the tv into comfortably? ~ what do you and your DH actually need the most, a home office or a butler's pantry? ~ With both rooms having wide doorways that open into it, instead of actual doors that you can close off, will you be happy seeing a desk and other office things in full view from your kitchen (which is lovely, BTW)? Friends and family will be passing through it getting from your kitchen to the new dining room. ~ If you turn it into a butler's pantry, are you willing to set it up nicely enough so as not to detract from your kitchen or your new dining room? ~ another idea to consider is to just incorporate the present dining room into the kitchen with, perhaps, built-in cabs to house your nice serving pieces, china and crystal in glass-fronted cabs with closed cabs below for storing what ever you need. You could set up a seating area on that side, too, and/or a secretary desk and chair that you can close up when company arrives for a meal. Personally, I think that turning your present dining room into a sitting room, would be a wasted space, that probably wouldn't be used all that much. But, that's JMHO. Anyhoo, just some other things to think about. Lynn

Allison, good to know you also feel that way about the trim over the entertainment center. I will do a mock-up. I guess my one question would be, if I were to decorate the ledge above that white trim (the trim is the forward edge of a ledge that goes back about 3 feet and the full length of that wall) would it still be good to have it all one color? I don't know that I would decorate the ledge. I've been on the lookout for something to put up there but in almost 4 years, I haven't found anything yet. I just wonder because it defines a change in levels.