Hi, another "ignore the rugs" person chiming in. :-) But do as I say, not as I do. Even though theoretically I ignore rugs, I always lend half an eye and try to play along, at least when piling more than one rug into a room. They usually have to be a similar style...tribal + tribal, for example. And I do admit to buying an orange chair to go with an orange stripe in the last house. Call me a hypocrite! I think you should revisit the gray idea. And I think that the way to love gray is not only to find the right one, but to use either full spectrum paint (Ellen Kennon) or maybe Farrow & Ball. Now that you seem to be fully into the paint addiction thing (welcome!) I feel comfortable suggesting that. You talk about "glowy" and that is exactly what you get with one of these more complicated paints. If you could find a warm gray or a greige in a paint that has a lot of life in it, I bet you would really love it. If you don't have it, I suggest sending away for the F&B free color card. There are a couple dozen really interesting neutrals that might be fun to explore. Yes, these boutique paints are not cheap, but if you're willing to spend the $$$ to change the rugs/furniture, fancy paint will feel like a bargain! I worry about using the deeper colors, particularly blue, on a thirty foot wall. That scares me a bit, but I don't know the space. In that regard, my guess is that a mid-tone would be better, but a mid-tone blue? I just don't know. I love the rugs and think the pink sofa is really refreshing. I'd hate to see the wall color take over, IYKWIM. How's that Georgian Green looking today?

Before deciding to remove it, plan your kitchen, maybe you can safely leave it and ignore it.. It might turn out to be a very handy chase in which to run an exhaust vent through to your roof. If a roof replacement is due in the near future, I would delay removing it until then, so you wind up without a patch in the roof. If someone you know has a small video camera, you can drop it down from the roof and see what's what inside. Do not use it for anything without installing a liner first, unless you have it inspected and ruled OK by a pro. It likely was the exhaust stack for a wood- (or coal) fired cook stove when it was new. L.

To everyone who has responded, thank you so much for your time and ideas. My dd loved your ideas and feed back. She has been trying to make a decision. She has been given a budget so she is being very thorough. Paint chips, my dd loved your ideas. She is using your ideas as inspiration for her room. The blue-grey paint you selected is very close to what she selected previously. She selected Eddie Bauer Shale paint EB32-4 from Lowe's. We haven't tested it yet. I'm wanting to get the other fabrics first. Jenny, I loved the picture you posted! I loved the valance in that room. I have looked all over for something like that for dd's room. So far no luck. Jim, I also liked Ralph Lauren's room. So clean and timeless. jynxed23, I would love to see a picture of your room. I have to agree the rug is making this more difficult. I'm assuming it must be easier to decorate around a rug if the colors are more muted. I may be incorrect about that. Update on dd's room.... She found this duvet cover at pottery barn kids. She loves the chamois texture. The only problem is that they are sold out of matching shams and will not be restocking since they are closing out this line. Personally, I feel that she needs a matching sham in addition to the fun decorative pillows. DD thinks we can go to the fabric store and find some navy fabric and whip up a sham. Do you also feel this is a deal breaker? I'm thinking that the color and texture should be the same. Any input? Bedskirts...DD has looked for bedskirts. Of course they don't have any to match the above duvet cover. So she was thinking about a white bedskirt because we have been unable to find an off-white bedskirt in twin size. The rug has ivory but not white. Would white look bad? If I can convience her to go with the denim duvet cover that paint chips selected, all my problems would be solved. That set has a sham and bedskirt that matches.

Jakefield-I feel the same way: I don't want to waste $$ on a piece I'm not even excited about. I have searched all the local furniture stores, but I need the piece in the next two weeks. I've actually settled on a couple of consoles at one of those stores that has everything in stock so we can pick it up. At $300-400 if I hate it in a few years I won't feel like I have to live with it because I spent a ton of $$ on it, and I'll use it elsewhere. Maybe I'm just sick of the look, but those media wall systems just look so cluttered to me right now. I am bummed that I lost all my closed storage though. I've spent the last two days getting rid of the stuff I had stored in the old unit. We have a wood stove on one side of this spot and a wall on the other. I guess I could push the console over a bit and put a plant on the non-woodstove side. Our old wall unit had doors that closed over the TV, but in our house it NEVER was closed unless I was home alone so I'm giving up on that idea. I'm just hoping someone can post some pics that give me some good ideas for what to put around the TV. Do pictures over the screen look odd?