Thanks, so I guess I'll keep it on the buffet for a while, then. Bonnie, it would look great on a mantel, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, our living room mantel is the only one that's not a kiva mantel. Those are too narrow for much. Our living room one, though, just couldn't handle mercury glass anything with these paintings above it . . . which I'm obviously not going to change ;^D The only holiday I put decs on this one is Christmas, and even that was tough to figure out at first! So, thanks again for the feedback on the mercury glass whatever. Does anybody know what it's called???

I love your home, and love the woodwork. It probably has darkened with age, and could be nicer if stripped and refinished, but with 4 younger kids that is a project for down the road. For now, I am glad that you are not painting it. You have gotten lots of great suggestions, but many of them seem to be things that at this point you cannot do for a variety of reasons. Since you are suggesting that some of the fixes will be temporary, until your youngest is a bit older, I am thinking in terms of working with what you have, rather than making some changes now that may not work down the line when you are ready to really alter things. Since this is your family room, where all of you gather, imo we need to think in those terms, more than about what looks pretty. I get the impression that you don't use your front door often, since the loveseat is currently sitting there. So, despite the fact that I love the fireplace, you said it is non-working, I believe. It seems to me that for now, the place for the TV is in front of the fireplace. Straight on, almost as a replacement. Don't paint the brick, either. The one thing that could be nice is if the TV stand were a bit lower, so that the top line of the tv sat just below the mantel. With the tv in front of the fireplace, we need to move the viewing angles around a little. I would try the couch all the way back at the end of the room, in front of the double window. Move the torchiere down to replace that little table that is sitting in the corner. It seems like you should have enough space, with the couch against the end wall, to leave the sofa table where it is with the lamp on it. Take the loveseat and put it on the front window wall where the couch is now. Use the little end table to the left side, right by the entry, and add another table lamp (stolen from somewhere?) on that table. Keep the loveseat and table pushed as far to the left, close to the door, as possible, to give the tv visual 'breathing room'. Get rid of the runner in front of the couch. Leave the blinds, I think they are fine, but get rid of the window scarves. I would stay away from curtains, but would consider adding a simple valance above the front and end wall windows, hung just below the picture moulding. Nothing gathered, but rather something flat with pleats. Something like this style: premier stripe inverted pleat valance I would take down all the things you have hanging on the walls in there and re-group. It appears you have a mirror on the wall behind the door, which seems pretty much unusable. The framed art is marching around in a row, and is spaced too far apart. Consider taking the pix that relate to one another and making a grouping of them above the sofa table. I would take down the mirror over the fireplace for now - maybe it can find a new home elsewhere in the house. The tv will kind of dwarf anything that is framed up there, so instead try the large candlesticks to one side (but not all the way to the edge), with a richer color for the candles. Add a lower, wider vase or planter with some taller twigs and green grasses, etc in it, to bring some color and softness above the tv. Think about adding some other items to the pretty shelving besides framed pix - maybe some books, a couple of interesting pieces of pottery, etc. Look for things that pull out some of the colors that are in the fabric you want to use. As for paint, I would use a warm beige color on the walls, and go two shades lighter above the picture rail, same lighter color on the ceiling and on the entire fireplace area above the mantel only. I love greens, but looking at the wood in the room, especially in the closer shot, it feels like beige/gold would do more to bring out the richer tones in the wood. Be sure you have the highest wattage you can get in the lamps. Don't use the ceiling fan lights for lighting the space. They only create glare up high and shadows down below, unless you have them on a dimmer and can get a soft light effect that just kind of washes the ceiling. I think once you add some warm color with the paint, and bring in your pillows and accents, the room will feel warmer and more friendly.

My my kids are 10 and 11 this year and all of the sudden they want super scary haunted house stuff. Most of my Halloween decorations are still packed from our move almost 2 months ago, but all my old stuff does seem a little too nick-nack-y to me lately. I ended up buying a bunch of spider rings and spiders and used that poster sticky tack stuff to make a trail of spiders up the porch to the door. I thought it was just a little creepy, but not really scary, so it would be a nice compromise with my kids, but then a neighbor girl my daughter's age said she did NOT like it and hasn't been over to play for a while, so I feel a little guilty, like I did something wrong. Aside from a couple of black pumpkins, that's all I did this year. My favorite Halloween was a few years ago when I was feeling super poor and my kids were little and really excited about decorating. I cut out a bunch of black bats out of cardstock and hung them strategically in my entry and stairwell so it looked like they were flying up the stairs. I even sewed a tiny black bead to each one so they would hang better. I thought I saved them, but I haven't seen them since, so who knows. My daughter and I also saved interesting glass bottles for a while to make "potions" but those have been mysteriously misplaced, too.

I have lots of t-shirts that will not fit into my bureau and also a few sweat pants and lots of sweaters so not sure whether to do shelves or shelving and drawers combined. Probably will do some double hung rods with a single hung for dresses. I also have scarves that are right now on a hanger with multiple holes for scarves to be woven in them. I want to utilize the space as much as possible. I can use guest closet space if need be or totes but I prefer not to. I saw this on someone else's post and kept it. They used IKEA. I like the small shelves on the second picture and think maybe I could use something like that for t-shirts and maybe sweaters too. Granted it is a man's closet but it gave me some ideas, however, I do not want to spend tons of money. Not sure what ventilated shelves are so will have to check those out. Thanks Moxie!