Thank you all so very much for your ideas, suggestions, and pictures! I think we will end up keeping it on a piece of furniture, since many of you have assured me that it's stable and heavy. It occurred to me while reading your replies that I never tried to pick one up or move it around in a store at all. They just look light to me, but I am (happily!) wrong about that! I'm with many of you who don't know that I want it to be in a permanent place on the wall, as I do rearrange the room from time to time (which makes my DH crazy, but such is life!). I also forgot about having to purchase the wall mounting stuff, which is pricey I believe? I like your idea too Brutuses. I've filed it away for "someday" if we have the $$ for a built in cabinet. Thanks again everyone!! I think my decision is made...now I just have to convince DH, which won't be too hard I hope!

I think that's so beautiful you want to make these memories for your child! Knowing my own decorating and reading the above responses I see a common thread of choosing which holidays and how to decorate coming about organically. Like your child will be making decorations in preschool, and now that you've decided you want to do this your eye will start noticing others' (inc. shops') decorations and what appeals to you. This forum has also really helped me with SUPER ideas about decorating. Like a few years ago kswl had that incredible slideshow of her home at xmas and I fell so hard head over heels ... it totally inspired my nutcrackers (for xmas). And another generous participant posted her beautiful gumdrop tree (again for xmas) which got me going in that candy direction, and I'll tell you I RAN with it! I don't even like (to eat) candy yet I've found it the most magical, perfect way of decorating the trees. Thank you GW! So we're multiethnic (I'm 1/2 Jewish, 1/2 WASP and my partner is 100% Shinto Buddhist Japanese) and we have fun with it. I love love love our Hanukkah waterglobe collection and growing collection of dreidels. I love all the koinobori (carp windsocks) we have for Children's Day (May 5th). I find that for many holidays my decorating effort extends to color-appropriate candies in the living room -- like red & silver kisses for Valentine's, pastel pastilles for Easter. I am NOT a jingoist but I do love red white & blue bunting on the 4th ... on other people's houses. I'm not that motivated, I guess, although this year we did line our front walk with stars and stripes pinwheels. That was fun and made me really part of our sweet little town's festivities. We have Japanese lanterns up in the backyard so they're already handy for Obondori (another Japanese celebration honoring your ancestors), and then because I am a wannabe Mexican I have tons of fun with Halloween and my calaveras / catrinas. My 6 y.o. is *delighted* with the enormous fuzzy tarantula we affix to the outside of his window each year -- the kids love it. This year I went bananas at Target and purchased a string of jack o lantern lights and put them in a tree, and then a cobweb made of orange lights which we plastered on the living room window. I'm not sure who loved all this new stuff more: my 6 y.o. or me. (me)

First, do you own or rent the condo -- are there any rules prohibiting you from painting any part of it? If renting, do you really want to make permanent costly changes even if you're permitted to do so? The gray doors and trim actually go well with your black countertop and furnishings and don't clash w/the brown sofa. If you paint any trim, you'll probably need to paint all the trim ... and probably the doors, too. This would be expensive to have done professionally and any mistakes could cause a renter to lose their deposit. Consider leaving the trim and doors as is and, if permitted by whatever condo rules with which you must abide, repaint the walls instead. If you do decide to paint the trim white, Benjamin Moore makes a stark, true decorator's white -- likely a better choice than the off whites, many of which can have a pink or yellow hue to them. The kitchen walls -- backsplash and over the overhead cabinets, are a distinctly separate space than the rest of the condo. White subway tile backsplash is worth considering but is more costly than painting -- something to consider, especially if you're renting. With bold black countertops, you might consider painting all the kitchen walls your favorite bold bright color. Then you could paint your dining table the same color, or perhaps just the top that color and the rest of the table black (as many of your furnishings are). Behind your stovetop on the wall between it and the hood, you should probably add a panel designed for that space -- easily cleanable and flame resistant. Stainless steel would be best -- the white over metal ones can more readily show scratches and/or stains. In such a small living room area, a rug is optional -- the seating area is pretty well defined. It wouldn't hurt to walk through a few stores and see what's available in a size the same width as your sofa and long enough to extend from beneath the front legs of your sofa to beneath the front of the furnishings opposite the sofa. Wouldn't want a room sized rug -- even if it didn't interfere with opening the door, extending it beyond the sofa into the traffic area from front door to kitchen/dining area would be counterproductive to the purpose of an area rug for a living room.-- to define a sitting space. With little seating, a single throw pillow with your favorite colors would suffice. Plain, then -- metal (think document frames) for art would work with what you have or you could choose something without a frame -- perhaps pressed metal art. I googled pressed metal wall art trees images https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=650&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=0I1QWumOII2-zgKtnozgCQ&q=images+pressed+metal+wall+art+trees&oq=images+pressed+metal+wall+art+trees&gs_l=psy-ab.3...6401.7143.0.7285.6.6.0.0.0.0.45.259.6.6.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.5INBPx3xz0c You could replace trees w/any object or subject that reflects your interest to see what might be available. What interest you? Mountains? Beach? Hunting? Biking? Wildlife? Music? Then, if you decide that metal art is something that interests you, change "images" to "shopping" to begin your search in earnest. Modern wall shelving, including but not limited to box shelving, can be both decorative and useful. Update us -- let us know what you decide to do and post pics.

@Libby Miller Since you already have both a living and dining room, you could use this space as a more fomal seating area. You can place a statement console in the space by the kitchen counter and maybe add a bookcase for storage. A colorful rug would make the space lively. We've also created another layout for you here.You can add or replace furniture and move them around to create your own layouts in interactive 3D designs here and also render your own photo-realistic images!