Daisy, it is thanks to your comment about using darker colors to keep the room from being choppy w/the woodwork that stuck in my mind! Like you, I love those airy rooms but I agree that it won't work. I just told my friend, "My fireplace would eat anything dainty alive!" The sample of the terracotta is in the DR. It would only be in that room. I am not sold on it. I like the idea of something like it . . .but not that shade. Grandma, thank you for not giving up on the room!!! Do you really not like the bookcases on that wall (where they are now) or is it that you want more seating in the other area? Even w/o the bookcases, no one in the family likes anything . . .not a chair, even, to block the window. I have tried. And, I do think the bookcases look pretty heavy in that area where they are now, but (not sure if this would work), I am going to wallpaper the backs of them with something light and a pattern. I thought that might reduce some of the weight in that area. Now, one of your options of moving the bookcases and then the chair on each side of the window may work. I think I did try recently and there was not enough room w/the couch to be centered on the wall (because the chair sticks out so much), but I will try again. And yes, this is definitely the time to move things around because everything is bolted to the wall, but will be "free" now that the room is getting painted! I would love both chairs at the end of that room . . .going to go do some moving now. :)

I just checked the custom built-ins in this house and they are all 11 1/2" deep. I have decades of books and all fit neatly, I wouldn't want them any more shallow if I had a choice (understanding that few homes are perfect :)) But back to the cable box, I wouldn't design something permanent around them, I'd let one extend into the room first before tearing into a wall for depth. I don't know your company, but in the last year I've replaced (or added in one room, hadn't planned originally to be watching TV in that space) three cable boxes...the oldest in my office is a whopping 13" deep, more than 17" wide (and silver which doesn't go with my décor). The other two, all three of them Comcast, only 7x9". And a discreet black.

I'm a little confused. Your drawing says tile but your post says slab. Did you change plans from tile to slab after the drawing? Also, your drawing shows a dimension of 5'2" across the bottom which equals 62", but that appears to cover columns plus surround width of 6" + 44" + 6" which equals 46". Granite fabrication pricing can vary a lot depending on where you are and also from fabricator to fabricator. Are there any edge details or such that cause extra fabrication time? Our fireplace surround is very similar in size. The material for the surround is left over from our kitchen remodel and we bought a small slab for our hearth. Our quote is just labor - $600 for fab and installation. It is very simple - no fancy edges. 8" wide, but that probably doesn't make much difference to the quote. Ours is also taller - 54" - and a bit wider - 52". Our surround is being fabbed as 3 rectangular pieces - a top and 2 sides because of the size of our remnants. A fabricator might charge more to fab and install a similar surround as one piece. There would be more chance of breakage I think and it might take an extra installer to handle the weight of the surround. I think that it would have cost more if we used the fabricator who did our kitchen.

Sorry for the post mistakes..:concern about the chandelier being hung to high. We are looking for advise about lowering it. Thanks Some more pictures between looking at a normal eye level and having to tilt your head to see the chandelier.