Put me to sleep? Heck no. I love it. I remember having to clean out Aunt Kitty's house after her husband died (why oh why can't I remember his name even if it was 30+ years ago? Phillip I think). They must've been in bad shape a long time because it smelled horrible! I realize, many years later, it was probably rotting food because that smell can take me back so quickly! She was disabled to the point of being unable to talk or move anything but her arms. It's no wonder it was in such disarray. Funny how much aromas can take you back. Mine was wearing anything with a heel, not allowed until we were 12. I never really cared about makeup (some girls sneak it out of the house) until much later. But the first pair of "heels", oh my. Probably a whole inch high.

Beth, I have been so delighted and educated with all these posts. I love the evolution of your wonderfully charming home! You are an amazing woman! I share several of the decorating dilemmas you've mentioned. My "living room" is about 2' more narrow and 2' shorter than your area. I'm learning a lot from your post. The repurposed gun cabinet idea is absolute genius. Please share a photo when you've installed the shelves and contents. Regarding the non-glare glass for your larger artwork. The price of non-glare glass has become simply ridiculous. I have an entire hallway lined with (Gasp!) a family gallery wall. It includes photos from more than 100 years ago to this year's school pics of the great-nephew. Color, colorized, sepia toned, black and white, all mixed together and mostly in their original mismatched frames. That just about breaks all the rules, but I love my wall. Several of the older photos - Mom's 1954 graduation photo; MIL's 1952 wedding photo, etc. - had plain glass. I can't tolerate the glare either. I made a note in my iPod of all the frame sizes that needed replacement non-glare glass. Every time I'm at a thrift shop or yard sale I check out the "frames" area. You can often find large pictures that may be in horrid frames, but they will have non-glare glass! I buy the frame, take out the glass, and toss the rest. I found one very large print of ballet slippers framed with non-glare that was big enough to cut down into several pieces. It made one 8x10 and three 5x7 pieces of non-glare glass for my wall, all for $1. With their permission, I took the glass out at the shop, tossed the faded print, and re-donated the empty frame back to them.

gyr_falcon LOL That sounds like my preteen room back in the days of posters all over the walls. melis918, I think part of the problem is there are so many choices to make now that you didn't know about 30 years ago. You named the reasons for that too. The internet and online forums. My advise? Back away from the computer, head to a brick and mortar store and make your choices from what's available in your area. The reason I know this is because, though I don't fear actually doing it, what I do fear is that I'll miss something going on in the virtual world instead of doing what needs to be done in real life. Which is why a couple weeks ago I decided to challenge myself to getting things done that have needed to be done. I'm pleased to say it's working! Here's one of the things that needed to be done that I did. A couple years ago a cleaner leaked under our sink causing the pressed wood floor to swell. Instead of really fixing it, I covered it with some vinyl wallpaper I had to use as shelf lining. Which I don't have a picture of. This is the damage done by the leaky cleaner. It would not have been possible to actually replace the floor as corner cabinets are not full cabinets. They come with the front piece and a square floor piece for the installers (hubby and I in this case) to figure out how to put together. I came up with the idea of piano hinges to attach the front to the adjoining cabinets. Anyway, my solution to this dilemma was to use scrapes of Masonite we had from other projects because of their flexibility. The next picture was before I nailed the pieces in place using our finish nail gun. And here is the finished flooring with peel and stick tile to protect the floor underneath from any future mishaps. I've also done the two shelves in the corner cabinet above where I keep brushes and such needed for washing dishes and the floor of the cook top cabinet with this same peel and stick tiles. Before I'm done with kitchen challenge I'll use them for the recycle cabinet too.

IKEA has some with and w/o arms. Make sure the arms will fit under the table.