I'm back--thanks for all the advice! I decided to skip the dresser (DH just didn't want to mess with something that wasn't well made to begin with) and only brought home the burl/chrome console. Tradewind, I didn't get a chance to read your posts until I got home, but you have me really excited now! This piece is really gorgeous in a room with decent lighting. Very, very heavy and solid. Really well made. Thanks for clueing me in on who the designer may be--if/when I deide to resell it that will be a huge help. I do agree with everyone that something with cabinets/doors would be preferable and I do intend to now take my time looking. The right thing will come along, I know it. But for now, I'm LOVING the look of this. The good thing is that television and console are on a wall that backs up to unfinished basement, so all the wires are fed behind the wall thus minimizing the ugly wire mess. Oh yeah, while I was picking up the console at Salvation, they had just put out a pair of similar vintage rust velvet swivel bucket chairs. These things don't look like they've ever been sat in. They were $20 each! They're going in the room as well, and I love the way they look with the console. I promise to post pics as soon as I can--I'm finishing up staining/painting the dresser that is headed to Boston tomorrow for DDs apartment--that's coming out great and I'll post pics of that as well. Again, thanks for all the advice and encouragement!

London staging the shutters we have are actually stucco of some kind, we are removing them and will re- stucco the entire house. we were looking at adding real Bahama shutters possibly. if we go with a creme color or off White House color, maybe a light blue shutter or vice versa? Emmarene9 , I have tried Sherman Williams colorsnap and couldn't get it to work, I'll have to try again. I like the bottom right picture- is that the off white?

Hi. Some nice tones! Questions: 1) What are the grey planks in the one photo? 2) What color is the living room paint? First, I would try your living room color. Not sure if that works. With the darker tones going on, I would recommend a light colored paint.

That scaffold bookcase looks too wide for your wall & too short. There might be enough drywall but there should be some space on either side of the bookcase for it to look right. The ladder bookcase is more minimal and IMO more attractive. Why not post an image of the FP wall looking directly head on.