I've seen such excellent advice from many on this forum! I'm hoping to get some helpful suggestions for some changes I'm considering in my family room. I have been doing an exhaustive search for the best solution to update my dated oak bookcases/tv armoire. I have a 1950's ranch and my taste has always been toward what I like to call "soft modern", and our family room is in need of a more "modern" look in keeping with the soft, comfortable feeling I need in my home. I inherited an oak bookshelf 20+ years ago, and chose to incorporate it into our family room by having a second one made to match, together with a large armoire to hold the tv and various components. Now many years later, I'm moving away from all the very warm colors throughout my home and working toward a more neutral decor, with warm grays and off white, natural textures. This large wall of oak bookcases is located adjacent to the kitchen which has light maple cabinetry, and the room containing the cases has a caramel leather sofa, white shutters and a warm beige shag carpet. (see photos) My plan is to paint the walls a neutral greige, replace the rug with an off-white textured area rug (possibly Crate and Barrel Alfredo or Popcorn rug), and the wood floor will be stripped and left natural with only a protective coat. I don't have the option of going darker on the hardwood floors because I have the 50's light oak trim throughout my home and I can't deal with a complete overhaul on that! I'm also not changing the shutters out at this point because new windows are in our future, so I'll wait until that time to change out window treatments. What I am considering is either painting the oak a medium deep gray, or gray washing it, or using a gray gel stain. My goal is to make it more contemporary and flowing with the rest of my house which has grays and off-whites. However, I assume that the grain of the oak will show through whichever finish I decide to use because I don't intend to do the work of leveling out the wood and painting it to hide the oak grain (if removing the grain is even possible without a professional paint job). I am also considering possibly removing the middle armoire and picking up or having someone make a low oak cabinet to house the electronic components (surround sound, receiver, etc), and staining or graywashing it to match the bookshelves, mount the TV on the wall above it, flanked by the newly transformed gray bookshelves. Although this would be in keeping with the current trends for TV placement, I'm not crazy about staring at a big black TV screen, and the armoire, although large and outdated, hides the TV nicely when it's not in use. I've read posts about using TSP to prep the wood, and then use watered-downed warm gray paint; or using a stripping product and then applying a gray gel stain, and finally posts suggesting simply painting the pieces gray. I might sample on some oakwood, but it would help to narrow this down to 1 or 2 finishes to make a trial run. I appreciate any advice anyone has, including the possibility that I should dump the whole set on Craig's List, but I'd rather try an alternative first. My goal is to keep it and make it work in this room, considering that I hope to someday turn this entire wall into a contemporary fireplace/entertainment focal point, so making what I have work in the interim is or more practical approach. Thanks for any suggestions any of you may have

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