These are some things I had around the house I thought I'd start playing with to see if anything might work. I hung my son's pics back up. I am replacing the two chairs with a chair and a half chaise type in a dark sage that will be angled toward the tv. So I have this chair available if I wanted to slip cover it. I love the idea about painting the half wall dark. I think i will do that when my painter comes back for other work. The lamp is just from another room for an idea. So - any thoughts on this arrangement in the corner?

I do think you need to add more to them, they are completely outweighed by the mirror. I would add more twigs, but be sure to vary the heights a bit more so you get a fuller effect lower on the sides. When you are ready to bind them, first do it with a rubber band, further up on the twig bundle as you did the second attempt. Then, go to the craft store and get some aluminum 12 gauge craft wire in silver. Wrap them at the binding point a number of times, so that the silver wrap really shows and is several inches in width. It will give them an accent in silver that will connect with the mirror. The wire is inexpensive and easy to use, cut with wire cutters or pliers. You can also buy it on Amazon: silver wire You want the heavier 12 gauge, so that it looks like something. In wire gauges, the lower the number, the bigger the wire.

It's like a transom that isn't matched with a door or window. When my parents built their house they deliberately left spaces like this between several rooms and glassed them in from both sides. They can be opened (I think some of the glass slides), and they display some of their glassware etc up there, but thanks to the glass there is no dust problem. Buying some tracks for sliding glass panels and installing them yourself might not be rocket science. Even easier might be to install something fixed. You would simply get long pieces of wood, maybe 1x2s (thinner might split when you nail or screw it), and attach strips of it off-centre on the ledge itself, up the sides of the opening, and across the top. Then put a panel of plywood, glass, or plexiglass against that frame, and install a similar set of strips against that panel to hold it in. You cold get as fancy as you wanted with painting or wallpapering the plywood, using coloured or stained/leaded glass, or what have you with plexiglass. Heck, it could be a piece of artwork. You could change it out from time to time. You'd still get dust on the ledge a bit, but one of those long-handled dusters would take care of that. I also like Dilly's suggestion of hanging a panel inside the opening or across it. You could actually just treat it like a window and explore various drapery-type options such as a valance or a high curtain even - a curtain from both sides would keep the dust out. Sheers would still let light through. All you would need to install would be a rod on each side. It all depends on whether you want the light coming through and whether you care if sound etc is transmitted (good point on that one, Dilly!). KarinL

My cat votes cat tower or aquarium. I'm all for the slot cars (seriously.. you totally inspired me to consider incorporating that into my living room....). But the indoor grow area made me lol.