Bungalow - I was thinking that too about the crib. My original reason for having it out from the wall was so not everything was flat against the walls and you could still see it before entering the room but it might not work. The current bookcase fits on the wall beside the window/behind the chair. I may have to put one there depending on how big the crib actually is in the room. Natal - My mind's already made up about the dresser. The curvy lines and clove cut outs scream girly to me. Looking at what I wrote I realized I wasn't very clear about the recliner. It would be a rocker recliner and the main reason we were considering one was to drag it out to the LR then. I still want something for the nursery, preferably a glider, so we may end up purchasing two chairs when it's all said and done. Ttodd - Thank you! Cyn - Thanks! I agree about the higher up things on bookshelf. We could keep the stuff more interesting to him or her on the bottom ones but we'll have a separate play room for most toys.

After hearing so many of your suggestions, I now know that my concerns about the dreaded wall in my living room were legitimate. I really appreciate all the comments, ideas and helpful suggestions. This site is like having your own private staff of decorators at your disposal. Parma is right, the space was supposed to be for a fireplace, but we decided that we wanted the fireplace in the family room in the basement. Couldn't afford both. Probably was a mistake. I read your suggestions and looked again at my pictures and could see exactly what each of you meant. Things I had never noticed before. 1. The backs of the shelves do need color to make the display pop. Right now everything just fades into the background. 2. There's no cohesiveness to what's on the shelves and there is way too many things. 3. I have already taken down the two small prints on the sides of the mirror. What was I thinking? 4. The jobots are too long. I had never noticed that. Do they need to go to bottom of the window trim? 5. The mirror does not do justice to the space. It may be too small, wrong shape, something's not right. First of all, I really want the upper ledge gone. The problem is talking my DH into letting me find someone to close it in. I love the idea of finishing out the shelves as a bookcase. I think that would look wonderful. Do you think old books would look better in the space rather than newer books? I am a book collector and have many shelves full of novels in various areas of the house. Les917: I really like your idea of the Sunburst Pediment and would like to find a way to incorporate it into the redesign of the space. Any other suggestions or pics would still be appreciated because this project will take place slowly in the spring. Thanks so much in advance.

The bookcases here in our study are constantly getting "uglified" by DH piling things up on them, so I don't have any decent pictures. But, we have a LOT of books and they're not matched sets we've bought for their looks, but books we read and love. I do like to take the dust jackets off of them when I can, though. I also like to intersperse a line of books with a short stack. I tend to try and keep any knicknacks in there large enough to make a visual impact. I think it's important to vary the visual weight from shelf to shelf if you're going to add in a lot of other objects. I also like using good, low wattage small lamps, small framed pictures and paintings on easels or just propped up, pots with or without greenery. I never use real greenery on a bookshelf, though. The chance of water damage to books concerns me too much. We're serious book lovers here! Here's a view of just one of the four in the study here that's semi-decent to show. Please keep in mind that these are bookcases we use for our books, art, photos, music and, in the study, things DH wants to store close to where he works. These are definitely NOT staged for pictures! If you look close enough, you'll see the dust ;^P And here's one small corner of our living room where I was able to squeeze in a bookcase. I keep some of DH's family photos here along with small group of Western paintings. Not as many books here at the moment, but see how I've tried to balance the weight on the second and third shelves? On the second shelf, the weight is on the left with the run of books. On the third shelf, the weight is on the right with the old oak radio, while the first (top) and fourth shelves have a solid weighted look to them across the entire shelves. Here's a small bookcase the houses some of our really old books. Again, I've varied the weight of each shelf from one side to the other. Sorry about the crummy pic, though.

I'm not a decorator nor do I play one anywhere, but I think that no matter what you do with it, the "ledge" is going to look kind of odd without the paneling there. Right now it seems to think it's a chair rail. I can't really tell from the unfortunately dark photos -- is that real paneling? Or is it just plywood? If it's the real thing, I suggest care when you remove it. I'll bet you can find a buyer for it, someone who's restoring a room that's had its original paneling stripped out. Like maybe someone else will do with your room someday. :-\