Hello all and thank you for taking the time and much needed attention for my posting. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am that you all even did mock ups for me to see your perspective. I have always thought my wall sconces that flanked my sliding glass doors were not only almost useless but totally forbidding me from doing drapes (which I feel the texture would do a ton for the space let alone draw the eye and soften somewhere other than the harsh fireplace as the focal). I never considered changing the paint color. any specific colors throw them out there. I wont know tone until i select furniture I guess but am a real neutral girl. I love selections of various tans and neutrals and intermixing textures. I never dreamed of trying to pull grout color out. You are all right...the fireplace really is competing with my wall color isn't it? My husband is going to love my suggestion of repainting 3 years young walls that are 18ft high in greatroom (YIKES! :) I have seen in the pottery barn catalog a few years ago where they have the upper part of the fireplace wainscotted in white and with a white mantel. I was wondering if he could even just cover the upper portion of stone with a paneleling type wainscot and maintain a rustic yet custom, modern pottery barn like fireplace. I cannot imagine the mess of tearing it down to reface so am avoiding that drama. I sincerely appreciate your views and advice. Im absorbing all of it. Keep it coming.

A dark-framed round mirror -- to visually balance all of the very, very strong horizontal lines ...... .... then add three very chunky matching dark candlesticks (different heights) on the right-hand side with tall creamy white candles .... ... if you can -- try to keep the objects on the new shelves to one or two colors -- maybe start with dark-woven baskets -- and creamy white bowls. Then have your family pictures turned to black-and-white (mat in white with dark frames) -- and place them against the back wall of the shelves ..... or hang them on the back wall of the shelves ...

I like the far right one as well. Much will depend on the kind of light the room gets... Here's what I do. When I've narrowed down to three colors, I buy tester pots and paint two mighty boards in each color. (6 total) then I tape them up in various spots...and always in one corner to mimic what the paint would look like in a corner. My local paint store carries MB...but one can also buy them online. The are pricy---but work much better than posterboard. I keep them in a portfolio and they are VERY useful when helping friends with paint decisions. melanie Here is a link that might be useful: Mighty Boards.

I would definitely hang it higher, and it does look good framed. Either way, get rid of the floor vase. Is it possible to move that brown furniture on the left away from the fireplace? The fireplace needs breathing room, as much as possible, if you can't move it. Moving the picture up is the most important consideration. The mantel does not need any other decoration.