Ok, let's look at your lovely inspiration pix. If you like the pale blue drapes, try to find some similarly sleek panels. Blue is tranquil, looks great year round, and picks up the lake tones. While I like blue, I prefer a warmer tone in my master so I've gone in another direction, but you need to feel good in your room. In the inspiration pix, they seem to have echoed the blue with a slightly greyer tone on two regular pillows and two shams. A muted toile adds more interest on the duvet. Two cream pillow cases add pop. A taupey matelasse picks up the carpet color and carries it to the bed. Easy enough to duplicate without a package! I do like the first blue and chocolate package as well as most of the packages though I'm no as fond on the green/cream/chocolate or the last similar blue package. I'd just add a bit of punch with a fun pillow or two if you go the package route. Your current satin and all but one of the pictures you posted have a more tailored feeling than the inspiration photo. The textures stop them from feeling formal, but they are far more structured, so think about which look feels right to you and go for it. Can't see if you have matching lamps and don't know if you really love the scrollwork. If not, maybe pick up lamps with a simpler line and large drum or rectangular shades if that appeals to you. If you want to keep your lamp(s), try a larger shade for more oomph.

First -- let me add a BIG vote for placing a TV within the bookshelves -- and using the cabinet bebeath it to hide the usual cables and equipment. Next -- first I really did like the ruby glass in the original photo -- the color worked very well with the artwork. The art was very nice -- both in its vertical placing and its shape and size. You simply needed to spread out the red accents and add lots of books (both in side-by-side AND in stacks) BUT -- if you feel like a change -- after you have installed the TV -- consider replacing the artwork with a dark-framed round mirror. The round shape would break up the strong vertical and horizontal lines. The other thing to consider would be to paint out the brass accent lines on the fireplace doors. Use very, very fine sandpaper, then sand VERY lightly, clean VERY well -- and paint over these lines using barbecue or high heat paint. Removing these strong visual elements will bring the viewer's eye back up to the shelves themselves. So -- I would concentrate on creating the TV area FIRST -- and then work on the shelving (and maybe the round mirror and the fireplace doors).

Thanks Christopher_H - i just posted on home decorating forum.

Back again - you all were so helpful that I wanted to update this post (and of course ask a follow-up question!) I wound up disobeying the GW mandate after my husband balked at the pair of tables. He is anti-anything that seems rustic, and his OCD-ness seemed to kick in with respect to the chore of aligning multiples. I spent the past few weeks freakishly obsessed over this, and wound up back at the giant furniture place in the way hinterlands of Northern Virginia and came back with something totally different. I found a floor model of a marble/composite table by Bernhardt; it's a matte beige color, which wasn't my original intent. But it satisfied the main criteria of being reasonably Lego-proof and Windex-resistant, and it will enable a lot of kid activity without overwhelming the room. Plus it kind of classes the place up, or at least doesn't make it feel any more ramshackle than it already is. Since the table legs are brushed gold, I'm going to replace the mirrors on either side of the window. Here's my new question! I also need to rethink the overhead light I'd picked which was to replace an old ceiling fan. I have a chandelier fetish, but am trying to hold myself back due to 8ft ceilings. This one below seems like a safe choice and it would actually light the room well, but is it too colonial looking? Or this one (which is only slightly goldish... maybe that's better?) This one totally calls to me (19" high; could I ceiling mount it?)