I've never heard of circline, and only of xenon in a very different context (if I'm even remembering that right). There's a Lighting forum on GW here and you probably should ask them what to do. I use T5 or T8 full spectrum fluorescents (vs halogen, incandescent or other sometimes suggested ones) as they're known to be the best (and least expensive effective ones) for tropicals - really the only things that should be grown indoors - and you can try various things, but they must be effective, not burn the plants or your house, and be relatively affordable. I'm not sure if you can find small bulbs for the above fluors., however, so post on the other forum for the best advice.

I would not use any sort of open shelving for the models, which no doubt took many hours to build. I would go "cheap" (relatively speaking!) with Ikea's Billy bookcase and attach the optional glass-front doors. A few months with the models on open shelving and they'll be covered with dust. You don't want to have to keep feather-dusting them. And you want to protect them so your son can have them for years to come. You could go buy clear acrylic cases from a place like Michaels, but they are pretty costly. You have plenty of space for a bookcase or two on the wall where there is now the floor lamp and armchair. Simply pull the armchair (or whatever replacement chair) out a few feet in front of it. If more than 2 boys are going to be hanging out in the room (sons plus friends), I wouldn't even get a recliner. I'd get another sofa for more seating. And some beanbag chairs. To jazz up the place, I might even suggest hanging a WWII plane kite in the room!

Oh thanks so much for the link on the lights, jaybird. I started poking around and GE makes exactly what I was thinking of in an LED version. They are not cheap but I did not expect them to be. AND in poking around I see that they are sold at our local HD for less than I can find them online so I can buy them and try them out and return if they are not what I am looking for. It's obviously been a while since I looked at offerings at our local HD! Your cabinets are so lovely all lit up! I really want the LED because I don't ever want to have to swap these fixtures out and the LEDs should last forever. The piece was not inexpensive to begin with (at least for me, but it was perfect and I've never seen another like it so I went for it!) so I don't want to skimp on the lights. I want to put a really high quality product and I do not want to worry about heat building up in a closed cabinet, especially one made of 100+ year old wood. Oakley, I did not mean I planned to use xmas lights, just that I knew that warm white (in a color temperature sense) LEDs were finally "here" because this is the first year I have seen warm white xmas lights in places like target. I cannot stand the cool blue glow of traditional LEDs and I was kind of hoping that someone had a lead on warm LEDs for my cabinet. Sorry to confuse. I wanted to do a fabric back because that seemed appropriate to the period of the piece. I see a TON of fabric-backed antique vitrines on ebay. I think a mirror might be a little more modern and flashy a look than I am going for (although I believe Allison might have a mirror back in her antique vitrine and it's stunning so I might have to revisit that idea). I already bought some fabric a few years go and here is a mockup: without flash that shows the true colors but is a crappy picture: with flash that reflects differently off the wall and fabric and makes the fabric look lighter but the pic is a bit better: It was just sort of tacked up with blue tape there, it would be taut and neat and I might even get some gimp to frame it with.

bmore I love the way you have your cook-ware ready for action. I wish I had built that concept into our kitch-en so our cook-ware doesn't have to take up storage in our drawers. And I really love the way they look hanging! Are you going to change that? I've thought of putting in a pot rack over our island, but our island is too narrow (24" x 54") and I'm afraid my husband and sons will bonk their heads. Not good, unless I want to discourage them from cooking . . . NOT. I do still want to buy one or two Le Crueset casserole dishes. I'm wondering if these would look-good featured on the bottom shelf. And then I'd take out the top shelf and buy something large to sit on the shelf above the LeCrueset? Allison I saw that china room when you first posted it!!! WOWSA! I just would HATE to be responsible for keeping it all clean. If I had a room like that, I'd want it to be one of the "clean-rooms" that they set up in hospitals, factories, etc. so that no dust entered, lol. Boxer, once again thanks for sharing your library of photos : ) You may not have a lot of open shelving, but what you do have is featured beautifully. Love that java!!