Nice house! I think that golden oak and brass fixtures will soon make a comeback, because dark wood and silver/stainless have been popular for so long. I don't think the peachy wall color in your house looks good with the oak, though, because it makes the oak look so yellow. Before you paint the trim and window blinds, try painting the walls. Our walls are a pale khaki/green, so light it reads as a neutral, and it looks great with warm wood tones. I've also seen nice warm grays look good with golden wood. On the other hand, as much as I love wood, I think the bookshelves look odd in that spot, mostly because they appear to be floating above the baseboard heater. I think that would be the best wall for the TV, so you may have to change the shelves to make that work, or move/remove some of them. Can the dining room be closed off completely, with a big arched doorway? With such open space in the other rooms, it might be nice to have a more intimate space for contrast, and to have less sound bouncing around when you talk and laugh at the dinner table. Can the ceiling in that room be lowered? If not, I do like the grill idea suggested above for the openings to the DR. Lastly, before you shop for furniture I would make many copies of a to-scale floor plan and try moving little paper pieces of furniture around to make sure you can make it work before you buy it.

You donÂt think the first arrangement looks like a cave? I would hang the picture on the wall, not lean it, but it looks rather cramped. I have a pair of tall thin buffet lamps I was planning to use with the picture, except that the shades would hide part of it, making it look even more cramped. If I kept it in the middle, I thought of pulling that case out more from the rest to set it off, maybe 4-5 inches. What do you think about this idea: I have a piece of 1 ¼ thick granite, left over from my kitchen, I could put on top: almost same width but 18 ½ inches deep (except IÂm not sure about the color, which is rusty red and black). The cases themselves are only 11 ½ deep. That would mean the granite would project out from the front 2 inches, and the back of the bookcase about 5 inches. Make it look like a sideboard? But that makes the short case definitely the focal point in the room: IÂm unsure about that. Otherwise, in the other layouts, there really is no focal point. I imagine the eye will wander over the row of cases and then zero in on one of the art objects. The downside of #1 is that the corner canÂt be used now for a floor lamp. I can take the tall skinny case shown at right angles in the corner and put it by the door in place of the short case. But unless itÂs a skinny lamp it wonÂt fit in the corner. The uplight floor lamp I was planning to put there, because it throws a lot of light upward, has a 20" wide shade. The last arrangement before I posted here was #3. I find I am already dumping things on the short bookcase next to the door! But itÂs the only place to put my notes and tools right now. If I took back the short one to do #1, I could get another short but narrow one (15") for that spot, so I could still put a lamp on it. I know it will all look different once I have the books, art objects, and pottery on them, but I donÂt want to set them all up then decide to move the cases around again! There is no ceiling light, and there is only one window. Daylight is enough if you want to sit RIGHT next to the window, but I doubt I will ever sit there and read in the daytime. I am dependent on having good lamps in the room. I hate to clutter it up, though, I looked at Ikea (where I bought the bookcases) for bookcase lights, but they were all halogen, which is too hot; and too modern in style. I put a floor lamp in the corner for picture 3, and it cast a lot of light (could not use that shot with it on because it washed out the exposure). I wish I were not being so indecisive about this.

That's a really nice setup there, Wozzies! I think it is okay to have them differently in this case. There is a desk there so it's not supposed to be a formal meet-the-queen kind of room. Try for a weight symmetry maybe?--about the same visual bulk on each side. Your shelves aren't heavy looking so they don't be making much of an impression anyway. I think it's better for the shelves to fit the stuff rather than trying to get stuff to fit the shelves (which is what many of the current design photos have). Just more practical and more interesting. It also looks like you have books for a reason other than decor. But if it doesn't look right, you can always redo it. It's a good pandemic activity for when the gym is closed. :)

I feel like everyone with greige homes and darker trims has black windows or shutters at least, so I wasn't sure if my white windows everywhere will look good with the dark rock and darker trim (well again, I originally planned on white trim). I did like the black garage door you had in the pic above with the large numbers very much. This one of many choices and I just feel overwhelmed! You have so many great ideas on the garage, I just need to finalize this trim and make a decision ; )