Thanks, mjsee! Unfortunately the nearest Ikea is over a hundred miles away from us so I'm not exactly sure we'll go that route cabinet-wise. As for the walls, I tend to agree even if my first reaction when I saw this room was "Oh, eff my life, we need to paint this ASAP." It's grown on me and I definitely don't like the idea that once I paint it we can't really go back. I could see one day taking it down and drywalling it (the insulation is non-existent as we're in a warm part of California so I'd put some in at that point), but we're not there yet. Nicole--I love that look, I just don't think it'll work in my space. :\ Stacey--thanks! WRT the living space, it's set up fairly similarly to the scene shown: two green microfiber couches instead of a sectional, a black/glass coffee table, and from Overstock. We have a black/dark brown TV table, a desk hidden behind the TV, and generally dark-colored wood or pine bookshelves dotted around the room. Oh, and a massive cat tree. :) I took the shelves down from the windows. The fans we brought in are amazing--dark wood blades with these Steampunk-like brushed nickel bodies. The rug:

Thanks everyone for your comments. I don't know if you can see it, but the green square between the two windows in the FR is a sample of BM Baby Turtle. That's the color I was thinking about painting that wall. I agree that painting the entertainment unit would breakup the Knotty pine overload! I was thinking about maybe starting off with putting a paintable wallpaper on the back wall of the bookcase and seeing how it looked with that painted first - maybe do the Baby Turtle on the back of the bookcase, and the white on the shelves. I was thinking about painting the trim white, but thought it might look stark with all the paneling. The fireplace is very tall. I'm 5'4" tall and when I stand on the hearth, I can barely reach the top of the mantle. To put that flower arrangement up there I had to stand on my tippy toes to just reach enough to place it up there. So, to watch TV up there is impossible. The room isn't that large. We struggled with the furniture placement for hours, but with the wall of windows and the builtin, I'm sortof stuck with where things are. I figure you can sit up on the sunroom chairs to admire the fireplace this winter.

I still always bristle to hear rooms called 'grandma'.; using grandma as a pejorative...as far as the autumnal colors, the naturalness of such a palette is relaxing to me, and why I've used such warm colors in parts of my home. Including, in one room, pine paneling, floral curtains (once the new windows are in) and the warm, gentle, autumnal colors. Frankly, I am increasingly really appreciating decorating, in any palette, that embraces comfort and unpretentiousness, and doesn't have to 'wow', perform or impress. One might think this is a result of my grandma stage of life, but I began leaning in this direction since my late 40's. BTW MTN, IMO the chair's teal frames appear to reference the wall color in your photo of the TB interior above.

I generally would favor painting the ceiling and leaving the walls, but since you want to showcase your antique furniture (assuming you have other pieces besides the sideboard shown here), then lighter (or at least non-wood) walls would be the way to go. If you don't want to commit to paint, since that will be fairly permanent, you can also think about using thin wallboard over the pine and painting that the color you want. I might want the wall behind the sideboard painted and if you are open to painting the brick, then paint that, too, although you're going to have to love how your woodstove stands out against painted brick.