I am assuming from reading your letter that you don't have children of your own. If that's the case you deserve a lot of credit and some xtra support for the task you have taken on. I am rearing my 3 year old grandson but it feels easy so far compared to what you are dealing with ESPECIALLY if you didn't raise children of your own. Dynamics between females in a household are often tricky and I think you are seeing signs of this in your 10 year old granddaughter. She is working at establishing herself as a young woman, and you are working at establishing yourself as an authority figure in her life while you amange a home, amarriage, and other obligations. Tough going!! There are bound to be rough spots but I will make a couple of suggestions about smoothng things over. First, try to take your own ego out of the equation. Don't get your feelings hurt if at possible and stay calm as if you were a teacher or doctor. This is hard but it can really help defuse a hot situation. Tell her you will speak with her about it later when you and she can think about the topic some more. Tell her calmly that you are trying really hard to make a happy and safe home for her and her brother. Tell her you don't have all the answers but you will always listen if she needs to talk. Show openess and kindness to her...sounds like she has had a rough childhood and might be needing some soft guidance from a female figure. If she's got a therapist, I think you could use one too! Not forever, just a few appointments to support you in this job. You are worth it. Set your husband straight that he was unfair to dump the costume decision on you and that you and he SHARE this job. Yes, you spend time with them but he cannot sail in to be Fun Person. Not fair to you OR these children who could use a kindly, protective father figure. If I had to guess, I would say your GD is doing some attention-getting behaviors and rather than turn your back on that, give her what she needs now. Otherwise, you will end up with a defiant, ugly teenager who battles with you non-stop. Fix things NOW...you won't be sorry.

October Mist is Benjamin Moore's color of the year. Might be a good place to start? That color is still too gray and will look washed out in a room with no natural light. She needs a color that has more saturation. If the OP lets us know what colors she actually likes, then I can offer some suggestions.

I have a bank of windows that is 38' feet long. We used conduit pipe and conduit connectors to span the distance. Ours is 1/2" diameter. (Don't remember if that's inside or outside diameter.) Also used curtain rod brackets at each connection joint, plus more, spaced as needed. Combined with "C" rings, so the drapes can clear the brackets. Electrical conduit is available in several sizes in 10' and 20' lengths Clean thoroughly, spray with a bonding primer, and then with Rustoleum in your preferred finish.

You can certainly try to move the furniture around to see how the suggestions given might work better than the arrangement you presently have. With the black sofa and the colour of your settee, I suggest a blue & green theme such as illustrated below. You can install drapes by the windows for a more finished look, buy accent pillows, a new area rug with blue & green tones. I also suggest installing a nice pendant instead of the flush light you presently have. A suggest a blue wallpaper on the fireplace (Candice Olsen Cork Blue - or similar ones) and match a blue paint for a colour block on the wall behind the sofa.