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I think getting drapery panels hung at all the windows thus hiding the window trim will tone down the wood in the FR and a rug under the table would also help.

I agree painting at this time would involve the entire space

Is this your furniture ? IMO if you want update you will need to change the design since this limits your size of TV for sure. For right now I would probably paint them the same as the walls if that is the size of TV you have. I am not a huge lover of built-ins I find all they do is collect clutter unless you have some fab stuff to display. I like lower cabinets on either side of a FP with the TV mounted at the right height on one and a piece of art on the other but that would involver removing what you have now. So maybe for now paint them and see how it works for you.

Hi Patricia,

Thanks so much for your comment. This is not our furniture, this is the listing pics. We move in in a few weeks.

The TV we have is bigger than the one shown, but we most likely will buy one this size unless we decide on a new design for the space.

So, you would paint the built-ins the beige color of the walls? Do you happen to have any visuals for what you mentioned above with TV on one side and Art on the other? Do you think this would work given that one wall is slanted?

Really appreciate your advice!

if it helps, this is our current family room to give an idea of our style. We will be moving out of this house, but furniture and decor will come with :)

Here is rendering with wall color

and with white

May be to go with warm greige for accent wall to down yellowish? But leaving just doors and window trim.

Wow thank you so much for providing these renderings and opinions! What program did you do that in? Any chance you could do the cabinets in the greige color, with the drapes in white, and the fireplace left in wood?

Not sure if this will look okay. If it were me, I would paint the built-in to the right of the fireplace but remove the unit to the left and drywall it so there is a flat surface for a bigger tv.

Wondering if a bigger TV on left side would seem too unbalanced. We are fine with not having a huge TV in this room as we have our big TV in our basement.

Would something like this work without updating the trim white in the entire house? pardon my not so great photoshop skills.

Jenny your rendering looks like the best solution. Just painting the built ins because of their inset design looks odd to me.

Jenny, I like your last picture (not a pro mind you). If you remove the top doors at least it will open up the space a bit. I like the built ins and the mantel painted white and adding curtain panels to hide some of the maple wood on the windows.

This seems like a pretty fine tuned question...i feel like the present wall color should be updated to a grayer color in this well lit room...it was obviously chosen to coordinate with the golden trim....add to that the pics cannot accurately portray color ...proportions ..etc...but it seems to me the side pieces are kind of dating the room...with out them you can do something fresh and exciting in this space...when you move in you can eliminate things you have that you don’t really love and keep the things that really fit in this new home.....which has no need collections or clutter ..

Here is a mockup of RTHawks idea.Built-in grayish.

And built-in blue-ish. Depends on whether you want to draw the eye to it or not.

Just playing

And radically different! Changed the firebox to a linear one. Since you would have the hole from the cabinet removal..

And one more.

Can not make smooth greige cos texure

It seems to me you would want the TV on the angled wall, to minimize glare from all the windows and especially if you want to be able to see it while cooking.. So maybe if you don't need the storage, you could drywall over both, put the TV to the right of the fireplace and you'd have room for seating or display storage to the left of fireplace. I"m impressed with all the options in the renderings, but not a fan of just a single built in on either side.

It fits with the rest of your house style. Beware of changing only one element.

(... and do NOT go gray)

I agree with strategery. I would not paint the built-ins. Leave them be. They match all the other trim in the house. You could remove the doors if you don't need hidden storage and don't mind extra surfaces to dust.

ETA: the biggest update impact, IMO, would be to remove the carpet and replace the kitchen flooring w/ all the same type of wood/ wood-look flooring.

Something like this with art above the one and of course no windows