I think your sectional choice would look great if you keep the dark wood. If you are at all thinking you might want to paint the shelving to tie it into the fireplace more and lighten the space, then it may be a little dark and heavy. But if you darken the back of the shelves like the 3rd pic I posted, or leave them as is, then I think it would look perfect. Some people here seem to be anti-sectional, but I love them. I would take some blue painter's tape and draw the outline dimensions on your floor where you would want to place it, just to see if the scale is right for the room (since you say you are new to decorating). It will help you see if it's too big or too small or just right and where it will fit best. Also think about whether you will get an area rug and what kind you might choose and make sure the sectional would work with that, too.

PDB : 7 was my favorite. 4 was the inspiration to 7 and 8. I'll wait a few more days before revealing the winner. Open and closed storage was always the concept. cdee18: There were several meetings. Excited by my portfolio and secure from the recommendation the client received there were a few very basic arrangements to understand the client's needs. Then, 1 and 2 were presented - based on Golden Proportion kitchen concepts the client understood. 5 and 6 were presented together as variations on the client's existing Japanese wall unit. I may have sketched a rough form of 7 from a brainstorm of 4 with the client next to me. The boxes are the same - only the doors are different.

I would remove it all since you obviously do not have lovely things to display all that will happen is a hodge podge of stuff to fill shelves and IMO usually looks like a mess.

One other observation...the whole view of the area in question looks very cluttered with all sorts of neat things to look at including in the kitchen...but if this was my space i would put some sort of see thru screen from the top of the cabs to the ceiling...not to block the view completely but for a backdrop for all the cool bar stuff without all the kitchen stuff competing...thinking like a mesh type of material