Well, I am biased against using books for display in unnatural locations and really opposed to fake books. Looks like a furniture show room to me. Makes me wonder if the tea cup is glued to the table, LOL. What about a pedestal or decorative box that has nothing to do with books? It's an entry -- a natural location for a decorative box where you would put keys, wallet, sunglasses, etc. Have you looked at the pretty boxes and pedestal type things they often have at places like Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Z Gallerie, etc.? I am totally assuming you live somewhere in the vicinity of these chain stores, but they also are available online. Other online places might include Ballard Designs. Tuesday Morning and Ross also frequently have small decorative items like that (probably a lot less $$ than Ballard or Pottery Barn, too).

An entry stairway is the perfect place to include family photos in the house. I would not have them all the same size & so perfect in placement as Violet showed. Adding some objects in different shapes here & there such as round mirrors to repeat the circle pattern in the lovely railing. This will take time & should not be done in one day. Take your time & live with the changes made to critique them. You have a very large area to work with & therefore can accommodate many shapes & positions. Don't be afraid of visually overlapping items as you mentioned as with the lamp & the stairway as that just adds more interest. Have fun with it.

You have a really nice chest in a good location. I would leave it there, but remove the cloth from the top. The lamp looks nice. If you are using flowers there, real or fake, make the arrangement larger. The striped seat is too large for that area. I like family pics, but it does look less cluttered without them. Do you have another area for the gallery? I tend to gravitate towards black for frames, but you can have a mix. You can help to set the tone you want by your choice of mirror over the chest and artwork on the wall where the striped seat is now. A rug in the style you like would also be nice. Pretty paint choice!

Bahaha, I didn't even notice they looked like "boob lights" until you pointed it out. What has been seen cannot be unseen! Structurally, we're in great shape. No major fixes are needed for at least another 5-10 years, at which point the windows will have to be done. Otherwise, everything else is already new (or relatively new). These are all great ideas and I'm so grateful to everyone that chimed in. I think I've just been feeling so overwhelmed and like I need to tackle everything at once... but as so many of you pointed out, it's OK to sit on it for a while (even years, if I want to)! One of my biggest issues is that I just don't know what I like. I know that sounds crazy, but since I was never really able to make changes to my space before now (we even lived in an apartment when I was a kid), I never had the opportunity to develop what my "taste" is. I will definitely spend some time on my idea books and start narrowing down what it is I like. I have found between Pinterest and now this site (which I just found today) that I seem to be leaning toward a more rustic-type look. PS. I don't actually love all that tan. It's a bit darker than the color in the living room and although the lighter color looks decent in the living room, it's "meh" for me in the dining/kitchen area. Any thoughts on what might look OK with the current kitchen schema, or should I just go for white and revisit later? Thanks again, everyone! I so appreciate the help.