Thanks eagertopaint! I got the short rods on sale at JCP & with coupon code the price wasn't bad at all. I just draped the curtains up around the window until I had the length & width where I wanted them to be. I didn't want the drapes to cover the windows but to frame the windows. Most of the drapes (say 2/3 or more) is hung over the wall & alittle bit over the edge of the window . You just have to play with the drapes alittle & see what you like best. My LR & DR ones are mostly over the wall & alittle over the window. That way it doesn't block our lake view out the front windows & we have sunshine to light up the rooms. At night if the husband is out of town on business I can pinch them together in the center & secure with a plastic clippy thing & no one can see in either. Hope this helps! Bonnie

Any big store that sells furnishings will have catalogs that will show interiors full of their decor etc, displaying different options in a pleasing way, and giving you all sorts of clues of what goes with what. Whether it's Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn, CB2, West Elm, Anthropologie..you name it. The main problem with it-you don't want your room to look like a catalog one..:) The companies show their products. Your house should show you..which is much more interesting and complicated. So take clues from the pics, and then hunt stuff, partially, elsewhere. And especially look everywhere for art that touches you deeply. Look at it like a book..since that what art does-it makes us feel and think things, it transports us, it can even change us...would you match a book exactly to your decor? no, right? (tan and grey look great together. lots of beaches are a bit tan, grey, and a lot of seafoam..))

great advice upthread I'll try to be short, probably repeating several people: -get rid of the white console next to the fireplace/look for smth else instead if you need it there for function -think of other window treatments. curtains? woven blinds? roman shades? any of these will look better. move your sectional a bit from the wall, both to allow room for window treatments and because furniture generally needs at least couple inches to breathe..that wil also make room seem larger -you already purchased the ottoman in the same color and style of the sofa..off white, right? well something different would be better, but it's okay..buy a throw, fold it and put there to break your lines a bit. tray is great too-both for function and beauty. you'll appreciate it when watching this TV -I liked reading how your wife gets her art:) okay..so if there's no real room for other suggestions(I'm also prejudiced against mass produced canvas art..maybe she can be talked into a print instead?..)..put that art there first. Make sure it fits-seems huge?.. Say you go for that a very similar art, you have there-a bit of white, black, brown, indigo blue, fiery yellow white and brown you already have in your room (btw like your furniture) pull your other colors (in pillows and throws and accessories) from that art -deep sophisticated blues, golds. can be metallic accessories (like vases or flower pots?), can be softest fur pillows can be velvet, can be knitted throw. everythhing you buy-make sure it's a different texture..leather is sleek you've got enough of it. Speaking from experience-I also have my fair share of leather:) then look for a big ticket items like curtains and a rug. (or simultaneously..just keep your general scheme in mind). you can decide to make them fairly neutral. repeat the color of the furniture, just different material of course. or go for one vivid deep color but make it a shag rag for example. Don't try to match pattern to art..art has a mind of its own. Look at the room as a whole..what does it ask for? and know yourself of course..say I love many rugs but I don't like to clean them lol. You know whether it's high traffic area, what your habits are, and whether you'll be sad for 5 min if the rug will have spots and then get over it, or will be sad for 5 days. when you buy a side table try, again, to introduce another texture, just different material in this case. maybe wood. maybe ceramics(garden stool?some of these look really modern). every new material you bring creates dimension. Dimension is something you look for when creating spaces. Why? well that what we've used to. Ouside always has it. Even when it's a desert or an ocean. It has depth. we need to recreate it with all sort of ways and means that are availiable to us.. Good luck! will be a cool room edited because of thousand typos..))

A quick, easy change would be the bar stools. Try flipping the buffet with the piece in the foyer and let's see how that looks. If I were you, I'd eliminate the tables, lamps and art flanking the door. You should consider using that wall space for drapery stack back like in the dining room. It appears the door is in the center so you shouldn't have a problem doing that. Try stacking the two pieces of art vertically on the bit of wall between the dining and living spaces with one hand's breadth between them and that space at 5' above the floor. Stacked art that hangs close to the floor can be striking!