I really like these ideas! The medicine cabinet I want to keep. I really do use it and putting its contents - which are really small - in baskets would not work. There is no other open wall to move it to. I do have good - though mostly indirect - light for plants in this room. I took this photo at night, but if you look at the mirror on the left, you can see a reflection of the window, which is in a 1 foot deep box bay. There is also a skylight which is about 6 feet away. This room also has a tall ceiling, so even raised up on this boxy thing, I have room for a tree. Funny how I have never thought of that. It is winter here now, so I will probably have to wait on buying one, but I could start looking now for the tiered shelf. That stair one is really nice, and an interesting form for this square shape.

So you want to use the living room for children's play, TV watching, piano playing and entertaining guests? That's a lot of function for a small room. I'm wondering, do you have a dining room and what do you use it for? If you have a dining room, but mostly eat in the kitchen, you could easily turn the dining room into a piano room and play room for the next couple of years, until the kids don't need a play room anymore. Then you could have a living room with furniture that can float away from the walls. You could have adequate seating for guests, without cramming toys and a piano in there. Your options would be greatly expanded. Maybe you don't have an eat-in kitchen and this idea simply wouldn't work in your house. But it just seems to me that you are trying to fit so many different functions into this one room, and if there's any place in the house you can move one or two functions, you would have a much easier time decorating this room. Don't lock yourself into what the name of the room is; look at each space in your house in terms of what functions it can best support.

Sorry to be putting this here.....I don't know how to post a new message, only how to respond. Yes, the tile (travertine) is in most of the house, including the upstairs (extra bedrooms, theater room and game room have carpet)...the family room has a large sisal rug and our bedroom and bath have wool area rugs. The house has some angles that make the pattern be diagonal rather than straight in parts of the house. We are in SoCal so the bare floor works here. SOOO sorry for the big pics, I have been trying to shrink them for 20 minutes and this is as good as it got...and again so sorry to add this to the original post....

Remove that carpet from the ledge that is just silly. I would look for an amazing contemporary wallpaper for above the trim and a coordinating color of paint for the bottom. When you have the money change those spindles to something much simpler if you like contemporary.I love a touch of metallic. Remove the carpet from the stairs and paint the spindles white, A nice sized round table with gold legs and glass top with a fab lamp with a gold lined shade in either white or black depending on the wall paper and a vase for fresh flowers when you entertain or just for everyday.