Yes, all old houses have histories and usually interesting ones. I started out researching the census for this townhip, and then found some 1835 atlases. Here she sat in all her glory. I own a business at this site too, and the elderly customers from this township were more than happy to sit down on a hot summer day and share their recollections of this house from their childhood. I found out that there was a one-room schoolhouse about a quarter mile down the road, and in the early 1900s, the teacher would send two boys with buckets to our property to pull up water from the spring house for their day's use in the school. I also found out who owned it initially and that he was the first mecantiler in this township. That led to more questions, and another fellow down the road said his store was in a wooden building right across our drive to the road. It was moved in recent years to an intersection down the ways and was a little general country store. That the original roof was wood shakes, and later found them when we had to replace the roof. Found the original owner through tax records, and the owner who built the store and lived here, where he was from and on the inet, got an accounting from an descendant who gave me their life's story. Half of the family died off from tyhpoid fever. Followed the family through old local newspapers on microfilm and found out his son was a mayor of the nearby town and owned a shoestore. More folks came by with pictures taken during the Civil War. Found deeds where it was purchased by a coal company and mined, and found out it was the stopping point of the first road built in this township and used as a road house. On and on. It really adds to your appreciation of the house you call home. Makes you also make a firmer commitment to keeping it up, because you are living in history, literally.

My previous house was a 1994 tract-type GenericCape. Borrrring. Reasonably cute on the outside, although whoever designed it was drunk when he chose the window and dormer placements because the proportions were off. But I thought it was plain ugly inside, since the rooms were all open to each other without so much as an empty doorframe or soffit between, and even though it was built in 1994 I swear it was built with all the 1980s crap no one else wanted (guess the builder got it all cheap)! I think the only thing that would have really "gone" with the architecture (such as it was) was Pottery Barn! We had no option at the time of moving to a house that matched our style better, we had a limited budget and the selection in the towns where we needed to live for DH's commute was dreadful - since the only one that was in a great location would have required at least $200k in renovations (on a house that was $265k to begin with), we simply took the best-condition one in our price range. I will admit that I just pretty much rammed my stylistic preferences into it, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead, and for the most part it did work okay. Probably because the house was SO much of a dull, soulless, boring blank canvas all by itself. I did tame back some of my more over-the-top urges, like the carved-to-death Savonarola chair that I came THIS close to buying :-) because they would have been too much for the house to carry. When we remodeled the master suite I was able to change out all the moldings which made a HUGE difference in getting the atmosphere a little bit more toward the Arts & Crafts-y look I prefer without trying to make it into a bungalow, although we never got a chance to do the rest of the house as we wanted to. Changing lighting to get rid of the "brasstone" and pressed-glass fixtures helped quite a bit. Replacing the ghastly wall-to-wall with hardwood helped a LOT, as did my color choices. We put enough of ourselves into it that it did suck to have to sell it last year, but now it's in the hands of a family who really like it and have promised to take care of it. To keep your birdies from crashing into the windows, why not hang the sheerest of sheers over the window itself, something like an ultrafine linen (fabrics-store.com has an excellent price on it BTW) or a lovely lace (I love Country Curtains' Point d'Esprit Lace) so you still get plenty of sunlight, as a starter? Those hanging stained glass pieces would also go beautifully with your decor style, and they certainly don't need to fill the whole window to prevent your feathered friends from crashing. Then, put furniture pieces like benches, console tables, low bookcases, sideboards, under/in front of those horizontal windows to draw the eye down and give the whole assemblage more vertical massing. If you can do flanking draperies that just barely kiss the floor and that also bracket that piece of furniture nicely, it will look even nicer. Don't do sill- or apron-length WTs because those will just emphasize the horizontal nature of the windows and you want the eyes to be going up and down; I think blinds with horizontal lines (wood, Roman shades, etc.) do the same thing but some others don't agree with me. Walls of draperies do NOT have to look modern if you use the right fabrics in generous amounts and loads of trimmings! Do you think a jewel-toned velvet or a heavy damask trimmed with bullion fringe and wide silk braid would look modern? No way! Now, to get back to your original question about window grids/grilles. I've never used these, but I did have a site called NewPanes in my sixteen gazillion bookmarks. Because of the connectors I'd still want to hang some sheers over them but I think they might look pretty good without completely gutting your poor pocketbook. Fancier but also pricier is Big Blue Window, which makes custom grilles. BTW, I'll be honest. This last time around, the house I REALLY wanted was a 1972 ranch! It was on a good big lot, had excellent exterior proportions so I could have tarted it up into a cute little cottage with some bungalow flavor, and the interior, although a hideously dated 1970s idea of modern, had a LOT of potential to, again, be tarted up quite prettily. The "Victorian Lite" we ended up in was actually our third choice! Now I do think it's a bit bizarre to take an over-the-top detail-loaded Queen Anne and decorate it in an ultra-contemporary fashion (I cringe whenever I see it, and it's getting all too common) or to cram an Eichler type house with Louis Whatshisface gilded frills-and-furbelows, but something really bland can indeed be amenable to some additions.

My 2 cents...if it were my room I'd go with the lighter color you posted in the first set of pix. Stay with the red WT, and the original gold leather. Love the lantern chandy. I'd do the ceiling in the gold in your last photo. I am not loving the greenish chairs in that room. It seems like yet another color competing with the vibrant colors of the rug. Alternatively, if you go with the last color you posted, stay with the red drapes. They really work great. I did a faux stucco finish in my kitchen, and I love it so much that I did it in the master bath, too. I used joint compound (used for sheetrock seams) and spread it on thinly. Then went over it with a damp sponge, pushed it in, then pulled off, leaving spikes. Then knocked that down with a trowel. Once it dried (waited a couple days) I painted it an ivory color then went over that with an antique glaze. I find it quite easy to clean, the glaze acted like a sealer. I can't photograph it well, so no pic, but if you really wanted one I'd try to do it again.

I'm back again. I am having so many struggles with picking the right gray (as evidenced by by the million sample cans of gray paint in my house and painted on poster boards) I still don't feel qualified to offer any advice on your space. I didn't read through a lot of the responses. I just stumbled acrosss this article, perhaps it will help you. This woman is an expert. Speaking of my gray drama, I was lucky enough to be at the taping of the new Nate Berkus show yesterday. There was a moment that he allowed for a Q&A, and I am kicking myself for not asking about "The Perfect Gray" and "paint color on the ceiling". The question that was asked was the most ridiculous question ever--so long winded that it didn't allow for any more questions. ugh. Here is a little blurb about ceiling paints: Here is a link that might be useful: Colour Me Happy