Oh, I see. The uplighting from the knee walls is sounding better now. The previous owners of my house used wall-mounted track lighting in my finished attic, which is all sloping roof surfaces and has no horizontal ceiling on which to mount lights more conventionally. We position the fixtures to bounce light off of nearby wall and roof surfaces, and it's a very nice effect. Most of what I know about lighting design is geared towards kitchens -- I'm out of my depth in rooms like you're describing. One thing I've found very helpful is to get a few of those cheap clip-on utility lights with aluminum reflectors and try out different sorts of bulbs, in different positions and orientations, to see what effects you get. This lets you experiment with many ideas very quickly, and is a lot of fun.

I have a few more options. What do you think? Palimpsest, I did the one panel like you suggested and fixed the heights. I also like the idea of doing sort of a raised panel look, either in the color of the trim (with everything the same color) or else in the color of my book cases so it could mimic the book cases on the other wall (they will be stained blue) Any of these options look good? If I went with option 4 or 5, I'd probably have the paneling look more like this than exactly like above: Either painted trim color or painted in the blue.

You can still do tone on tone with blues, as suggested earlier..ground a bit with a touch of dark...very light touch-say something hidden in art? Accent pieces? White, you have plenty, but white and blue together gives you huge choice in accessories-ceramics, fabrics, you name it. It won't read monotone at all-yet still will be calmer room, with a very luxirious feel..add a touch of metals..Art, that goes without saying. Can take time-well so what. Or maybe you already have something you love. Switch to a chandelier..it's a big room, you're very free -or, to put it differently, you're not that limited..)) Maybe by budget, that, i wouldn't know. Would help to know a bit..say a sofa..if the room is as big as it seems to be from the photo, you can go for shapely seating in here, the room can take it. Rounded lines, repeating windows and arches of the mirror etc. Something that looks great not pushed close to these windows. Many interesting silhoettes right now. Obviously better to check how it feels before you buy, and what is the fabric (say cotton velvet will look very cool and real deal, but poly velvet will be very easy to clean..) Depends on an attitude of course too (some people worry more than others), and how one lives..if I wear something white much more chances for me to spill something on it. Other people-they somehow get away with everything white much better. Then my DD-almost lost cause, in terms of keeping white white..I can still hope white will be intact.. I don't know where you/family fall on that scale, but you know. Leather is most foolproof of all..and can be very beautiful..the better it is the more expensive will be..and comes wit its own minuses What is the climate you're in? Will the carpet stay? I agree-better to have a general plan for the room first..what's going to be there? The main things? How they'll relate to each other? A seating plan? Then, you narrow down to such and such pieces. It's almost a parallel process, but general picture still comes a bit earlier

Jennifer K - We're looking at an A-Frame which typically has the two story of windows, although it's a vaulted ceiling and not totally opened to other space above. We like the modern A frame for our lot which is in the forest in a country setting. I guess we could always keep the A frame style in the exterior but not inside? That may be odd though. We're meeting our architecture/design team on Monday, but we wanted to have a good idea of our wants and needs so that we communicate them well. chispa - We do use a baby monitor. we don't necessarily need to hear what they do upstairs, I'm just more worried about how loud the main floor is for them when they're trying to sleep and we're down there. I've searched the forum which is what lead me here. Most of the posts mention two story rooms opened to the second floor, but I hadn't been able to find lots about two story rooms which were closed off to the second floor.