That is exactly why I have done nothing yet Amy. I love the Parrish prints and they are smaller in size and I don't want to overpower them. I should have mentioned that was my second choice. Putting the larger daybreak centered over the bed and then splitting the two from my side of the bed on either side. The prints are the old ones from the 20's and the frames and glass are pretty heavy. DH wasn't very happy with that option either. While they didnt have the points of the iron piece, They still could do a number on you if they fell. He suggested a poster. I wasnt thrilled with that either. I found some canvas "prints" but they are about $120 each. For about $80 more I could get more original prints in frames from the 20's (of course if they came up at our local auction house) and I can't see spending that much money on a canvas print. That pillow idea is very pretty. I hadn't thought of curtain like fabric hung either. That might work. I think Fabric barn is having another holiday sale. I do have larger lamps I could use but put the smaller ones here so they didnt block the prints. It's just not working. I have been looking on CL for a king bed frame and no such luck so far. Msrose they are from ebay. I will try to post a link to the seller. They have good feedback and the groupings range in price from $50-$150 Here is a link that might be useful: ebay seller

Your rooms really look promising, Fori. It's going to be very nice. If you're really removing the fireplace, I'm imagining a very simple, clean wall separating the kitchen and open room, which would have your doorway with pocket door to one side. Where the counter runs behind the wall, there would be 1 or 2 openings in it rising from the counter itself to the ceiling or that ?beam? up there--unframed, very clean and streamlined. There are various kinds of sliding devices that could be hidden in the wall, or even the counter, to close it/them off. The wall would be left solid in places where it was desirable to hide some of what's going on in the kitchen, open elsewhere for all the reasons it's nice to be open. I've seen examples of this on websites, including Houzz, and really liked some of them a lot for their elegance and function, ideally designed almost as a sculptural element with careful eye to proportion and placement. The background on the opposite wall is composed to be part of the picture, of course. Are you sure you don't want to salvage the fireplace, though? The kitchen seems to have good space. Is the LRM too narrow with it? The bulk of the fireplace looks as if it performs the same function the solid wall I was describing above would--hiding some of what's going on. The stove could slide down behind it and a corresponding wall be built at the outer end of the counter, leaving the center (or?) open. Also, if you pulled the wall off behind it, you might find some additional inches there. Or not. :)

Ductwork all runs through the ceiling. Or rather, along the tops of the ceiling, UNDER the ceiling and inside the room (rather than up in the attic, though there must be a place in the attic where the furnace connects to the heating ducts) In fact I'm pretty sure that's why they put that stupid "bookshelf" there (with the shelves too close together and NOT MOVABLE eg too short, and too deep for actual books and also not suitable for decorative items either, LOL!). Basically it fills in the space under the ductwork, where in the kitchen (on the other side of the living room wall past the bathroom) the ductwork runs over where the wall cabinets are. The story of these houses is a little weird, they were supposed to use plans that included WOOD STOVES (wonderful way to heat in the desert where trees don't grow) but instead used plans intended for a different Air Force base in another state that included oil furnaces. Thankfully. But the oil furnace was replaced in the 70s or 80s with a forced air gas heater and that was pretty nonfunctional (wasn't even correctly connected to the ductwork). So we had that replaced and the existing ductwork at that time was all up through the attic and running along the top of the ceiling in every room. Anyway so originally they intended to build houses that would have included a connection for a wood stove but since they didn't actually USE those plans I'm pretty sure it was purpose-built for the oil furnace originally, since those were the plans they actually (accidentally) used. Maybe there was/is some stuff involving the old oil furnace in there ... That room is WAY too big for a "coat closet", plus the actual coat closet (also somewhat oversize but still obviously closet-ey) is just around the corner there. The "weird" room is 4 x 6.25 and would be 5x7 ish if it weren't for the weird bookcase and offset back wall with apparently blank space behind it. The coat closet around the corner is extra-deep and larger than any other hall closet I've ever seen @ 38.5" deep - more than 3' deep - and 41" wide. It's HUGE for a closet but at least it actually looks like one. As for that odd space seemingly blocked off there between the bathroom and the weird room, I guess I'll need to take out a bit of wallboard and look. Just seems so odd ...

My guess would be that the 2x4 is there because there is a filler piece of some kind - so that a cabinet door near a wall would open fully. Corner cabinets (base and upper) are made so that they do not go all the way into the corner - prevents installation issues due to corners that are not perfectly square and plumb. Generally in the design process, if a customer has an issue with these things, it is discussed to have a skin made and applied to the under side of all wall cabinets. It is more expensive (both materials and labor) and it changes what type of undercabinet lighting can be used.