tx2nc I love your blue walls! The rug is gorgeous but I agree w/ the others- too small. cottonpenny the two most recent ones were dcrugs and greatfallsdecoratorc but there are actually others I like better that I got rugs from last year- I will have to go back to my old records and find them. If you look at DCrugs, don't be put off by the prices. The most recent one, I put in an OBO for 1/2 of what it was listed for and they accepted. Every oriental in my house came from eBay. Regarding the chandelier dimensions- I don't know. I am away for the weekend but when I return tomorrow, I will get you the dimensions and details :) stinky-gardener, I am not a designer or architect. I am a writer and work in search engine optimization. I just really love decorating and design stuff! The house is new (well, we closed in April '12). There are pics of the rest of it here (http://stonepondhouse.blogspot.com) if anyone is interested and hasn't seen them :) We started w/ a basic floor plan from the builder and I added the conservatory, dog room and sun room, moved a bunch of other rooms around, took out an inside study and completely changed the structure of the kitchen. I designed all the cabinets and picked all the finishes, etc. (I actually made Photoshop mock-ups of the kitchen and all bathrooms and we worked from there and had some truly amazing people that were able to do exactly what I asked! The kitchen especially I think turned out JUST like the photoshop:

Running - I did get your point the first time. Yes, everything you listed is in the photo and has reasons I felt it belonged there. I won't address all of them, but the box holds books for our toddler. I'd rather see the box than a bunch of books since I have other toys in here. The decor items change regularly. Sometimes I keep it bare and other times not. That round end table and the buffet in my foyer are the only two places I create any type of vignettes. The rest of surface space in the house is pretty bare and practical. Yes, those are antlers on the wall. We're supposed to make a room reflect out lives and hunting is a part of ours. I wouldn't like my hockey sticks there. I can't just replace everything in the room. As for the main pieces, sometimes you have to work with what you have. I've already stated I don't plan to make any furniture purchases until we're going to redo the whole room and I have a plan. I wonder how the room would look if you just got rid of that chair (you said you don't use it I think) and all the other stuff barnacled around it and maybe some of the other furniture and decor items. I actually do sit in that chair to read and for conversation. For now, I will say at least it's really comfortable and fits my height well. So you're saying to get rid of everything along that wall and maybe some of the rest of the furniture?? and all the other stuff barnacled around it and maybe some of the other furniture and decor items The other furniture is a loveseat and couch that we use daily as well as an end table between those that's also used. Almost forgot the ottoman, but that gets used for feet and the shelf also neatly holds, and somewhat hides, certain toys. The decorative items are one thing, but I can't just take the furniture out of the room for the sake of it looking better. We actually are following Magnaverde's rule along with our rule of making things work until you can replace them. If I strip everything out of the room besides the main pieces it looks unfinished.

BeverlyFLADeziner, thank you for the suggestions. You are right that this room has caught some things, lol. The wine racks are definitely going away-- we have a full size wine refrigerator coming for our family room and those racks will go on Craigslist. I like the chandelier, but in terms of light fixtures, I'm trying to navigate a fixture that fits with the 1924 colonial style with wainscotting but that is transitional enough to fit my style. I like the unexpected nature of my modern art with the old house. I want the light fixtures to really fit the house, even if I wasn't the one living here. Any suggestions for something that could fit that bill? I am open to new drapes. I think I tried ivory (to match trim) and just preferred the burlap but I'm not tied to them at all.

Oooooh, I like that!! We had window benches in our last home and that was a favorite spot for the kids. This one won't have the lovely window light, but I could see it being a good use of space! The only tricky thing is that I had tentatively planned to put 2 barn doors here... my thinking is if the room happens to be a little messy or we need quiet from the rest of the house we could close it off. (Please ignore the mess that is there at the moment!!) But if we did the built in, obviously we couldn't do barn doors. That might be fine though. I really like that bench you posted! But how would we recess the shelves? I guess you just build out and it creates the recess? I need to show my husband that picture. Do you think there's enough room for it? The wall that you see there to the right of the opening is 42" from the back wall to where the trim begins. And the length of the wall is 76". A chaise was one of my choices... this one that I like is out of stock, and I'm debating how useful it would be for more than one person. Whereas the built-in you showed could easily fit both my younger. Thanks so much for your ideas!! Do you think there's space for the built in nook idea? I really love that!