Dee, thank you for the kind words..I followed your advice and looked up your color diva, emailed, waiting for a response. The mirror was money, but not so much of mine. I bought it at an auction and boy was I excited! That's why paint is so important..once that mirror goes up, it will be difficult to get it down. Cam, how did you find that photo? It has all the right elements.bookcases, etc. Nice sleuthing, I love the photo, unfortunately, I don't think I have a wall that would work..no mill work to define it. KMCG your comment is a stroke of brilliance..bring the brown onto the couch to ground it to the floor, where are those pillows from? I am excited to press on, so many good ideas. What do you think about an padded/upholstered coffee table/ottoman? Or a glass coffee table? Thanks again to all!

Porch still looks the same as last pic above - wood furniture on railing end, 2 wicker chairs near garage. The galvanized metal tubs I planned on putting potted plants in after putting river rocks in the bottom for drainage. I could still use suggestions as to whether I should use wicker on the railing end before I make more cushions (I did make the one). summiebee - I want hanging baskets for Mother's Day (DH suggested Rascal Flatts tickets but 4 baskets would be less $$ LOL). Big ferns like in toocolorcrazy's mockup would be nice too but I can't ask for everything all at one. I do want to add molding to top and bottom of the columns to make them "fancier" though I don't know about wrapping them all the way up. First have to get the white PVC along the front under the decking. No $ for shutters right now either since I have 10 windows in front incl the garage. porchtalk - first I thought you were a spammer but I clicked on your link anyway and found I'd been to your website. I love some of the porches you've featured, but ours isn't up to that standard yet. I just pulled the top course of stone off the garage side to paint the underneath framing black, we may pull it all off and put hardware cloth under to keep the critters out and then have to redo all the stone. Plus last 2" of Trex along the front edge is warping and we may have to pull the stairs off, extend the edge another 2" so we have 4" wide Trex there. I'll post pics when we're done. Front is 18" above grade so no railing required but if you look at the picture of the end of the porch with the boulders you'll see there is quite a drop off (app 5-6 ft where the downspout is sloping) so we do need a railing or a solid wall at least 34" high there - could still do lattice/trellis over the railing, or remove the railing as long as there is a solid framing member across at 34" high and bottom can't be pushed out, openings no larger than 4".

We had the hearth removed...I can paint a room, anything more than that I call the pros! It left a place in the floor that needed covering...so you have that to consider. We were redoing the floor anyway - we had 3 different bricks going on in there - the floor was brick, the hearth was a different brick, and the wall was white-painted brick. (2 years on, we still refer to this room as the "brick room." Guests are baffled.) Plaster isn't flammable, so it can run right up to the firebox. To get it up, they firred up the wall, put in chicken wire, then started plastering. There's probably 1.5-2 inches of plaster on there. I'm sure it would chip off if someone wanted to get it off, but if you ever think you want to reverse it, I'd stick to sheetrock. I honestly don't know that it's a DIY - but many are more adventurous than I on that front. Most painting contractors can do this kind of work. Even up close, it looks pretty much like sheetrock. We chose the plaster so that I could go right up to the firebox, and then put the walnut cabinetry over it to emphasize the geometry of the space. Not for everyone, but this is my forever home.

Leather! Leather! Leather! I have 5 boys ages from 2 - 16 and when I found our leather couch, very old, at a yard sale it was like a dream come true. No more dirty couches to worry about, just wipe them down. With browns there are plenty of things you can add anywhere in a room to lighten it and your room is pretty light already. Our furniture is a bit mix matched with different woods but what else you place in a room makes the difference. Your entertainment center... too dark if you are going for leather. It is too big and dark. I hope I was of some kind of help. Michelle