littlemissk We live in San Diego CA but we love Portland and its youthful vibe. Here's a B&B we found that is close to public transportation and makes it really easy to get around. http://www.lionrose.com/index.html

Clara Eaton What about the Amtrak station, the Grotto, Hippo Hardware? All places for lovers of design and beautiful unique things.

olliek Here are some close-in neighborhood crossroads with potential for fun/exploration:
Burnside and SE/NE 28th
Broadway and NE 15th
SE Milwaukie and SE Bybee
SE 17th and SE Tacoma
N. Mississippi Ave between Fremont and Shaver
NE Dekum and NE Durhan
NW 23rd between Burnside and Thurman
NW Thurman and NW 25th
SE Belmont and SE 32nd
SE Hawthorne and SE 35th
NE Fremont and NE 42nd

Some great pubs:
Muddy Rudder (Sellwood)
Deschutes Brewery (The Pearl)
Ramshead (NW 23rd)
The Barley Mill (SE Hawthorne)
Burnside Brewing (Burnside close to the river)
Mock Crest Tavern (N. Lombard)
Laurelthirst (E. Burnside at 32nd)
Migration Brewing (near the Laurelthirst)

Free music:
Muddy Rudder (most nights except Tues/Wed)
Laurelthirst (nightly free show at 6PM)

littlemissk This Travel by Design section really gives us a new resource to check before traveling which is great. We love, love, love New Zealand and Huka Lodge in Taupo, New Zealand has been one of our favorites.

DTStone recommendation for Dorset, SW England:

http://www.woodencabbage.co.uk/

thebsquared01 Kalm B&B (www.kalm.co.za) in Clarens, South Africa is any design minded travelers dream. The owners are an interior designer and a landscaper. Each of the 5 rooms is decorated differently and Karen and Malcolm are the best B&B owners I have come across.

The town of Clarens is a dream destination with some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in South Africa. The town has become a Mecca for artists and creative minds.

littlemissk The change in seasons is making your home much more appealing, but ... you need some color ... I don't know what you've planted in those window boxes but whatever is there should be fast growing, hanging, colorful and noticeable now ... what you have isn't noticeable. I'd also get two ceramic pots that are glazed (for depth and interest) and where the top of the pot ends where the bottom of your window boxes begin for under each area that isn't a window and have a little deeper coloring similar to your door. You can move them around to what seems the most attractive positions. Plant them with some mature plantings that flow over the edges and plume with some color that has red (maybe some cascading fire engine red geraniums), something that is passionately violet/purple and deep golds to spark the front and that tells those at the curb, "hey --- notice me". Your local nursery people should be able to help you if you show them a photo and take a few measurements. I'd also take whatever they recommend (other than trailing plants) and plant a combo in that bed near your front door to make the entry way pop. I don't know how much time you have to sell, but rather than wait for things to grow, I'd get the most full plantings you can get so that everything looks .. great .. now. I'd also sprinkle some of the color around the perimeter of your home to the right and also around the tree. Bright colors stimulate brain activity and respiration and cool colors promote muscle relaxation and reduces blood pressure. Reds stimulate the adrenals and is a color of vitality, yellow stimulates the brain and is a happy/optimistic and uplifting color, and purple helps balance the mind, stimulates intuition, imagination and creativity. The three colors together are a powerful combination and will have an impact on any person pulling up to your curb. Don't discount color.

bevballew Very very nice!

blisscottage06 Window boxes filled will cheery pansy faces - I'd buy the house!

littlemissk What a lovely, open space! Here are a few suggestions: 1) Art on that large wall ... mix it up with pieces of different sizes and expand it so that it goes from one end table to the other and UP. Can be expensive, inexpensive, flea market, frames you found and liked, whatever floats your boat. I'm not a photographer but here's a photo of my wall in my sunken living room (looks better in person ;o)). I've got all these types on it. The wall on the left hand side goes up about 25 feet and then slopes to about 12 feet by a large bank of windows that has art in between the windows and is painted the same color as the lamps (a little deeper). My lamps on those tables are 36" high and, as you can see, I've a totally different lamp in between the two arm chairs (same palette tho). I've run the cord for that lamp down under the area rug and under the couch to an outlet. You can't see the cord for it from the entryway into the room. 2) Your credenza by the stairwell ... stack the two canvases above one another on the vent side and get an interesting lamp for the other side for a third point of light (if you don't have a wall outlet check with an electrician to see if one can be pulled through, should be easy if there is something available in the wall. If there is anything located under your stairwell they should be able to do it for about $100 or less. 3) You've allot of neutrals going with the wall color, the carpeting and some of your furniture. The room needs to be anchored and it's probably impractical to change-out your carpeting. Look around for an interesting, textured area rug you can put in front of the couch that has one of the basic colors of your floral chair (a darker color ... is that eggplant?). 4) Explode your furniture a bit more into the room and make it less tight around the edges. Have fun!!!

littlemissk See my suggestions above and the note about how I painted the wall where I've windows. Here's a quick photo. It helps make the room look less gigantic and more intimate. Ignore the intensity of the color (I happen to love color), but notice how it ties with other color around the room and how the area rug anchors the room. This room is 400/sf and, as mentioned, the ceilings go from 25 feet down to 12. It's sunken and has a larger dining room that overlooks this room, but it all looks intimate.

Angelina Vick You are very welcome. =D I am glad I came across that idea to be able to show it to you.

Thanks for the updated photos. I think your furniture arrangement is working much better now. That mirror is impressive, it's so big it looks like a portal doorway to another universe.

Depending on how wild you want to go...you could do what both of you want. Art and mirrors. It could work. I have seen eclectic mixes like that work. Building it up slowly like a flower arrangement...placing each piece right where it fits.

Maria Negron Love the mirror. Awesome!