You're not alone. The art in my LR has been really bugging me for quite a while now. I think it looks like I just slapped a few pictures on the wall. The one I plan to have matted and reframed and will probably try to come up with a grouping. Two other walls look unfinished to me. I think adding something to the one wall would look cluttered and the other wall with the picture just doesn't work for me. I just refuse to put anymore holes in my LR until I get a clear game plan.

I'd love to have a mantel!

Shee, my walls used to be the same way when I was about your age. Trust me, when you get to be my age, you'll have so much "stuff" to hang on the walls you'll be storing a lot of it! lol.

I remember starting with one picture. It was a water color snow scene of an old farm house with kids skating on a pond. A friend of my mom's did it and she gave it to me.

It didn't match my colors, but I didn't care, and as I acquired more pictures, I ended up surrounding the original picture with them. The wall ended up perfect!

I've passed the picture down to my son and he has it in his foyer.

Hey, you can come over and fix my mantel!

My problem area is a corner hearth that's been painted and no longer has a wood stove on it. It takes up so much space in the small room but is not really "useable" living space because of the brick step. It's ugly and I am not ready to paint it or go over it with tile yet. I will create a separate post to show you and ask for ideas...

We have an upstairs "game room" for our boys, and it is not decorated at all. It doesn't even have window treatments, and our teen is always opening the closet door in that room to block the sunlight's glare on the TV. Speaking of the TV, the armoire housing the TV is an old, warped, asian inspired piece acquired years ago that no longer matches the decor. The doors warped so much that we had to remove them. So now it's an open rectangular wood box exposing all the kids' video games and movies stored there. Oh well!

I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it!

Master BR! I had a large 47" x 48' framed print but it no longer works because our newer headboard is too tall to clear the print, so I have nothing above the bed, and it looks like a vast empty space. I took the print to a consignment shop to see what they could do with it. She has better connections than me to find it a home, and she lists on CL. It would be great in a beach house or foyer, and it's too nice to just give to Goodwill or Habitat. Someone should want it.

So, yesterday I was at Home Goods, and I found this "branch" decoration that should work out perfect for above the bed. It has colors that complement an existing framed piece. Only $19.99, too. The consignment owner said to find something curved vs. straight above a curved headboard.

Here is a link that might be useful: former thread about large print

Good question! We have a 1960 ranch that we bought when I was taking care of elderly parents and wanting something that would enable us to live on one floor when the time comes (the property slopes, so we actually have a full finished walk-out basement which is great and makes the house larger than anyone suspects). Anyway, the dining room and living room are separated by a central fireplace. The dining room is very small, so we moved it into the formal living room space since we mostly use the family room, library in basement, or deck for sitting around or watching tv. We like this set up, but the former dining room has become nothing more than a pass-through. We have chairs in there and an old pew, but it just doesn't work. The wall connecting the two rooms is all glass at the back of the house and across the room is the entrance to the kitchen, so we are really only working with two parallel walls and one is the fireplace which is not centered across from the other wall, so the chairs and other seating don't form a nice conversation area-aarrgghh. I used to block one of the doors in the glass wall with chairs, but that wasn't ideal, either. Tempted to put the dining room back where it belongs. but then only the table and chairs will fit. Hmmm...thinking, thinking. At least the pups love running through coming in and out!

Cyn, we had a similar room..well, we still do. I used it as my sitting room but dh turned it into his office and now it looks a lot better than it did before!

He uses an antique buffet as his credensa, an antique secretary for books, and one of my "nice" stuffed chairs for clients that I bought specifically for my sitting room! Only downside is he took over the spare bedroom with all of his filing cabinets.

That's one idea you could try. At least the room is being used now.

That's funny, Oakley, because I actually thought of building bookshelves along the one wall even though it would make the room even smaller. DH uses one of the bedrooms as his study, but bookshelves would turn this into a nice little reading area. I love that! Thanks!

My other thought was buying four chairs and putting them away from the walls in the room around a round coffee table. Shelves would still work with that set up.

I have trouble with pictures. I overthink everything down to the last detail, then end up with stuff that's too matchy.

I also find window treatments totally confusing and frustrating.

Yes. My living/family room in our 60's ranch style house that we recently purchased. It is very tiny and narrow with a large bay window and a bar that separates the living room from the kitchen. Of course, the wall that the bar is on, runs all the way down the middle of the house to create the hallway to the bedrooms making picking a paint color a challenge. Ideally I would reconfigure the entire house, but that kind of work is not in the budget right now so I have been struggling with making it look nice the way it is. My latest dilema has been trying to find a paint color that works in the tiny living room area, and down the hallway, and to the back of the living room area where we have some bookcases. Oh, and to make it a bit more complicated, I have a chair rail all the way through this area, and my bay window is a 5-part window which I am having the hardest time finding window hardware for since it all has to be top-mount. I am not quite sure I want window shades, so I now have paper across the window since I pulled the ugly vertical blinds down about three weeks ago. I am still trying to find a solution that I like for the window. Needless to say, there are lots of design challenges in my living room. I wish I had a fairy goddesigner to help me make this room work. I am certain it keeps me up at night - ugh - Ok, enough of my ranting.

I have been trying to redesign my kitchen since we moved in. I have done a make shift facelift but i want a better working area but I have 5 doorways into the room and they all need to stay. I am at a loss and will probally need to switch my dining room and kitchen but that does not feel right in regards to the history of the house and I am not sure if I want to do an addition either.