I've lived with three rooms and a stairway of knotty pine for the past 24 years and it became just too much. The pine tends to "suck" light and it has a closed in feeling. I recently painted the ceiling of the largest room and it helped lighten up everything. I totally painted out the den with a cream colour and I like it so much more. I replaced the knotty pine in the kitchen with drywall and saved the wood for another project. If you're going to keep it I suggest introducing as much white or cream into the room as you can. Take down the valance over the window, paint or change your tables and slipcover the sofa with a light coloured duck cloth cover. Knotty pine calls for a lot of light fixtures but I don't think you have placed your lamps in such a way as to benefit. How about wallpapering the area behind the television? It can be removed later if you tire of it. You could also paper the back area of the bookshelves to help your accessories stand out.

My Basement is Knotty Pine like this. I have used white painted furniture and art with white frames to lighten it up. These pictures were taken at night so it's pretty dark, but in the daylight it looks nice.

Add a colorful rug. Inside the bookcase, line the back and sides with a wallpaper or paint, or cover thin panels with a color or fabric. I would have very large artwork to cover some of the walls. Can use groupings of art together for a collage aslo. There's a lot of pine. Window drapes that have color.Blues, aqua, turquoise, greens may work well.

Oh, I was typing the same idea as 'oneofeleven' Sorry

I would really paint a lot of the pine if you're so inclined or cover it in large doses of light colors either mounted on panels to act as a new wall without removing the paneling or destroying it.

Oneofeleven - I am very interested in knowing what color you painted your ceiling? We have a huge dimensional ceiling in all oak (hate it) it will be a heck of a project to paint but want to o something! Just joined this site.0, perhaps I'll post a pc to get feedback from folks.

I wish I could tell you but it was last year and I've recently repainted the entire house so I really don't remember. It 's in the white family but not bright white and no yellow in it. What I did , was to take a picture of the ceiling in and got advice from the staff at Home Depot. I've found that there's always at least one person who is really good at helping you achieve what you're looking for.

I would highly recomend a colorful rug with soft pastel colors for your furniture. Stay away from busy patterns and dark colors as it will contrast with the wood. At some point too much color, will make the room appear smaller.The lighter, the better as to open up the room. Alternatively, if you are bold, you can try a heavy rustic rug and furniture - but it may busy up the room....