Yea, I agree. Original built ins look really good in that room. People pay a lot of money for good built ins like the ones you have. Also, the shelves really helped with the slanting wall/roof detail, which to me obviously stands out more in the 2nd picture. With the shelves in, the wall/roof the whole area looks cohesive.

Shelves are great for books, photo frames, a little plant or 2, etc..

Good luck!

I have to agree with Janie and misa. Now it just looks unfinished. Don’t compound the error by painting the bookcases unless you are also painting the window frame

Looked better as it was ..sorry

Storage and built ins are rarely a bad idea. Embrace the idea and make them your own and more importantly, make them magical. Here is what young house love did in their bonus room:

Credit: younghouselove

No way should a window seat be put there. It would need to be below the window sill

I am of the other side of this discussion IMO most builtins hold nothing but a bunch of stuff to fill them and I have no idea how high the window seat is but I like that small amount of storage for FR stuff much better. As for window coverings if you are actually going to use that spot for a window seat I would roman shades . Where is your TV it would be helpful to see the whole space and is that the only window in the room? I would not paint them though

I like the original

I like what you did, that was way too many shelves to fill and dust! I'd add doors to the shelves there now and add a cushion top across the whole thing. What is this room going to be used for?

Like the original, would not paint them.

Looks too high and not deep enough to be a window seat. A comfortable seat would have a finished height of around 19 inches and a depth of 18 to 20 inches.

While I like the original built-ins, if you're looking to add seating for this to be used as a game room, remove the built ins and add a shelf at 36" along that wall. Then you can use counter height stools. If you want bar stools, then place the shelf at 42" high.

I hate to say it, but I also preferred the before picture. For me, built-ins are for tons of books, knick knacks that don’t make sense on regular tables, globes, etc. I also probably prefer the natural wood color over painting them white, depending on what color the room will be. I just made the mistake of painting the office built-ins in the house that we bought recently. We flat out ruined the finish in doing so (they were sprayed professionally, but nothing is ever going to look as good as the original finish) and cheapened the look of them. It was just one of many mistakes that we’ve made so far in renovating this house for our family, and I wish that we’d done things more slowly after living here for a while (but there was a genuine reason why we could not).

In your room, I feel like the built-ins as they were gave the room some cohesion and made it feel less like a big, empty space. Decorated, they could add warmth and color to the room.

My hubby would’ve sold his soul for that space. He has books in storage... With the pool table it could easily be his space and as such, he’d be designated duster. While “designed” shelving is lovely to view, sometimes you just need space for stuff.

Thank you for all the suggestions. Do not be sorry for saying your opinion, I have understood that everyone has different choice and likes. So I will not mind.

We do not have any book collections. So I am not sure what I will be storing in them. The first photo was taken when the house was staged. To make it look that I need to but those huge books that we do not read. :). Jokes apart we will using the space as secondary TV room\entertainment area for big gathering. We already have another primary family room. I like low maintenance, with so many shelves I need to do regular dusting which I am not up for. We are painting all the windows and trims and base boars white in the room. I do not like the wood color. It make the room dark. Here are the additional photos of that room. These photos are from listing so the room looks brighter, but believe it does look this bright in reality.

To explain my choice, I know adding a window seat that current height would be too high. So I wanted to reduce the height and get it to 20 inches. We may have to change the window in the future as these are really old. When we do that we can get bigger window that will match the window seat height. I hope that makes sense.

The depth of the shelves is 19 inches. So it will work for window seat.

Anyway, of course it looks unfinished now, because it is! Once you get some window treatments, and/or art on either side of the window, and so forth, it will look quite spiff. Have fun -- neat space!!

If you can lower the part under the window for a window seat, I'd leave the ends the height they are now (maybe that's what you intend) and add doors over all the shelves...sliders probably. Great storage for games or puzzles, throw blankets, etc. in a family room.