That is such a weird one in shape and placement. My money is on ignoring it.

Why do builders do this—are they striving for character?

Congrats to them!

I’m with you — I’d just ignore it.

Lisa, I ask the same question - why? Do they get to count it as additional square feet? 🙄 It almost looks like ”oh gee, we didn’t leave enough room for the fan blades. Let’s just cut into the wall.” Not the case, of course.

It's an odd space, for sure. Ignoring it would make it louder to me. So, I say, work with it. Perhaps a place for a pottery collection? A trailing houseplant? Keep a ladder handy.

The space doesn't seem as gray as many spaces. It's more a neutral on my screen, waiting for something to happen.

Maybe they thought it would be fun for the homeowners to have a place for their collections.

I'd get it closed up, but if they like it enough not to do that, they should leave it alone until inspiration hits, or they have enough commemorative whatevers to line up.

Who am I kidding … I’d put some of my cool vintage baskets up there.

Right now, they’re on top of my cabinets, which is #3 on the Seven Deadly Sins of Decorating list.

I would display a few large pieces of pottery there.

Do they have cats? My kids have a smaller niche but my DDIL put wallpaper on the back and floating shelves for steps. The cats have a haven from their 2 dogs. I thought I had a picture but I can't find it now. It is cute (in a young house).

I think some people like them.

When I redid the the HVAC in my house, the old LR wall, which is solid masonry had a number of flat oval ducts installed in front of it, and new framing was going to be built around it to make a new flat wall. One of the HVAC guys said "You have some spaces left over that you could build niches in".

Then, when I was showing somebody a picture of the cat (We lived in the house for a while just ignoring the ducts all over) somewhat said "what are you going to do in the spaces? You could put some cool niches in between"

I would try to ignore it, but I might put something up there if they were big enough. It's not exactly going to go away if you ignore it and if it was "shelf" there would at least be a purpose to it.

Actually the grey is just not grey enough that it doesn't bother me. Most of the grey here looks like a black and white photo.

I would get furniture and art placed, then decide after living there for a few months. Not fill, just to fill. Most of all, not buy just to fill. Part of the new house fun is creating a home.

I know this won’t be a popular suggestion, but I would do something a little dramatic, to make it look like an intentional choice…like paint it a bold color and place largish pottery pieces, different shapes but all the same light color. Or baskets in interesting shapes. Nothing that would be best viewed up close. Might even put some remote controlled battery lights to highlight it. I would use museum putty to secure things so I could dust with a long handled device.

Maybe not any of these colors, but this idea

What niche?

Because "ignore it" might sound like flippant advice, I might say "Why don't you wait until the room is done and see what you think might work there. Meantime keep an eye out. Whatever it is, it should have enough scale that you can see it. But don't rush it."

Just curious, but why don’t they want to close it up with drywall?

Maybe a smaller version of this.

I have one of those - not that big though. Fortunately mine has an outlet with a wall switch so I have a simple decorative thing going on up there with fairy lights inside a large blue vase and along the base with some blue xmas ornaments in a glass bowl on the other side. Kind of out of character for me to figure out something like that but I really like it.

Ditto what Allison said. Do nothing. Live in it and don't buy just to decorate. When we added onto the house I really wanted a niche which were "in" at the time. Then I totally forgot. However, we did end up with what I call a ledge, and so far I've left it alone.

There wouldn't be a ledge except I had the double door closet custom built so one side of it would fit a big Christmas tree along with my plastic boxes of decorations.

The left door is h&a. Look to the top left of the ledge, that was the only place to put the return air vent.

Best decision I ever made for storage because in front of the closet is a small drop leaf table where I do all my Christmas wrapping. :)

People don't want to close them up because it's framing, drywall, taping-spackling-sanding and painting, and it's expensive and a pain for the relatively small area in question, especially if this is a new house.

I could use a space like that. I collect wildlife art and like to use natural items in my home for décor. I have several paper wasp nests. They have to go up high and in a space where they won't be knocked about or they will shed their paper layers. A nice piece of driftwood, my birds nest, my wasp nests and maybe an iguana going up the wall would be perfect.

Oh, to be able to afford a Botero, @dedtired My first thought, of course, went to a Chihuly. Either would cost more than the house! @3katz4me when you said ”I have one of those,” for a moment, I thought you meant a Botero. I was really impressed!

Fun2B, its not that they don’t want to cover it. It is a matter of budget. Their move-in budget is limited. With other items that are needed for a first house, covering a niche falls way down on the list.

Oakley, I never ever would have noticed the return air vent, if you hadn’t pointed it out!

It really depends on how they furnish the place. There are any number of things they could do but should settle in and have their furniture, rugs and art in place for making any decisions. I would have drywalled it up the moment I got the keys and IMO that is their best option and one that will instantly update the room.

I wonder why they don't want to drywall it. It isn't really all that hard-my husband taught me how to do it. That is what I would do. Putting something up there means I would need a ladder to dust it. Hmmm, I guess I would need a ladder to dust even if it stays empty. Whether ir is visible or not, I would know it is there and it would drive me nuts.

Of course, they could put in more niches and make it look like Oly's photo. Pretty cool, that.

Cyn, you must have missed my comments above. It isn’t that they don’t want to fill in the hole. It isn’t in their budget to pay someone to do it and they are not DIY people.

Yes, leave it empty for now. Buy the furniture, rugs, paintings , etc. Then, think about what to put in the nitch.

Of course, I’d do the cat shelves LOL. But I agree, pottery or baskets would be cool.

The more I look at the niche, the more I dislike it. The only good use is as a cat perch, necessitating a little ramp or wall-mounted steps.

If they live in earthquake country, stick with baskets or lightweight wood carvings.

I have plants on mine because it gets nice indirect sunlight. Watering is a bit of a pain, but thankfully my plants don’t require frequent watering.

As is obvious by now--w/o more information on the new owners suggestions are tough. I don't think ignoring it is reasonable. The only way to make it look like it makes sense is to do SOMETHING with it.

I am currently ignoring an obnoxious niche that I'd like to dry wall over but haven't dared the expense of having to repaint a huge vaulted room with a color that I like that the previous owners picked and I don't have extra paint for. So obviously my opinion is that ignore is always an option.

Alternatively I'd put plants up there if the owners don't mind getting up on a ladder or something to water them.

I know people do not like fake plants, but there are some very nice ones now. They do not look like the old plastic stuff. There is some plastic, but most is silk or something like silk. It is great if you have no light.