MOOSEHEAD trumps ALL! Love the moose head and I too would paint the fireplace charcoal. Room is looking great ,please post some after photos. Paris

Definitely. Keep it sleek with minimal texture and very simple!

Thank all of you guys for all the great suggestions! I took the majority of advices to go charcoal on the wall for now; went down to the store yesterday and got a quart of grizzle gray by sherwin williams. 24 hours later, I'm loving my new wall! I still plan on framing the moose in a crisp white frame.

It looks great! Good choice!

Oh yes! And the moose head really stands out, now, too. The deep grey also picks up the 'hearth' tiles so well - they have become a 'decorating element' now instead of just a functional requirement.
Some kind of a sleek mantel would still go well; I'd do a chunky floating shelf JUST above the firebox, either in charcoal/black, or espresso, or (if you like a little earthy contrast) a rustic-finished wood that relates to the floor.
Excellent job.

One quart of paint and it transends the room from Wow to KaPow...*clapping*

Cdrdesign, thank you for the great tips. The sofa protruding bugs me to no end as well. I can manage the sofa to align with the wall but the other end will be butting up really close to the credenza. And if I scoot the credenza over to the left, I lose balance with the tv above. I will have to play around with the configuration over the weekend. :)

Love the fireplace wall. I love when people can save money!

About the furniture arrangement, that is why I do not recommend leaving couch on the wall. I would try floating couch and facing it toward the wall. This will better define your living area. Alternative is to face couch toward tv (where chair is now).

Good luck playing with that arrangement, Let us know how it works out.

Forgot to mention, with your fp wall painted, the moose takes on a larger presence (my perception). I don't think you need a frame. I like the clean look of the moose by itself.

Floating the sofa where the chair is currently at could possibly work. I don't see the sofa facing the wall working unless a complete reconfiguration of the whole room takes place. We'll see how far I'm willing to go. I'll update any changes made and keep you guys posted.

This is where not actually being in the room is a disadvantage. Let us know how it works out!

I apologize for not having though of this before. But, I would recommend that you paint the trim in the charcoal area on the bottom and the top in the same color (grizzle gray) in a semi-gloss.

Here are a couple of photos that show the cleaner look you will achieve.

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Would never have thought about painting the trims the same color. It does look very clean indeed. I'm loving both the tile face of hyde park and the dark gray stone used at MNR.

I know. It would be awesome to add some texture with stone. I do not think they will date themselves. It really depends on your budget. I would say that just painting it is a huge step.

Also to consider is how long you are going to be there and, if you will be selling in the next couple of years, what your competition has done as far as updates.

I think buyers would appreciate the built-ins more than a stone-faced fireplace.

I prefer the first picture where the fireplace does not stand out as much. It was clean and minimalist. The dark gray color breaks up the wall into 3 narrow columns.

Cdrdesign, I like the idea of painting the trim gray but do you think it might look too choppy to do it in my case? I will have a very stark contrast from dark gray to white at the top and bottom where the fireplace walls end in comparison to the examples you've shown where they have trims only on bottom or no trims at all.

I feel in order for it to work, all the trim in the space should correspond with its wall color. What do you guys think?

An alternative is to paint the bottom trim only……leave the top white.

Here is another photo from Hyde Park Loft where they painted the bottom baseboard charcoal, but the rest of the room has white baseboard
[houzz=]

I like the idea of building out both sides with matching bookcases - simple clean painted white - you can buy unfinished. Now you just have front face of fireplace to deal with. We did stone veneer - Norstone but Lowes has something similiar. I would carry the "wood" from bookcase across top of fireplace - you can fashion a simple mantel and just "stone" lower portion. The entire wall would then be finished. The couch would then float in front of fireplace. You can put TV in one bookcase. I would end right sided bookcase along side upper A/C vent. Good luck.

I am painting the bottom trim only rightnow. I had a sample quart of grizzle gray in satin from left over paint swatches so it worked out perfectly.

Cdrdesign- thanks for the suggestion. Even with just the bottom trim painted, it looks much more cohesive now imo.

Chris, that looks really good. Those "white wings" were really bothering me. Now the mantle and the hearth flow together.

We are getting down to some picky, tweaky things now. When you are playing around the with lr arrangement this weekend, you might try taking down the LA poster and see how much more the moose stands out. Just a thought, if you think it might work.

When you walk into your place, the first thing people see is the bookshelf. It seems to me, it is filled with a lot of small, unrelated pieces/not really performing any function. Form follows function. I would love to see the LA art there, as long as you are moving things around. You could try the shelves where the LA art is now to give you an idea of what a bookcase would look like there.

Alternately, you could just buy a couple of bookcases that sort of give the feel of built-ins or maybe use the one you have? I am not sure white is the right color, though.

I will most likely spend some time this weekend fiddling around with the arrangements. Thanks again for the help. Will post any updates!

Hi Chris! The place looks fantastic. Our furnishings suit the look perfectly. We posted an album of your space on our facebook page. Please take a peek! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151907702991630.1073741839.95206976629&type=1

The new paint looks amazing! Great transformation!

LOVE it. thanks for painting te bottom trim dark grey with the rest. That was the final touch that made it feel right. :) now I can sleep (haha!)

@ssplatt thank you and sleep well :) haha

Tiny update- I took @cdrdesign advice of hanging the Los Angeles print where the bookcase was. The windows and that wall is the first view you see when you enter the space and I agree the print is more "fitting" visually than the bookcase.

Chris, that looks awesome!! Much cleaner look when you enter!!

Wanted you to know, when Houzzers are reluctant to paint their fp surround, I refer them to this discussion. It almost always persuades them.

Gorgeous home! What did you do with the bookcase?

Vickicz- thank you. The bookcase and the print have switched places at the moment. I am thinking of switching out the bookcase for a couple of ladder style shelves in the near future.

CDR Design- glad I could be of some help to fellow Houzzers! :)

Would love to see a picture of the bookcase, if you have the time.

a stone finish of any kind will definately add some character... I would do the entire wall!

Vickicz, sure. This is what it looks like currently.

It looks great, but I really like your idea of the ladder style shelves!

Specialty Doors, I would love to do some stone too. For now, I have a complete renovation of a bathroom I want to tackle on this year. Hopefully I'll have some funds leftover to add some stone. :)

Hi. I would not add ladder bookcases. Protrude from fireplace?

Other observations

-starburst is competing with the moose
-bookcases are competing with moose
-I would paint both bookcases the color of the wall
-then bookcases need to be cleaned up---too many little things scattered here and there

Good progress!!

I prefer your original arrangement of bookcase and starburst against the other wall next to balcony and LA poster and bench to the right of fireplace. New arrangement is not working.

The business of the bookcases and the added business of all that is on them is dominating, when it should be the moose.

The funny thing is right after I did the rearrangement, I loved the look of the wall between the windows but immediately disliked the placement of the bookcase for the reason cdrdesign stated above. To the point where I almost undid the process again but got too lazy. I know the culprit is the bookcase, but which layout do you guys think is preferable with current as is furniture?

Before rearrangement-

You are correct. Here is the situation: the moose is the focal point. You need to accent the focal point and Also achieve balance on the 2 sides.

The moose is not the accent because there is

There is too much business on the sides. I would recommend removing the bookcase on the right. On the left I would remove the shelves. Ideally what would look the best is a bench on each side with pillows. At the least

Try removing all the shelving.

The shelving on the left above desk is fine and serves a practical function in a smaller space. I vote for reinstating original layout.

Do not agree with benches on both sides. Too matchy and the walls are not the same length. A symmetrical arrangement will not work.

Yes, benches on both sides will not work for me plus it wouldn't fit on the left wall. The desk to the left gets used everyday and is pretty much a necessity.

I realize the left side is smaller than the right side.

(see how the things on the shelf, esp top shelf are competing with the moose?) If you had items on either side with a lower center of gravity, then it wouldn't be a problem. For example, if you had only the bench on the right and the desk on the left and not shelving, I think it would look fine.

Chris, just to improve things a little and to show you what I mean, without making a big change, on the desk side try this

Lower the shelves if you can do that
Remove all from top shelf
Place the books and the other things on the middle shelf or desktop.

That will help with things not competing with the moose.

Is the desk built in or could you get one without shelving?

Definitely the "before" arrangement.

Option 1) LA art right/shelving left (compete with moose)
Option 2) shelving right/shelving left (competes with moose)

You need:
Option 3) low items like chair and bench okay, but nothing high which competes with moose

So like maybe a bureau the same height as the desk. Take the shelves down and store all that in the bureau drawers. Nothing above the desk and bureau to compete with the moose. God love that moose!