Mary, it has been a while since I read the comments. I think you can take your time with growing with your new decluttered kitchen. It is truly beautiful with just the changes. Don't go spend a ton of money, save it and go on a holiday to a state park or something you have always wanted to do. If your friends that you invite over for dinner don't love ...... well just coming over and visiting,.... then oh well. As long as you are happy, but no need to break the bank..... you did great already. I love it, if you do more, please share though? And to bamamom, I so agree with you! My own, awful, claustrophobic kitchen is LESS than 8 ft x 11 ft... yep that tiny and horrible. I have taken out the nasty, dropped ceiling and have the slightly vaulted original one now, but with pipes showing where the HVAC was put in after and then the repiped ones....... I did not know they plumber would do this, much less the others were there.... gag me. And no money to do it up even decent.

Lots of ideas....couldn't resist adding my two cents. i copied your photos and did a little cut and paste- it's messy, but hopefully gets the main idea across. i'd put your sofa in front of the large book case, chair by the fireplace, tv on the stand on the wall opposite the fireplace - so you can either look at the fire or the tv. Someone suggested using frames of one color for your photos - an inexpensive way to do that would be to spray paint them all a dark color-black goes with everything. Since your shelves are a medium tone wood, display things that are dark or light so that they contrast against the wood. Limiting your display items pallette to a few values usually helps to unify things. (I think that's why so many people want to paint the shelves or put inserts in the back to help your nice things read more clearly...some get lost). If you want to "splurge" -you may consider having a carpenter make a few solid tall cabinet doors to provide a visual break in the shelving. I'm showing 3 doors - 1 on the right side of the fireplace and 2 on the left to leave two open vertical shelves for display on each side - with things arranged to frame the fireplace as the focal point. To add some height to your big vases, consider stacking some books beneath them. Enjoy experimenting untill you get something you're happy with - good luck!

How will you pose for your Miss Photogenic photo op? Will you go with the Carmen Miranda fruit bowl tiara? Or would the Easter egg thingamadooeys suffice? Decisions, decisions..... Maybe Grover could photo shop each one with your dress so we can decide? We wouldn't want to break any decorating rules because we do have our reputations to uphold. LOLOLOLOLOL

I love the English mist as it is more appealing to me. It has an organic appeal plus good energy in a room that gets a lot of action. It looks very rich and saturated color!