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!

That's a very good idea Christy, I actually have two white roses that are climbers but I will probably have to improvise on the trellis (link on an idea of DIY that would allow me to paint the frame purple as the edge of the flower beds http://houzz.com/s/m=7/u=L3Bob3Rvcy8yNjIwMjcz). Thank you Christy, really helpful advice!

I agree with Tiffany Weeks, it really depends on what your future plans would be. If you intend on living in that house, then by all means you should make the house work for you; however from a re-sale point of view, a bathroom with a bath tub tends to go up in value. Having said that, there are also a lot of people nowadays that are opting for eliminating the tub, so it is no longer a must. Good luck!

not alot happening at the moment, its winter! alotta rain, lotta. but i am bedding down to get this over with and maybe in the spring the spirits will rise once more. i hope so. i would love to feel i was doing something to keep my hopes and dreams alive, i dont see what i can do until the spring. when i bring the topic up, especially to those that moved away and came down this neck of the woods, they say they had friends who felt it was too far too and moved back home. i guess thats how i feel, thats what i want and i just want to be a bit more uplifted, i think rain dampens down things a bit!!! santa Ma Margaret!