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.

Simplify is always a good strategy with play rooms. The temptation to cover the walls with artwork and posters can add to the visual clutter. I would suggest a larger area rug to ground the space and create a soft place for playing on the floor. A medium colour with a fleck from other hues in the curtains and upholstery will help hide dirt and lint. I think you could definitely cozy it up with a warm wall colour to unify the space. Lastly, closed storage for the toys goes a long way to creating order from the chaos. You will have a lovely space the children enjoy and you find restful.

If you want custom cream panelling built from scratch, it is likely to take you more than three weeks to line up a contractor, get it built and then painted. If you want to use beadboard (thin, lightweight, cheap) you can do it yourself if you are good at the small precision cuts around the wood window trim and behind the radiators. You can get a custom built wood cover with doors for your tv or use the painting over tv disguise made with hinges. I think the room is beautiful as it is. Spend some money on a truly beautiful, impressive chandelier, have it centered over the table. If you want to impress relatives at an event, the chandelier is the way to go. Clean the windows for extra sparkle. If you are in the US, try Home Decorators http://www.homedecorators.com for DVD storage cabinets that are closed. I would not get a rug for this room unless I was ready to get it cleaned frequently and I could find one that looked good with dog hair on it and did not show stains. A good quality, highly patterned wool Oriental rug will do that job nicely. Such a rug is an investment and may take longer than three weeks to find.

It's not so much the bookcase as other problems I see in the room. Here are four things that could change your room at a relatively low cost: 1. Track lighting in the ceiling. Your lighting looks very minimal and no matter how gorgeous you make the room, if you don't light it properly, it won't look it's best. 2. Choose a bright, happy paint color for one of the walls, probably a wall you see from the doorway. It might be turquoise or coral or lime green. 3. Go to Gallery Direct and buy a big, splashy painting. http://www.gallerydirect.com/art/product/sara-abbott/instant-karma-i?substrate=paper&style=PF&frame=F0091&size=L 4. Now for the bookcase itself. It's doing its job just fine, but if you could turn some of the book into horizontal stacks, it could create a little more interest. If you're double stacking books, it sounds like you need a second bookcase, or one bigger one. If you do end up adding to your bookcase, it's nice to be able to display some objects, mixed in with the books.