Eight Years in the Making

Our music room

It was the first room I painted in this house.  We hadn't even moved in yet, but as soon as the papers were signed,  I headed over to our new digs with paint cans in hand.  I feel rather badly that I'm thinking of changing paint colors before the room was ever really done, like I'm being unfaithful to sea-foam green.
 But what can I say?  The color blue is speaking to me.  

Soon after we moved in, Lyle installed the bead board and the painted pine ceiling, and after a night of extreme intestinal distress by our big dog Olaf, the blue carpet that once inhabited this room was replaced with white oak.  I love the trim and the ceiling and the floor,  but I never felt like the dark wood of the piano worked with the medium-toned wood of the fireplace.  Since painting the piano seemed like a bad idea, today I tackled the fireplace.

I've done a coat of primer and three coats of paint and it still needs at least 2 more.  If you adored the wood, now would not be a good time to tell me.  There was a wreath above the fireplace and then a mirror and both have felt a little bland. 

It's a tall room and needs something fairly big.  I know Lyle could pull this off, but it's a little more formal than my usual style.  Still in the running though.

I love this, but the ceiling is quite a bit lower than ours and I'm not sure if it would work.

This appeals to me, but again, not sure.

This tall built-in mirror might do the trick, but definitely not the lime walls.

Here's a fireplace with wallpaper above it.  I like it, but I've spent countless hours removing wallpaper from this house,  and have vowed to never use the stuff.

Above the fireplace is this ho-hum can light.  It's the only ceiling light in the room and I think maybe something more interesting would jazz things up a bit.  Would a little chandelier be weird above a fireplace?  If I use a mirror, shouldn't something cool be reflected in it?  What about a pendant light?  Would that be strange above a fireplace?

I'm also thinking about moving the ancestor wedding pictures from behind the piano to over the fireplace.  Maybe a mirror would look better over the piano.  Maybe a big oval?  And lighting at the piano is also an issue.  The floor lamp really isn't tall enough to do the job and it looks strange there.  I don't necessarily want to add something in the ceiling because that would mess up what Lyle's already done.....and even though 8 years have passed, he still remembers how long it took to put up that ceiling.

And I want to keep the wall clock that Lyle made, but the cheapy plasticky pull shades can definitely go.

But if the cheapy shades in the music room go bye-bye, then the cheapy shades in the library, across from the music room, should go bye-bye too so our windows look uniform from the porch.  I feel like the mouse in If You Give A Mouse a Cookie.....or is it a muffin?  Anyway, when you change one thing, obviously you need to change another.  Oh, and furniture.  A couch seems like a necessary item.

If any of you have design inspiration, I'd love to hear it......

except if it's to tell me not to paint the fireplace.
That type of advice would not be appreciated.