Day 3: Choose your room

Some of the video games.  A lot are still in storage.

Day 3: Choose your room and sit in it for 10 minutes

The task for yesterday was to pick the room that needs restyled. I puzzled over this for ages, honestly.  All our rooms could use a little sprucing, but I've also been working on them for months now, so there wasn't a ton of revamping that needed done in any room.

Except one.  The one that I was most sure I wouldn't be allowed to touch:  our den.

When we first moved in, I had originally pictured the room as a cozy place where we could watch TV and sit by the fireplace, and just generally be comfortable.  I thought maybe it would be our main hang-out room, where we would entertain most often, and had great ideas for it.

Then we moved in, and it became Brian's room.  Not that that's a bad thing, but just not what I had pictured.  Currently the room has a small TV, a couch, a couple of old chairs, a pinball, and aaaaallllll the video games.  The room is perfectly functional for him, and he likes the simplicity, which is great for him.

But it does make for a room that's really not particularly nice to be in if you're not Brian or one of his immediate friends. 

But really, the worst thing about the room to me is the poor use of space.  We have shelves that are basically empty, or have things on them that I set down literally the day we moved in and never moved. (See: the jar of peanuts on the mantle.) 

So, after talking to Brian, I think I can make some changes, as long as I don't go overboard and ruin the things he likes about the room, which is that he has a place to sit, he has a TV, and he has easy(ish) access to whatever game he wants to play at any particular time.  I need to find a way to spruce up the room and make better use of the space without completely disrupting his flow (OR spending a ton of money, haha.)

Pictures and to-do list below.  Suggestions are desperately wanted.  Required even.

I don't even know what some of that stuff is.

Here's a perfect example of underutilized space.  Those shelves could be used to hold items that, you know, we care about, but instead there's just random crap I shoved there when we moved in, just to get it off the floor.  And below, some weird statues that I liked once but now just kind of creep me out. >_> Those gotta go, and that space has to be used for something else.

Creepy dolls.

Useful 9-cube!

 There are a lot of smaller shelves around the room, like this 9-cube and this little bookshelf.  Ideally, I'd like to replace the little bookshelf and move the cubes somewhere where it's not crowding the TV, but we'll have to see.

I want to rip these out and smash them.

This is the only non-window lighting source in the room.  It drives me freaking crazy.  They almost hit Brian in the head every time he stands up, and they don't light the space well, and I hate hate hate hate them.  But, replacing the lighting in the room may prove to be too big a project.  I'm going to look into it though.

DVDs and random crap

 This is the sapce behind the door to the room, where our DVDs live along with a bunch of crap, including an $8 IKEA end table that's never been put together, a couple of paintings, a milk crate, a tennis racket, and other random assorted crap.  It's gotta go.

Also, you may notice in this picture a light switch.  The light switch is behind the door, and it's the only way to turn on the lights.  It's the most idiotic thing.  Need to look into moving it.

Pinball

 Part of what I want to do in the room is move the pinball machine to a more prominent location, or at least otherwise make it a focal point, because it's really cool.  It should be played, not used as a table.  (Or at least, not ONLY used as a table.)

Our mantle, a jar of peanuts, and a cat.

I'd really like to put something on that mantle that isn't a year-old jar of peanuts.  It's not a very deep shelf, so the lovely mantle clock that's in the picture can't go on it.  Perhaps some pictures?  A painting?  What?

Bare walls

And the walls.  Oh, the empty empty walls.  The top portion of the wall is off-white, and the bottom is a tanish, beigeish color.  I think the room would do well with painting one half, but I don't know if it should be the top half or the bottom half.  The wall of shelves in the top picture is completely wood-paneled in the same shade as the bottom half of the room, so that would also get painted, not that you could see it.

The sofa is going upstairs, to be replaced with a wooden one with blue and brown cushions.  I think the chairs will also get replaced with one from upstairs that matches the sofa.  This makes my project harder.

Oof.