Hi Sue, There are endless possibilities with a room of this size. Try floating shelves to go along with your TV unit or a collage of pictures to help blend in your wall speakers. If wall paper is too much you could consider individual wall stickers to create a swooping flock of sea birds or shoal of fish to carry in the coastal theme. Definitely consider the use of tall vases that you can light up. Pick a theme and work with it but careful not to smother it with too many things. Keep it simple and it'll be nice. I've attached some examples that I've found online, the same images can be view via the below links. Cheers, Dex http://bradpike.com/interior/high-wall-decorating-ideas http://housedecoratingideasmag.com/10-bedroom-wall-decorating-ideas-for-a-beautiful-bedroom/ http://www.kylieminteriors.ca/decorating-ideas-for-wall-mount-tvs-how-to-blend-in-the-black-hole/tvhomeklondikecom/ http://azlifewave.com/high-quality-interior-decorating-ideas-for-living-rooms-inspiration/light-and-fresh-nuance-interior-decorating-ideas-for-living-room-with-minimalist-pine-tv-desk-and-media-center-nice-blackbeige-wall-shelves-beautiful-indonesian-ethnical-rattan-lamps-and-wooden-sta/

I agree with most of the above and especially that you need height. At the moment, the only "story " that's being told is that the cabinet is your dumping ground. If you have sentimental things, they need to be "honoured" by having space dedicated to them, otherwise they are background clutter. If this is the space you have allocated to them, then never put your daily chores such as paper work and general dumpiing there. If you don't have space to spare and have to use this area as a dumping ground, perhaps elevating the sentimental to another level, as previouslly suggested with shadow box, or grouping the photos on the wall, or you could do a floating shelf above the cabinet to hold your sentimental items. I would make the shelf shorter than the length of the cabinet. Then you can still use the cabinet top for the other items. If you group the items that belong together, so the wine, decanters and glasses on an attractive tray, they then look like they belong and tell another story and apppear as one item rather than five. If you really need the bench for the dumping site, perhaps get an attractive container with a flip top lid to dump them in or otherwise something attractive that groups the "dump stuf"f and contains it, that way it looks ordered rather than cluttered. Less is definitely more, remove anything unecessary such as candles so that you can have some empty space. At least this is an easy makeover!

Hi Dorothy, the rental market is quickly becoming more fastidious - they don't want to vacuum, and there are an ever growing number of people with allergies. then there's maintenance - i suggest you'll be replacing carpet every 3-5 years, so it's a false economy. cedar is making a come back - we have a lot of projects similiar to this and one option is it's 'too much wood' is to simply paint it. Cedar has plenty of wonderful properties, so even if you don't love it aesthetically, i'd keep it. but to balance out the colours and not feel like you're in a sauna, i'd brave it and select a timber with a completely different colour - don't match - instead, compliment the cedar with a contrast. perhaps a black timber floor, or, if you want to lighten u the space, a beached timber floor. if budget is a big constraint, then Vinyl is a good product, but for just a tad dearer, you can go for gold and get marmoleum. people often mistake vinyl and marmo for the same - they're completely different - marmo is an organic product, so will wear well, won't release loads of toxic VOC's into the air and doesn't harm the earth. good luck!

You can get plants and pots in all different shapes and sizes and colours . Whats your favourite colour ? Everything seems off-white , but I'd even 'steal' the basic idea from Macyjeans pic -- get a nice piece of ply , cut to shape , do in a reddish stain and varnish if required -- it will make that corner warmer . Basically , have a wooden 'triangle' instead of a blink-and-you-miss-it ledge that blends with everything else ( and I mean everything ! ) . Then add say a red or maroon pot , with a taller plant , say a lancewood or similar , even a cactus ( maybe not if you have children ! ) . Another 'slight' possibility would be an artwork ( or two ) on the walls to lighten and brighten , but that may make the ledge look even stranger , although you could do say an art object or even 3 candles or vases on the ledge , in complementary colours to your art .