Aeon Elpis's Profile

First things first, I'd swap out the light fixture in the foyer area so that it creates a unifying line between the top of the windows and gets rid of that existing fixture. This should bring the eye down some, too.

If you want something dramatic, you could do a big tree, spreading mural, centering the trunk in that corner, and spreading the branches all over the place. With a few well-placed hooks and shelves, you could also add some landing-strip functionality with items "hidden" on the tree.

If you don't want it over-the-top but like the tree, you could go with a tree decal or stencil to get a silhouette but avoid the clutter. Or go live, and place tall plants (maybe an ornamental lemon?) behind the sofa to break the foyer's corner line, help to unify the space, and hide the banister.

One of our schnauzers perks up at all instances of dogs, horses, or cats on TV (even commercials), and he responds to video game versions of animals. In fact, he's afraid of big cats and will run away from the television any time a lion, tiger, panther, etc. appears.

We queue up YouTube videos of other dogs, particularly running dogs or schnauzer puppies, for him, and he'll sit and watch for up to half an hour.

We host a game night at least once a month, and we have found that different groups tend to different types of games. It's difficult if one or two people show up who don't enjoy that type of game, so we choose a featured game for our invites. This draws in a crowd that likes that type of game (e.g. Settlers of Catan for a strategy group, Hearts for a card group, Bohnanza for a social group, Apples to Apples for an even more social night, etc.), and we vary them so that we get to see different people each time we host.

We live in central Pennsylvania, and it frequently rains in the late afternoon during the summer months. To avoid water-logging, we water in the early evening so we can assess moisture levels more precisely.

My spouse is a photographer, so we have a lot of nude photography around the house. Even if he were not, most of our collection focuses on the human form in some way, so we would be hard pressed to avoid having this in our home.

If we can tell a guest is distracted by the art, we bring photography into the conversation. In response, we usually get a question about which photos are of us. This personal connection seems to be the real source of discomfort.

I acknowledge it might be selfish to display art that some might find distracting or offensive. Honestly, though, we are proud of my spouse's work. Why would we hide it? Not displaying it sends a message that we are somehow ashamed of it.

I think it equally selfish of a guest to expect someone to rearrange his/her home at the level of decor to remove potential discomfort. Should we decorate our homes all alike so that all uncertainty is removed -- I mean, someone might hate stripes. Should we cover up the stripes when guests come to visit just in case they are distracting or discomfiting? At some point welcoming and accommodating your guests turns into effacing yourself and your own style.

I agree that a sofa perpindicular would divide the room nicely -- it places your work space in one area and your social space in another. It also places the social space as the space that your residents encounter as they walk in.

If a sofa simply won't fit or makes it impossible for you to get to the back portion of the room, you could opt for a series of seating cubes. Get a nice geometric area rug to serve as the focal point, put it in front of the fireplace, and place the cubes around the edge of the rug.

I agree that red and yellow looks either country or like you're trying to encourage people to move along...

I suggest silver -- grey will complement the dark red well, but since you prefer the brighter colors, silver is a nice way to bring in some light but work with the contrast.