I would kill for those bookshelves. I know this does not help but I had to say it.

I agree with the instinct to paint, but I might throw a contrasting color on the back wall of the shelving.

"Where, oh where should our 50" plasma go?"

Such a tough life. I am playing a violin for you over here.

But I am a fan of the plasma over the fireplace for a social room.

According to today's New York Times, "John Sutherland, the chairman of last year’s Man Booker Prize Committee, offers an arresting statistic: Today more novels are published in one week than Samuel Johnson had to deal with in a decade. As he calculates it in “How to Read a Novel,” it would take approximately 163 lifetimes to read the fiction currently available, at the click of a mouse, from Amazon.com."

So, instead of a giant television and a wet bar, get some comfy chairs and some good reading lamps to place around the fireplace and put this library to good use. Pretty soon you'll be looking to see where you can build more shelves for all the books you'll be devouring. Just know that once you start, you'll always seem to have more books than shelves to store them. At that point, you'll wonder what you ever could have been thinking when you were considering ripping out those shelves.

Also, if you're going to paint those shelves, they look like they've been polyurethaned, so they will need a good sanding first, or at least a primer, or the paint won't bind and will peel and flake.

I would ditch the bookcases at the foot of the stairs and to the left of the fireplace. I'd keep the bookcases at the right of the foot of the stairs--that's an efficient use of that awkward space, and you'll want some storage/display shelving. I'd do something to camoflauge the door to the storage space under the stairs--paint it and the trim to match the wall or something (you could leave a strip at the bottom, creating a faux baseboard). I loathe to see a TV set over a fireplace, so I'd put it somewhere else, maybe opposite the fireplace (no floor plan, so I'm guessing there's room). The fireplace is far and away the most interesting thing in this space, so play it up.

One other thing: Do you really need a wet bar? I like a bar cart, but it seems to me that a wet bar is overkill unless you entertain every day. And maybe you do. Also, I think it's very hard to do a wet bar that doesn't evoke suburban basement rec room.

lucy,
i have the same feeling, my gut reaction was they are perfect, but on closer look i just think they need some finessing. that part on the left of the fireplace that juts out (for a tv) is starting to bother me.

stonelife,
i hadn't considered a contrasting color for the back of the shelves, though i don't know why because i've seen a dozen times before and its a good look. as for the big tv, it might be the first time in history a wife talked her husband into getting the bigger screen. we love to watch movies and it gives you that movie theater feel, but its a design challenge. the one benefit of having the tv over the fireplace is it creates one focal point instead of competing ones.

eddie,
if i didn't like to read I wouldn't be debating which bookshelves to take out! i do like the idea of lamps. we have a lot of recessed lighting that can be put on dimmers for ambient light.

jeffery,
are you a designer? maybe you should come over and help me. we're talking about putting the tv over the fireplace but it's so high, so to make it work we would have to have it tilt down which means a serious and permanent install in the wall. i think i'm leaning toward your suggestion on the shelves. i love the baseboard on the midget door idea. i was already planning on painting it like the walls. i think i will toss that doorknob too and just put a little tiny handle. Wet bar, i never thought about it like that but i really do agree. i hate that suburban carpeted basement feel. mostly i thought it would be nice to have a little prep area for grilling outside, but really, this condo aint that big...the kitchen is right up the stairs. A wine fridge can easily go in the pantry.

if we put the tv opposite the fireplace, how would we arrange the furniture? (we don't have any yet)

No, I'm not a designer--just someone who hangs out here now and then. I'd put seating facing each other in front of the fireplace with a low table in the middle. Turn your head one way, the fireplace, turn your head the other, the TV. They don't compete with each other but you can see either from the same spot. It's really hard to gauge space from photos, though, so I don't know if there's room for a layout like this. I think the less you notice the midget door, the better, so replacing the knob with something less obtrusive sounds like a great idea. If you put a wine fridge in the pantry, maybe you can set up a small bar in there. Out of sight, but close by.

I've seen that plasma over the fireplace thing a lot, but it always seems kinda' high to me. You'll get a real pain in the neck. You could reconfigure those shelves to the left of the fireplace, or have it mounted in the alcove on the right -- it's odd they didn't put shelves there -- and swing it out when you want to watch. Though I did notice the tv cable was on the left side of the fireplace.

As for the wet bar, just open a pass through from the pantry, since that's where the plumbing already is. You could probably put a whole mini-kitchen in there. Even better, replace the door to the pantry with a dutch door, or just a half-door, and you won't have the expense of breaking through the wall.

It's odd there weren't more comments today...

btw, good luck on the closing. from the quality of the work the previous owners did in this basement ? -- except for the cheap baseboard -- this must be a nice place. What's the view through the window?