Opinions, Please!

I have a deep love of the blog Making It Lovely. I pretty much want Nicole's house and everything in it. Seeing how Matt and I have decided to stay at our current place for another year, I am starting what I call The Great Redecorate of 2008. So, like Nicole, I present our plans for your consideration:

The background color is our paint choice. We are painting the little media alcove (which now houses our television and media equipment) and the wall behind the sofa.

1. This is our current dining room table, which is staying. The blue square behind it is the color of our new curtains (actually, I'm just dying old curtains) for the patio door.

2. These are our cheap-o IKEA dining room chairs (only $14.99 each!) which, in the interest of saving cash, will also stay. However, I want a color change. I will either paint them or sew fabric covers. Any recommendations?

3. This is our old television cabinet. It will now be placed in the far dining room wall in between two bookcases. We are covering the frosted glass doors with this funky paper from Paper Source. The paper is the inspiration for the color scheme.

4. Our two overflowing bookcases will be moved from the office into the dining room.

5. This Amy Butler fabric will be used for a new table runner and a little skirt on the bottom of the media alcove to hide all the cords.

6. Matt's birthday gift, this Keep Calm print, will be framed and matted (in white, as shown) and hung above #3 in between the bookcases. (I purchased my print from sfgirlbybay's etsy shop. I highly recommend her and her delightful blog.)

If I decide to sew covers for the chairs, I'll do it in a coordinating fabric from Amy Butler's new collection, possibly this one. Any suggestions about the overall design? My ears (and email inbox) are now open.