SFGate

Anne Gibney Can you take the doors off, paint the interior a fun color? I also like the idea of putting a piano hinge on a large canvas picture and use that as your door. since it has a frame around it already you can drill into that instead of the wall.

saw-create I'm not sure about the rest of the style of the house, but could you do some sort of wooden wall treatment on the wall and integrate the storage doors into the treeatmnent. That way the doors would almost blend in and disappear. You would need to find a true millworker, not just some hack carpeter, someone that understands the goal and can make it happen.

feeny You might consider getting some lovely drapes for your window, put up a curtain rod over the storage panel at the exact same level as the one above your window, and buy matching drapes for that area too (keeping them permanently closed). A more expensive option would be to build some more formal storage on that wall--a lovely built in china cabinet, with either open or glass door shelving on the top and closed cabinets on the bottom. You could then move whatever you are storing into the closed cabinets.

Anne Gibney Now that I see your living room as well. Tie in the blues of the painting into the dining room.

amysettle Here is a picture of the inside..don't mind the junk!

Professional Home !improvement LLC You might consider cutting the doors in height to cover the bottom shelf and use the top shelves for decorative items. Just a thought.

decoenthusiaste Checked out the living room you posted earlier and think covering the doors with the blue painting would be great! Hope you've ditched the extra leather sofa and have opened up the dining area by now.

amysettle Yes, the sofa blocking the dining room will be gone soon. Should I leave it open or get 2 apartment size funky warm chairs to put there?

amysettle Ok..I think this could work but in order to cover it will not be totally centered. Is that ok? There will be about 2 " difference.

Linda Have you considered changing it into a glass door cabinet? You might be able to narrow the opening a few inches without changing the cabinet space behind if that would help the proportions in the room

anitajoyce You could find a nice picture to place over it. Problem solved. And if you need to open the doors, the picture is easy to move. You can also try a decorative room divider in front of the doors also.

feeny While I think the large blue wave picture/painting would work well there, it will be a hassle to take down when opening the cabinet. Another possibility is a beautiful standing screen--maybe a shoji screen. You can always put a light on the floor behind it too for it to glow and create ambient light in that corner.
http://www.houzz.com/photos/products/shoji-screen

houssaon What is on the other side of the wall? Could this be closed off on this side and opened to the other? Could more shelves be added to the bottom and made a full lenght cubboard? If not I would get the doors and the trim replaced with more attractive ones and continue some trim on the top and bottom so it looks like a full lenght built in.

Here are some other built-in on Houzz: Semerjian Interiors. With this option you could frame out your opening and the back for an attractive display niche. Bi-fold wooden doors would look good: Menlo Park Residence. Hang a full length to make it appear that the storage goes to the floor: Enetai Residence.

amysettle I just want to say thank you to everyone that contributed. The ideas are great and there are needed :)

tennisanyone I agree with Jan. The room opens up with the doors open. remove the doors, paint the inset a pretty color, get glass shelves and use it as a bar with stemware on top and bottom of shelf can hold wine bottles or you can display china and try to light it. If you can't get professional lighting done, you can use those battery operated puck lights and when company comes over, just turn them on.

Portlandshojiscreen.com This could be a perfect place for barn-door hardware and a hanging door. Here in Portland OR there is a cool shop called Cargo. They have all kinds of imported vintage doors, screens and whatnot. I know they would have something that would be a terrific upgrade. Or, I could make you something. I'm thinking Japanese amado style wood door...

yvonnecmartin You could consider putting a decorative screen in that corner.

tennisanyone I still say, use it as a bar or china cabinet. Look how it opens the room up when left open. When you decide to paint the room, paint the back of the cabinet a darker color and add glass shelves for sparkle and lights and you have a built in bar or china cabinet.

mpoulsom I think it's great! Take the doors off and replace shelves with glass, like others have suggested!

rivers300 I get the feeling that amysettle doesn't want the storage exposed and decorative....is that right? With that in mind you could get a good carpenter to make new doors that are more flush with the wall that can be painted and not as noticeable. The set you have now has a trim and exposed hinges all making them standout. Your new doors could have the magnet closures that snap close and open when pressed that way no hardware is needed.

Pauline Licavoli What about painting thrm with chalk paint? Or blowing ip a photo that size glue on with window frame molding and add white shutters? just a couple of suggestions

Pauline Licavoli I looked at the photo again. i think i woul hang drapes printed ones over the window and a matching set over the cubboards. Hang them the same height so it just looks like two windows but you will only have the window one open.

Pauline Licavoli One other suggestion. You could just go to a window replacement store and have two pieces of mirror cut the size of each door. That would make the room look larger and act as another windiw as the view would be similiar to the windows view

ejly I like the idea of taking the doors off and making it open shelving. Another alternative would be to buy cabinet doors, some cabinet places have extras that were misordered which can be a bargain. Good luck!

Lisa Gildar Interior Spaces I would consider framing the doors as if they were a picture and painting the doors like a piece of art. There are many talented muralist that could be commissioned to paint a scene or still life or what ever would be appealing to you. The frame will give wall dimension and depth and the artwork will add color and interest. Second idea would be to take the doors off and paint the inside with contrasting paint color and frame it out in the same color. This would give you create open display and storage.

nomadkath another idea.......treat that back narrow wall like a giant slider door........mount full wall size decorative rod at ceiling height and put up floor to ceiling beautiful draperies......it would soften, personalize, decorate....and you could slide them open for access to the shelves

Sharyn Take the doors off and beef up the trim. Install lighting and glass shelves. Use as a display of fine dishes and glasswear.

whitsendranch or use molding add to doors to create a more furniture like look , peek around in your local chain store at the different styles and sizes of trim . Can be stained to match table ect. Make it a feature take the boring out.

Jayme Hobbs The door are almost too big to cover up as compared to the wall size a large cover of some kind is sorta distracting and too large. I would sacrifice some storage and open it up and use is for displaying nice things. IE: paint inside/add shelves. Trim the opening out with wide trim. Use containers on bottom shelves to store linens or whatever/or add drawers to bottom of unit.