Mona you have seen exactly the dilemmas I'm facing with this room so I really appreciate your comments. I was focusing on no1, but really 2 and 3 are on my mind too. In terms of getting some continuity between the rooms I was planning on recovering the dining chairs in a fabric to tone with cushions/throws on the white couch, ottomans in a matching tone, and pulling this colour scheme through into cushions in the formal lounge. I love the spring colours at the moment (greens, blues etc) which you can see i'm playing with at the moment but you might be able to see the painting in the formal room which is orange, red and yellow with a blue/purple base. So I'm very keen on colour and so tired of the brown carpet and neutral walls. I was also going to restain the dining table and chairs to a dark mahogany colour, and change the bar stools to something more modern. re: rug closer to sofa, I've done this and it looks off-balance with nothing else in the space. It seems to work better in the middle of the carpet area at the moment. Perhaps thats because I haven't ordered the ottomans yet. I don't want to add a coffee table to this room as prefer Ottoman to put feet up on. I've attached a pic of a rug, do you think something like this would work better? re the wall: yes this is the major for me at the moment. It is a TV room so tv and speakers stay and I wont be adding any custom cabinetry. The idea was to increase the space in this room by removing all of the cabinets and they are now in the adjoining room. The speaker covers have not been painted as I needed to work out what wall covering to apply, and colour etc. so once they are painted the wall colour they will blend in better. The idea of shelving has merit, I'll have to have a think more about that... Any other thoughts you have are appreciated.

HI -- Congratulations on your new home . Find a furniture store that has a designer on staff . They will help you with choices and your budget . And what is best about this is you can buy -"on approval " . This means if you get a sofa and then it doesn't fit the space or you don't like the way it looks , then it goes back to the store and so on . You will have to pay for delivery . Maybe think about having a bench for seating against the wall in the dining room , so the table can move over towards the wall to make a roomier pathway to the living room. Looks like you have the room for a three seat sofa and two lounge chairs or a lounge end sofa or a modular sectional .

Personally I think the curtain colour is fine, but your header tape needs attention and for me I'd have them taken up so they hang to the floor rather than on the floor. If your hubby is handy maybe get him to make u a box over the curtain header & stain/paint it to match your furniture. Or put up a pole in matching wood.

An entire wall of built-in cabinets and hooks and cubbies for your crafting stuff (and perhaps filing-type stuff and printer for the office). Take a good look at what you have and think about how best to organize and store it and what could be displayed to be pretty and what should be hidden behind curtains or doors. A fold down ironing board on a wall or back of a door somewhere would be great. A nice desk and filing cabinet for the office side... or perhaps a great big table in the middle under the window, wide enough to function for both of you facing each other? A nice curtain rod would make a big difference too. Preferably just about floor to ceiling. I'd put a splash of colour on the walls and keep the curtains simple, but you could go vice-versa too. Something like this: [https://www.houzz.co.nz/photos/modern-bungalow-phvw-vp~4999540[(https://www.houzz.co.nz/photos/modern-bungalow-phvw-vp~4999540)