Now it's beginning to work! Luv the rug! A few more red showstoppers, and I luv the post about matting your family pic, and larger frame for it. Looks like you might be a bit uncomfortable with the great post idea of moving your sofa out into the room away from wall. If so, could you accept putting it diagonally from the entrance doorway, across that corner where it is, stopping at the edge of your window? That's a bit of a move outward, still can see the fp and tv, and show off your new rug, which could go diagonally in front of the sofa. Then, if you like that, after a while you could move it on out as Deb K suggests. Sometimes intermediate steps are more doable for us than those big changes.Same with painting; if you could first paint just the fp wall, then later paint other walls...seems some color would really make it more homey. Would you cosider a quite contemporary fixture for the light in the center ceiling? Maybe a bit of red could go there!

Thank you so much for your comment after all this time. The colour you have suggested brightens the front door area beautifully and if the two red pots were painted in a tone to match, we think it would look great. Not sure if you can get Crestview doors in New Zealand but there must be something similar. We like the idea of going away from another cedar door - mainly because it would stand out too much while it was weathering. I don't know whether we would have been that brave but the tangerine works so well with the jade green of the joinery. I have re-laid all the stones and put a new wider front step in. The timber colour will soften down in time. I put a big pot in the garden to draw visitors to the front door and have added some colourful bromeliads to the garden alongside the house to make the area a bit more cheerful. We can't make a decision about what to do with a larger 'overhang' to protect the front porch yet - it is a project in progress. Thanks again for your post.

Thanks for posting new views of your room. You are right, nothing can go in front of the paneling, and we won't block the built-in cubby. In that case let's work with the rest of the space. I found a picture on Houzz for your gallery wall. I think this will allow you to bring in color and texture and interest to your wall without taking up space like furniture would. Try to play with portraits and a couple of paintings in there too - mix it up. Otherwise I would not put anything at the top of that landing (I'd remove that console table). That picture wall should be enough visual interest to your space and it'll draw the eye to the furthest wall as you walk in your house. I would try a small piece with closed storage between the bottom steps and that door by the entry. It looks like the space is no wider than 26", so it'll be a challenge to find something that fits and is tall enough. I would not use the wooden piece you showed above because you want wider proportions and fairly narrow depth so you don't bump into it as you walk by. (something like this ) I would hang a mirror on top of primping. By the cubby you could add a single seat stool. I'm not particularly suggesting these colors for the stool and bombe chest but something along these shapes. At this point if you do that big picture wall and add these two pieces of furniture and a mirror, you might not need to hang anything on the wall above the cubby. Also, I noticed your chandelier is quite substantial for the space and hanging pretty low. Would raising it a little or replacing it by something a little smaller be an option?

If you use masonry paint, we could head in a warm greige direction for all of it - not so yellow . .. something that can give you a bit more contrast against the white windows and trim - even 40 does a lot for us . . . what about a blue green gray? You will get a coastal / mod vibe and it will relate to the farmhouse look .. .above bm silver mink http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/silvermink and below . . . gilbraltar cliffs . . http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/gibraltarcliffs Shingle look siding on the side dormers would be neat to get that cottage mod. . . you can stick with yellow but I don't think it complements the roof tone. With the blue-green grays, the white windows and trim will really pop beautifully. . . You can also go more neutral with a warm gray - greige . . . here's the siding tone http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/capemaycobblestone paired with this for brick - http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/graystone potential future red windows . . .aluminum pits over time, so if you have just one side you want to try, you don't have to powder coat, you can take a small brush and just do them by hand with latex paint if they are 10 yrs old or more. . . one advantage to gray . . future see [houzz=]