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!

Are you allowed to paint? We rented a housein Belize that had bright white walls with blood red trim. We painted the trim bright, clean, fresh white then painted each room. The living room was a soft beige (the color of sand), the kitchen a soft yellowish-gold (the color of morning sunshine), our bedroom was the soft blue of the morning sky, the office/2nd bedroom was watery green (like the ocean) and the bathroom was midnight blue (like th enight sky). It had old harvest gold fixtures, so this color detracted your eyes from them. You can do basically the same thing. Use the colors that are in the tile, but use different shades of them. Go lighter or darker depending on th eroom and the amount of natural light it receives. I wish you all the best!

Hi definitely remove the x bars on the deck balustrade. Landscape close to the house so it grounds the house. Trees will make it look less bare. Chose some that work for your area, that are evergreen, and are not going to grow really big. With a really plain house - dark colors will make it look better. Dark Grey, or black with a warm tone so it doesn't have a blue undertone in it. Make sure it is a warm grey or black. Use green foliage around it. Paint out the pergola in the dark grey too or white if you want a different look. Fill in the balustrade where the x is removed with plants in front of those areas. Grow a vine up the pergola that is nice.

This made me laugh: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/09/seagull-turns-orange-after-falling-into-vat-of-chicken-tikka-masala I couldn't copy the picture, but it's hilarious.