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!

Shutters sound like they would be a great addition to your new almost at the beach house. Is it an open concept? If so while you can change things up a bit you'll want to repeat some element and ensure that everything looks great together. Even the rooms you're thinking of putting drapes in might benefit from shutters or wood blinds for both looks and light/privacy control. Also be aware of how these windows will look from the outside. When choosing fabrics look at your existing furniture for inspiration or a piece of existing art or if buying new furniture think about the windows as you do. Everything in the room ties into each other. Ideally you would have swatches and samples of every finish in the room from flooring to window coverings and everything in between including wall colour, area rugs, bedding ect to help make your final decisions easier.

As chookchook said in her recommendation about painting, put a drop cloth on the floor. Get a very safe ladder. remove the lightbulbs, and cover the outlets. Turn off the electricity to the chandelier. Then spray it with a mild cleaner (I use one I found at Target that's basically water with vinegar, until it's dripping wet. Start at the bottom and work your way up, so you don't have dirty spray dripping on the bottom of the chandelier.Work your way up and down until the dripping spray is clean. The chandelier may be gorgeous and expensive, but it seems totally out of place in the architecture of the room--more at home in a chalet than a sunny room with a window wall. I would probably try to find a way to get it removed, and sell it to someone who appreciated it better than I.

I would clean up first. Especially the stuff growing in the paving. Then get gardening with pot plants and start experimenting with different plants and the positions. See what you like and if you can keep it alive! Our house has the sun setting over the back fence and we've done a few inexpensive things to reduce that issue (most expensive were outdoor blinds around the verandah) but for most of the year we just don't want to be out there. It is hard work to keep the plants going in summer, there is a lot of sand due to the difficulty in keeping lawn alive and it is just bloody hot. So, that's why I'm saying clean up, start gardening small and see how you go before committing to structures that might not address the real issues you have with the yard. Just my 2 cents! :)