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!

I think we are going to use the white subway tile to keep the budget down as I priced new tiles and it would blow out the budget. Really like the contrast grout idea to add a bit of texture and pattern. My partner is a builder and he loves the reclaimed wood shelf idea as we have a lot of spear old wood left over from the renovation. We have made a dinning table and fire place mantel from it already so it would tie in really well.

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?

The blue is awesome (grey is too trendy)! The reason it stands out to you is perhaps because it's the only real colour there. Bring in the blue in a window treatment, a small appliance that sits on the counter, a pretty tray or area rug. Also, it is more appealing often if there are more than 2 colours - so right now you have a white and blue colour scheme - bring in red or orange or fushia - something from the other side of the spectrum (like you did with the yellow flowers but in a more permanent way)!