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!

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.

A very simple layout keeping the floor space within the kitchen, the WIP takes up a lot of space with not much gain, The broom cupboard could be moved to the Laundry/entrance, narrow. If the wall has been bumped out to the eaves on the deck side giving an extra 300 depth to the kitchen you could make the island 2700 x 1200 and all drawers. The wall of narrow pantry will hold all pantry needs and more, no deep cupboards to dig into. cheers

When I first looked , I thought there were blue tones in the room , and I gave up haha . But looking again , I think the main tones are grey and charcoal ? I hope so . . . . . So paint ( or wallpaper ) that whole wall . Personally , I'd go burnt orange in a paint ( which , of course , isn't all that orange ) , or something in a bright or rich red base , if wallpapered -- imagine a rich red with thin beige and mid gold vertical lines if you want a classic look for example . Then matching modern standard lamps -- 1 each end . Wall mount the TV , or go for a bigger tele ( yes , I know , a lot of people don't want that as the feature , but it is a big wall ! ) BUT add 1 or 2 prints or paintings on that wall too -- again , my personal choice would be one bigger than your TV , with bright red base tones ( against a rich red wallpaper ) , and splashes of orange and yellow and beige and blue and -- you get the idea ! An abstract landscape or racehorse or torso or whatever floats your boat -- I don't like the swirly or straight line types of art , but obviously some people do . Still look sparse ? A large colourful glazed pot or two , with suitable indoor leafy plants/cactii/similar . A big shaggy rug in a warm red or orange or orangy red . Adds life , colour , warmth -- all around a common theme . And thats why I shuddered at the initial thought of blue -- 7 different blue tones will never look as warm , and red and orange never looks as good against a blue , so you are stuck with the colder look IMO .