Photos of the kitchen:

the mint door and the door to the bedroom will also be painted in a different colour (which I don't know yet).

Are you thinking of painting the pine paneling?

Here are some fun kitchens: and

Here is one with gray and white wash:

To totally open up your living room the first thing I would do is remove draperies and curtain rod. For privacy ( if needed) you can purchase inexpensive plantation shutters at home depot. They will cut them to your measurements. Or mini blind that can stay concealed or let down when needed. Also if you back the sofa up to the wall and center a large area rug will also open things up tremendously. Looks like an adorable home. I would paint kitchen Benjamin Moore white dove or Ralph Lauren Edwardian linen. Kitchen door will take on a whole new look in white with no drapery. Good luck Cynthia gilson

Try this. Hang the television to the right of the wood stove on the wall opposite the french doors. Use the wall with the high windows for a looong sofa and add two chairs across / angled slightly - low back so you can look over one to television. use console / sofa table on entry /bed door wall just past where entry door opens so you have a lay down surface. Forget glass, it isn't for this era and won't make it feel bigger.

Paint ALL french doors inside and out and small windows and entry door same color and trim same color too. Try a charcoal rather than a black - something in the blue-green-gray shades like new providence navy. do all the walls in kitchen and living in a warm white - this tone has the wood as an undertone - http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/woodash
then, for the cabinets . . do a bungalow thing and go deeper on the cabinets to a classic drabware tone - with the wood walls and floors / try bm bracken biscuit http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/brackenbiscuit

these will all go together like gangbusters, keep it light and bright but interesting and work with a new blue green gray back door in a tone like bm beach glass http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/beachglass
templeton gray as a counterpoint on some craigslist piece of furniture . . add warm undertone tan and oatmeal nubby tweed upholstery to start . . the teal navy gray will work with the black iron stove and accents without going black. start keeping the left door to the kitchen closed and get a door stop to hold the other one open permanently . . this will work because you need a little more wall to make the tv work well - in the kitchen, pull your table away from the wall just a tad - consider a padded bench on the wall to provide a kind of sitting space in there and put the chairs across -

if you shift your television to the wall (high enough the heat is not an issue , you can still have big speakers work well - and remote the media equipment - run the wire and patch the holes. Hang it mid-height - eye level when you sit plus 15 degrees . . check out the amazing sconces you can put on the entry wall - shades of light petersik pendant with home-made trim wood brace to pump it out from the wall since the power is high? over the console? round wood table in middle - even a hd butcherblock round on a painted drum base in trim tone?

With those tones - teal gray, biscuit, creamy off-white, muted blue-greens - paint your white chairs and a hand me down bench wythe blue and find a graphic sunbrella print with a little blue green, chocolate and orange for cushions and pad skirts with velcro at the table . . make a galvinized pipe leg / plank 1 x 12 / clear finish console for behind the door . . now you are cooking with gas . .

Hi, thank you for all your replies, they really help!

So I tried the 1st layout with 2 chairs and a side table in front of the French doors (with brown curtain) and a sofa in the middle but the room looked too cramped. With that layout I need to move the sofa back closer to the bedroom doors. But that led to another problem that the sofa would be in the way of the front door and too close to the 2 bedroom doors. I couldn't move the sofa to the opposite side of the chairs as it would be in the way of the kitchen door..

The 2nd layout with the sofa backed on the TV wall and the TV on the opposite wall sounds like a good idea. I will try it out tomorrow. It just a bit ashamed that we wouldn't be able to see the fire when seating. I'm just wondering if the TV all the way across the room would look ok distance wise? (the room is 4 square meters on all sides).

I will definitely rehang the curtains or change it to blinds, thank you. I'm thinking if I lower the curtain rod to the door top and change the brown curtain to white linen or lighter material, would it look alright?

Thank you Libradesigneye for your advices. Definitely food for thought. I love the idea of putting a padded bench on the wall and seats across, will definitely try that. The colour scheme is very attractive too but my partner is leaning towards a more black and white theme (since we've painted the living room walls in white). The exact colour of it is Resene Half Rice Cake. I've never thought of charcoal instead of black, very interesting, I will actually look into that too.

About hanging the TV to the right of the wood burner, I wish we could do that. However when I light the fire, the whole flu will be heated and it would be too hot for the TV..

I love the Highland Lake House Kitchen can anyone please tell me if the walls are in a light wash or it's the colour of the wood? This Lake House is so pretty it might persuade me to keep the pine panelling...

On the other hand, Benjamin Moore white dove is a beautiful colour too. Should I paint the cabinets the same colour as the kitchen walls or should I paint it a few shades darker/brighter? Also do the kitchen wall paint and cabinet paint have to be in gloss finish? or semi gloss? or it can be matte?

your help is very much appreciated.

Black and white will fight with the pine paneling. You need a bit of the warm undertone in the colors you select or some color to play off - thus the blue-green undertone in the contrast that was a little more funky. Your resene half rice cake has a bit of yellow in it as it is described . .
Charcoal to look at -
That is brand new white pine sealed without a yellowing agent against a grassy green. I know the tv can't be centered near the flu / but wondered about shifting it as close to doorway as possible hung on the wall mid-height. (above the box just) Across above entry table might be best - then you can put a chair by the fire that can also watch tv . Irritating during games when people are coming and going, but it is a small space and not a lot of people.

Select the drapery after you get a color scheme - a charcoal like this blast gray from resene http://www.resene.co.nz/swatches/preview.php?chart=Resene%20Metallics%20and%20special%20effects%20range%20%282010%29&brand=Resene&name=Blast%20Grey%203
will play off darkest knot elements better with a little warmth but be black enough for fella

i looked at their color chart - spanish white is your best white - double haystack for cabinets - it will need to be a warm tone to work against the pine unless you want to go gray for cabinets too - could be wonderful but will require additional undercounter puck lighting and won't work w/ counters till you change . . could head green - double hillary for cabinets with the pine . . stark white and black makes pine even more orange - but the spanish white would look white on walls / warm and let charcoal and wood give you the mod pop you want - could do spanish white cabinets . . can't go deeper in spanish without a clash w/ wood must go more gold which is how i found double haystack ..

i vote for cabinets deeper - got the best neutral i could find at your paint tone . you can have them add the tint for spanish to the rice cake and it will work and they won't charge you much if any

Using a large area rug will help the space appear larger and more unified.

I think the layout you have is fine - but I would remove the drapery and all the window covering and let the sun shine in! I would wall mount the tv (poking through the drywall is an easy thing to patch) and add recessed ceiling speakers throughout the room. Removing the tv/stand and speakers accessories will open up the space. I would also remove the glass doors. (keep them, just take them off the hinges and store them) This will allow more flow around the sofa . You probably feel like your always walking around the sofa. Fresh paint, a much larger area rug (the sofa should have all four feet on the rug) and maybe go with a shorter length sofa and a small low back chair and you're good to go. You have the right idea!!

I would remove the French doors. The swing room they need takes up space