Thanks for all the great responses! I appreciate you all taking the time to chime in. Oakleyok, the child's chair belonged to my DH's grandparents -the matching "adult chair" resides with his uncle -- no one sits on the little chair, but we like having it on display Rosie, I will work on a floor plan. I have been busy with other things but decided I need to do this so we are ready to entertain this fall. We rarely if ever actually use the fireplace (maybe 3 times in the 25 years we have lived here). You stated it beautifully "You need a room that invites people in and allows them to circulate freely and then find a seat that fits them and, in a few cases, that can be turned to join a conversation or face a speaker, like that nice scroll-arm chair. " My question is how to create a "room that invites people in". Ellendi, we do have a love seat and sofa now because that's what we had when we lived in New York -- 2 sofas sound appealing to me because we can always use more seating -- when you say to line up the sofas with the fireplace, I assume you mean perpendicular to the fireplace and not parallel -is that right? -the chairs are just near the round table because we brought the table from NYC and then my MIL gave us those chairs when she downsized -- we love the china cabinet -we bought it when we were first married and lived in London - it might fit in our dining room but unfortunately that it is the one room in the house that is small -we do sometimes bring in dining room chairs for our meetings and parties Teacats -thanks for the advice about how to use our existing furniture -our sofa is shot, so we will be replacing that and probably the love seat at the same time --it is an excellent point about covering up the air grate -i will have to find something that can be in front of it without blocking airflow -maybe a table with slim bench chairs underneath -and i like the idea of a tall mirror over the fireplace Camlan -i love your suggestion of moving our current furniture around to figure out what works for us -we do not use our dining room much as we have a breakfast room connected to the kitchen where we usually eat -we never go to the dining room from the entry way -and i don't think our friends do so often either One other point -- we are willing to consider a different rug - I like this rug a lot (it has some of Omar Khayyam's Rubiat on it) -but DH thinks we should get something more modern -and we could, of course, get a different size Thanks again!

The moosehead will be wonderful. With that rock wall, it will be perfect. Living in eastern Washington (five miles from Idaho) moose heads are not that unusual. The leather and antler chandelier, will tie it all together. The other fabrics (especially some velvet) the lines you're choosing for the furniture, a little more carved detail (perhaps) on the wooden tables, (maybe a marble top, on an end table?) will all work with your rustic/romantic mix. Blondie- You have great taste, so go for it :) As for the sofa, check other furniture stores, but bring your picture. I'm sure there will be similar items that are much more affordable. Thomasville is not cheap, and Hemingway was their most expensive collection (probably still is).

Long console on the TV wall and TV siting on console. Lose the shutter as they are taking up real estate and breaking up the room; replace with cell shades or blinds, add stationary curtain panels. Center the sofa on the long wall and center the art work about 5 inches bottom of art from top of sofa back. Place your two chairs on either side of sofa on an angle so you can see tv from all seating areas. Buy two small cubes to act as ottoman/cocktail table area for extra seating and stuff. Add matching end tables and matching big lamps on each end of sofa and large piece of art over sofa; think Pier !, TJMaxx, etc. Post pictures. paint the room all one color for unity and to make it appear bigger. Here are some ideas of smaller compact sofas. And they seem to have room to add your two small chairs for extra seating.

Because you have TV opposite FP sofa will have to go where sectional is now