Wow.
The first thing I thought was that I'd take the background color from your rug. That tanish-taupe? And use it for the walls with that great white trim.

After that? Hang that pic on your fireplace if you're going to use it. The colors are great, but it tilted up towards the ceiling doesn't do any justice to the focalpoint your FP is.

Bamboo could be really great, if you used a darker color. Your furniture is very dark, so something contrasting the lighter walls and woodwork would tie in beautifully.

Love your floors, too. :)
Love your house!

Thanks for the compliments and the feedback.
OK, so taking the color from the background of the rug. I painted two colors and laid them next to the rug.

the first is revere pewter:

the second is edgecomb grey, which I used upstairs in both my kids' bedrooms and I like quite a bit.

The picture on the mantel doesn't have to stay. I placed it there just to get it out of the way whilst we unpacked, and it just never moved. I like the height it gives, but not necessarily the colors. The other framed piece by the sliders will also be moved elsewhere.

I'm not sure what else to put there though, or on that huge expanse of wall behind the couch.

Nice room! Lots of light.
It does look like the samples you painted are still wet - which does make a difference. I just painted my dining room and living room - didn't pick out the paint, had a decorator - so I am the last person who should be offering advice, but my dining room rug has the taupey-tan colors of yours. She tried some of the grayer tones (there is also a blue gray) and I didn't like it. It almost looks like the samples you painted are very gray.
I went with BM Tyler Taupe and love it - although it is not a taupe, so the name doesn't reflect the color. Next up on the strip is Lenox Tan which has been used here frequently. Might want to give one of those a look.

The tans and taupes may look a lot like what you have now (at least from my monitor). Nice, but if you want a change, I'd try a blue/green color. (Maybe silver sage?) Which looks like it would flow nicely from your adjoining room colors. Lovely room, and you have nice pieces in there.

No Green Thumb-Thanks! It does get a lot of light, which I enjoy. That is also part of why I need to get some bamboo shades up to help with the glare, and protect my rug & floors.

The samples were still wet, I was very eager. Now that they have dried, I have them up on the wall. They look pretty muddy to me for some reason. I'll check out Tyler Taupe, thanks for the tip!

Mildredpots-You're right, and that is exactly what my husband pointed out as well. I do want a change. I have silver sage (grey wisp) in our office and powder room. I'll see if I have any left over to try out in this room.

Thanks for the feedback! Do you guys think the furniture arrangement is optimal? I'm so unhappy with this room, and I can't really figure out why.

I have that exact same rug...the chair I'm sitting in right now is on it. Our walls in the room with this rug are terra cotta/rust in a BM paint - it's the rust color in the rug. This is our family room and it's also very light with east and south windows. We've been very happy with the color.

I really like your living room, that window and the fireplace are beautiful and give it a Victorian home beautiful. You have good taste in decoration, trust your good taste.

Here is a link that might be useful: decoration

Love your room and the dark furniture. What is throwing me off is the TV, but I'm not a fan of TVs anyway! Could you move it from the corner to the same wall as the fireplace?
Then move the chair grouping centered under the window. Maybe switch the table in the window with the one between the sofa and loveseat. The lighter table may help break up the expanse of the dark leather. Just a thought.

Is anyone going to ask about the yellow schoolbus in the backyard? ;)

Hmmm... mlh4 - do you think the bus is going down a hill or the house is crooked??? Did give me a chuckle at first. Of course I am very over tired and it doesn't take much to make me laugh. Need to sleep! Other than that, drybean - things are looking good.

Your ceiling has a lot of interest to it and I think it would look dramatic to also paint that a non-white color. As you say the room gets quite a bit of light I would suggest choosing a more saturated color for the walls and then going up one shade for the ceiling. I've sampled the Tyler Taupe before so you could consider pairing that with the Lennox Tan for the ceiling. I love the rug. I think you can do whatever you want with the paint and not be constained to match to the colors in the rug. I can also see a sage/green/blue/gray type of color working well in this room; but whatever you lean towards, do factor painting the ceiling either a lighter shade on the strip or the color cut by 50%.
I also would like to see the furniture and TV rearranged. I'd suggest putting the TV to the right of the FP, the sofa centered in front of the window wall, but pulled out a bit (perhaps even with a sfa table behind it), then the two chairs and ottoman and table grouped opposite the FR and TV.

How about for paint going one shade darker on the strip used in the kitchen and try Coventry Gray. With your room getting a lot of sun it will still look very light and airy. It will complement the dark furniture you have and because of the tan undertone will also go great with your rug and other accessories.

For furniture placement I like valinsv's suggestion with the long sofa by the window with a table behind it. If the space looks too crammed with the tv right by the fp you could try using the chairs to flank the fireplace and then move the tv to the wall where the sofa is now. That would give you unobstructed viewing from all seating and also enable access to all seating as the sofa won't be blocking the path.

Thanks for all the feedback you guys!

I chuckled at the schoolbus comments. Yes, our house is on a hill, and I happened to catch one of the morning buses on its run.

I love the idea of painting the ceiling.

Valinsv-I'll try that furniture arrangement this afternoon and take pics. I'm not sure that I love the idea of not having the sofa available to watching the TV, but I may surprise myself!

NoGreenThumb- I agree, that tv is really an eyesore. I tried to convince my husband to swap it out with the sleek flatscreen we have in our bedroom, but he believes this one to be superior quality, so it has stayed for now. Eventually we will replace it with one that is less obtrusive. I will also try your idea to move it against the wall next to the fireplace.

Verti-I had not thought of coventry grey. I'll head to the BM store today and pick up a sample. We originally had the room set up as you describe, but I felt that the TV was lost against that huge wall. But I'll try it again with the couch against the window.

I'll come back with pics of your ideas.

Thanks so much for the help. You guys are amazing.

I just saw this blog from a post by Coastal_Modern_Love. Some of the pics might give you some inspiration?

Here is a link that might be useful: House of Turquoise blog

May I ask the name of the rug and where you got it? It is very interesting and not something I would have normally chosen on my own, but I like it. I am also looking at Edgecomb or Revere for a guestroom, so I'll stay tuned to this thread.

I think that you have too much furniture in that room. I would think about removing one or both of the chairs in that room. You could maybe move one of those chairs to the other end of the room. Maybe put it in the corner on the fireplace wall. I do like your fireplace. As for the color, it is understandable that you would want to change it, because of new floors. We just painted our family room a shade of gold. IT was beige, just like yours. The gold color is uplifting, but not too bright. That's something that I think would look good in your room also.

Seeing that orange/salmon/rust-y color in the rug, I SOOOO want to pull that color out & put it on both end walls to visually shorten the room. It will be especially lovely since the windows face east & west. Plus it will highlight the architecture of the room, & compliment the FP & furniture. As for wall color, I'd go for a rich taupe. & then 2 shades lighter for the ceiling.

I am a HUGE fan of bamboo blinds, so I will never say no to THAT!!! The texture will be great in there.

I think I would ditch the loveseat & have one of the chairs there instead. It will help even out the weight cause 2 chairs & the TV is too much over there by the window.

I think I'd like to see built in bookcases on the FP wall to balance the weight out. If you plan that out whenever you get a new TV, part of the bookcase can be a TV cabinet that slides out & turns.

Nice house!!!

~Jeana