Thanks for the thought provoking questions and comments. The door between the kitchen and living room is open most of the time and there is a lot of traffic between the two rooms, so I think that I need to coordinate the color schemes. On second thought, it may be the boldness of the print in the kitchen which I dislike more than the colors. I prefer a softer look. The living room is painted paneling. I wonder how it would look to put up a chair rail in the living room and paint the wall below the chair rail a green, blue or taupe which matches the wallpaper in the kitchen but maybe in a lighter tint? A chair rail might look strange with the vaulted ceilings though. There would be one-third color on the bottom of the wall and two-thirds off-white on the top. Is the chair rail a good idea or do any of you have other suggestions? If I go with green, blue or taupe wall color beneath the chair rail and keep the off-white color above, what color sofa would look good with each color -- green would look good with sofa color? -- blue would look good with sofa color ? etc. When I look at the maple furniture against the off-white walls, I think that has a harsh look. I would like it to look softer, but am just not sure what color would accomplish that. You may be getting the idea by now that I'm color challenged -- LOL The current rug in the room is taupe and burgundy (it does look a bit gray in the picture). I do intend to replace the rug with a much larger rug -- probably 9 X 12. I like the maple furniture because it's what I grew up with. My mother and aunts have this type of furniture in their homes. But, a friend of mine recently suggested that the furniture is a little dated. So, I just wanted some other opinions about whether I should think about replacing this. I was looking for solutions to the fireplace and came across a web site called Brick Anew -- http://www.brick-anew.com/. Any opinions or experience with this product? I like the suggestion of covering over the brick, but it's probably not in my budget right now. Maybe Brick Anew would be a short-term solution and later I can box in the fireplace.

These are the listing photos from the prior owner. The room is empty and I'm looking for help. In the dining room all I have is a table. I really like this Robin Bruce sofa that a local store has but I was thinking Navy. My husband thinks that is too dark in the room and also not practical with the dog. But I'm really wanting advice on furniture placement/arrangement. Would you do 2 sofas facing each other and tv over fp or put a console on long wall with tv?

Hahaha! Nope, it was just a dumping ground for all of our stuff. And it is funny you mention that!! Because my husband was trying to get into the fridge and moved the chairs to those exact positions, and I thought it looked kind of good and would be functional in those aspects!! I will keep them there :) PS-- brown rug fits perfectly by front door, so that is where it will reside. @JustMe @groveraxle

I like your big squash colored chair — looks very inviting and comfy! — so I would keep it and then add another interesting, comfy chair in some nice color and get a much larger rug that pulled together all the colors in an interesting way —- and I would get a much bigger lamp, plus the right pillows and art. (I think all these rugs come in big sizes, not sure) Or I might ditch the 3 chairs and keep the 2 reds and then get 2 of any of these (except the blue, which I would only keep if I was keeping the orange-y chair) But I would still get a bigger rug to define the space and bring everything into the center and a bigger lamp and figure out what art I wanted over the sofa. It could be something as simple as black and white line drawings framed in black. In general I think the sofa is too close to the wall and everything should come forward a bit to ”float” the conversation area more in space. Instead of a corner table + lamp, might be nice to try a floor lamp that arcs into the space.