Another View

And the kitchen with the counter tops, there are three runs of the counter tops.

You can maybe use these colors as inspiration for your room...they are very similar to the colors in the fireplace.

HI Annie
Thank you so much for the suggestion. I admired your talent on the Design Seeds thread.

The mist scheme is too cool for us. That is literally what we see outside our home. And we live in VT, where cold, grey, wet dark wood, is the norm about 7 months a year.

The living room face south, which will give us plenty of light. I think in the summer I may use this scheme to cool things down. But any ideas for warm accents?

My monitor is a bit iffy on your wall color. Is it sage or grey? Either way, I don't think it's strong or warm enough to stand up to olive/brown and cigar. What color is the sink countertop -- green?

I'm also not sure what kind of cigar you're referring too-- a panatella? Stogie? Do you mean a yellow-brown or red-brown or dark-green brown or something else entirely?

With the olive/brown and whichever cigar, you've got a good start on autumn colors. You could bring in the wonderful reds or oranges or golds of New England in October. Not too pure, but the complex colors of the leaves. If you use these colors just in accessories, they could be changed in the warmer months for the colors in Annie's seed.

Since you are not focusing everyone on a TV, I would suggest not thinking of arranging one rigid furniture group focused on one anything. Instead, think of more varied furniture pieces and looser arrangements that turn different directions, focus inside and outside, include lighter weight pieces that can move to join others, and in general and specific serve those different functions.

The fact is, the living ("family") room arrangement has been contracting for some time. For more and more of us there's no need for a reading or sewing lamp if 95% of everything we read is on an iPad and many of us don't read or sew anyway.

Less need for a dining table for those who often eat in their favorite chairs facing the TV, messier kids maybe kneeling at a coffee table. Of course absolutely no need for a table to spread a newspaper out because we don't take newspapers.

Once-important desks have become strictly decorative objects now that we pay our bills, write friends and chat on our cell phones from easy chairs.

No need for a game table when the games are in our laps and we're playing by ourselves with one eye on the TV. The classic little sewing table? Gone, with its lamp.

Fact is, the standard living room arrangement these days needs to provide one favorite sitting place per person, equipped with one place to set a drink, from which the entire weeks' home leisure can be lived and many chores performed. In most homes at least a couple of those seats recline, and almost all are pointed at a television screen.

The "window treatments" typically frame one view--of a standard back yard (not several views out over 52 acres). The typical family is not there most daylight hours anyway, and the seating typically ignores it to focus on a TV plus fireplace.

This trend does not reflect every family's life, of course, but it has profoundly influenced what furniture is found in the typical living room these days (fewer and fewer pieces) and how they're typically arranged. (And, no, I don't admire this lifestyle contracture. I love, love, love my computer, and my own favorite chair, but hate that a beautiful, once-important old desk mainly gathers dust.)

In any case, it doesn't sound as if you live your lives quite that way, You even knit, and with no TV you all presumably require other light and surfaces for leisure tasks. So maybe turn away from current standard arrangements to decide what pieces your lifestyle needs and where? You might try looking at pictures in old, pre-computer decorating books and magazines. Back when people typically turned the TV on to catch a favorite show, then turned it off.

Guns, leather, stone fireplace, comfort. Sounds like the makings of a nice rustic room. For accents, I would look at the fireplace colors and add some black iron or dark oil rubbed bronze accents. Looks like a great space. Enjoy!

Hard to tell from the pics, but the counter seems pretty neutral. What really stands out to me are the strong colors in the stone on the fireplace which look like a lot of teal to me. Is this something you might consider repainting? Also might you consider beefing up the mantel? It looks like it could be built up to stand up to the scale of the fireplace.

IAC, dealing with the existing colors and including brown, you might consider this color scheme mixing in the orange/reds which picks up on the floor and cabinet colors.

Or you can mix in gold for warmth

Or you can move into the avocado and plum...remember think accents, not main colors...

But I think this would be my favorite for warmth and coziness for those long VT winters (followed by mud season and black fly season...yikes!)

Thanks to all. The walls are a dark sage green- SW Artichoke I think. The kitchen counters are green. Not quite avocado, but close. I really like the last color scheme you posted Annie- I think that is it!
My husband loves the stone fireplace, so that will be staying. I agree with beefing up the mantel piece, it does feel light. DH built the mantel piece in our current place, so perhaps that can go on the list of things to build for this place.

I think you have room for two areas. I'd place your chairs on either side of the fireplace with the sofa facing the fireplace. Then behind the sofa I'd put a small table with chairs that can be used for board games.
Something similar to this room:

Same room, side view.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos source