I'm guessing you placed them that way so you and your DH can sit in comfort and watch TV together? I think they're fine. They don't dwarf the sofa. I have a huge recliner, actually marketed to large men, LOL, but I love it! It's big, but doesn't dominate the room. If you wanted to, you could put a small end table between them where you and DH could set your sodas, or snacks, or whatever, on while you watch TV. The lamp is also a good suggestion, but I also think it's fine to leave it as is. :-) Congrats on a couple of really beautiful chairs!!!

Dear Mary Lee, thank you so much for the tips on using Shale, I love it, but it's hard to find anything specific to use with it online - your guide has been really helpful.

What year was your house built? You posted that you’d like for the house to look more ”modern” - I’m assuming that you’d like to have a transitional style (mix of traditional + modern). There are things that you can do in order to make it look more transitional. The stained crown + stained baseboards would look more modern if they were painted. Have you considered leaving the windows stained - but painting the window trim? OR - making the windows + trim darker (using a toner?) The last photo you posted really shows how orange the windows are (+ trim around the windows). On my screen (which we all know isn’t completely accurate), the crown + baseboards look like they are a darker stain than the windows. I understand your frustration - especially when you throw the color of kitchen cabinets + floor into the mix! What is your plan for the kitchen? In the photo that you posted above (with the black railing and balusters), the flooring looks a lot like my European Oak floors - are your floors white or red oak? It’s important to know which species of wood that you are starting with in order to determine stain colors. If you were going to use a medium to dark stain, the species wouldn’t be as important (at the onset) because both white and red oak are able to be stained to look similar when using those types of stains. If you want a creamy light brown color (as in the photo) - my understanding is that if you have white oak, it will be easier to achieve a similar color. I am updating my house also - basically every room is being redone (bedrooms are easy - paint + some new furniture + bedding - while other rooms are complete guts - four bathrooms + kitchen). It’s a lot of projects - and feels overwhelming at times. Two bathrooms are being finished and the kitchen is next. The bathrooms were a huge headache - I can only imagine what the kitchen will be like!

If you want to do free motion, it doesn't have to be figurative. Curlicues and worms can look great and are a lot of fun. Just try to keep the distances kind of even. If they're all, for example, 1/4”-3/8” between lines of stitching, it looks intentional, no matter how random. If you want to do figures, you can trace them from pictures in your phone or from books, and mark as you would for hand quilting. Use a colored pencil to plan your line of stitching on the tracing, but be willing to improvise a little when you make a booboo. As for the kinds of practice I mentioned, they're even more important if you're not good at drawing. Start on scraps. If they come out well, you can add them to a quilt or whatever. My first free motion embroidery (way back in the dark ages) came because I'd made a little patchwork block for a charity raffle quilt, and it looked all muddy since the pieces were small. It needed something to separate the colors, but I had to turn it in and had no time for hand embroider. There was a paragraph on how-to in a book, so I followed the directions (drop the feed dogs, etc.) and just went. Adding some texture to the horse's mane and tail, just back and forth, in random, organic loops, did the trick, along with some regular machine setting outline stitches. If you have a Sunbonnet Sue, you can do curly hair below her bonnet, or, fancier, go short back and forths to make a pigtail. Add a ribbon—straight lines back and forth—to separate the brim from the poke. Add some crosshatching to the front to make a gingham apron. Or if you have a pinwheel block, make a ”flower” on each blade out of circles, like doodling. Fill in the center. You need courage, not drawing skill, to start. Just think it through, where you'll be going (like for a minute, not an hour) so you don't panic, put your hands flat on the surface of your fabric/quilt, maintaing even pressure for control, and keep your fingers away from the needle!