Removing the red carpet will completely change and lighten your room, a good thing. i really like the fireplace as is, the dark wood is contributing to the 'dated look. I would not paint any of the wood, until you remove the wall and carpet and see what a difference it will make.

depending on the depth of the shelves under the window, consider putting doors on them?

The red from that rug is so overpowering that it is literally bathing everything else in the room in that same red. I painted the ceiling similar to the color you selected and replaced the rug with what I think is the one you selected (link above is broken) just to give you an idea of what the room would look like if you left all the wood unpainted.

What kind of wood paneling is this? Ditto the shelves? If it's cheapo material, I'd paint all the paneling the color you picked and the shelves a coordinating white. You could paint or wall paper the backs of the shelves in a contrasting color.

If it's niceish wood, I'd re-evalute after the ceiling and floor are lightened and just clean the wood. painted shelves will always scratch more easily

I wouldn't paint the fireplace. Just make sure that the paint color goes with the bricks.

I also would leave the beams as is for now. Once the floor and walls are lighter, it will look totally different.

Also, what are you planning to use the family room for? Relaxing, playing, TV watching, reading?

Love all the book shelves and the window wall!

I guess my next question would be, how do you want the room to function? You will be opening up the wall which will help make it brighter, but what is going on in the rest of the space...you want it to have some kind of cohesion.

Will you be using a TV in here? Entertaining so need for lots of seating? Do you want to keep and use the "library" feeling that the bookcases lend? Do you want it to be more of game space for children to play? Combine any of those functions? The room needs to serve your needs first, then the looks and contents can be designed to meet those needs.

For me, I can get into that gothic feel (love the window) and would be very happy and comfortable in that space with a little tweaking, but if it's not your thing, then you may want to consider painting out the bookcases or removing them or trimming them to make them more formal, or other things.

I like your idea for paint (the carpet link didn't work for me). If it were my house:

Paint the remaining bookcases the same color as walls.

Leave the FP (but I love the rustic look, I know it's not for everyone); paint the brass on it black, or remove it and get an iron screen. I think it will look a lot better once the walls are painted. If not, as you said, painting the brick is an option later. I'd live with it for now, and concentrate on other things.

Agree about the beams, or paint them lighter at some point.

Please keep us updated, I'm looking forward to seeing it without the red carpet!

I really like your fireplace and book cases! It is a lot to paint and I think Annie is right once you lighten the carpet and add curtains the wood and brick become less dominant while adding character.

especially if they're filled with books.

When I see these pictures, the shelves remind me of the look of houses in the framing stage - under construction. I would put doors on all the shelves under the window and even the first two rows of shelves all around the room. It would be great for storage as well as giving some relief to the abundance of shelving in the room. As others have said, new flooring will lighten up the room and the fireplace may be more appealing to you then.

Wow! I really love the fireplace and built-ins, and agree with the others who suggested proceeding with replacing the carpet before making other major decisions. Annie is right that it's dominating the room by casting a red glow over every surface.

You've gotten some great advice from people way more experienced than I (I'm still reading and experimenting with what works in our house), but just wanted to say I think the room has so much potential to be a beautiful space! We have unpainted trim on our main floor, so I appreciate the challenge of finding things to compliment and work with it when most of what you see in design mags, etc., is white painted trim.

Not a perfect rendition, but just to help you get an idea of lightening the woodwork & flooring:

Once you put books and other items on the shelves, the dark wood won't seem so overwhelming.

I agree with the advice you've been given--start with the rug and ceiling paint and see how it feels then. Probably get some furniture and start filling up the shelves before you make any other decisions. I'd probably lobby for painting the wall by the door (unless it's high-end wood paneling, then I might rethink). After all that, if you still think the fireplace is too much, I think the idea of a facade would probably work. I think a carpenter could probably panel over most, if not all, the brick and you could end up with a nice look. But I would save that until last. Clearly, the rug has to go, paint is relatively easy and cheap, and you are going to have to furnish regardless. So I'd start with those and save the fireplace for last.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback! I agree that the carpet is very overwhelming. I think we'll start with replacing carpet & go from there. I'm not sure why the link didn't work, but I can attach a photo of what carpet I was thinking of. I think the paneling and all of the bookshelves are pine.

I'm still not sure how to do the layout. This room is mainly going to be used for relaxing & watching TV, so I
do want it to be pretty casual & comfortable. We'll probably keep
our current sectional sofa in this room, so there's a picture of that
below too. I like the idea of having a reading space in the corner by the windows if it makes sense. (There's a small creek outside that window, so it seems like it'll be nice to relax & read a book while listening to the water outside.) I'm not sure where the TV would go, maybe above the fireplace? The blueprint below is from when the previous owners added the addition, so it shows the current floor plan & dimensions.

Remove the carpet and paint - everything! Leave all of the beams in, but paint them.

That FP mantel is divine. I'd clean the brick then whitewash it. Bring the mantel out more.

That room will look amazing once the red carpet is gone and the ceiling is painted. As others said, don't get ahead of yourself. Do those two things, fill the shelves, then give it some time before you start thinking of more changes

Don't paint out the shelves until after you change the carpet and paint the walls. You can always paint the wood later, but it's very difficult to un-paint. And I really like it better if the wood is balanced throughout the room rather than just concentrated in the beam on the fireplace.

LOVE the fireplace with doors painted black and bookcases painted white like AWM03 did in the mock up

Are the shelves in the bookcases fixed in place, or can some be taken out so that the spaces could be expaneded for other decorative items? That fireplace is STUNNING! I bet I'm not the only one who would like to see more pics of your new home - inside and OUT!

It looks like the room is large enough for 2 seating areas. I'd think about the TV in the corner on the right side of the fp and use the sectional to make the seating there. Then create a separate area in front of the window...maybe with a couple of comfy chairs and a round table in between to use for reading.

Huge improvement. Huge.

Oh, I love how it's going. Nice!

I like what Annie was suggesting, but if you have the room, I would love a round table and chairs and maybe a wingback or other reading chair in the bay (possibly a couple of swivel chairs that can turn either way in the area between the two parts of the room). Or maybe a pair of chairs and table between them and an ottoman. I'd start with that part of the rom and move out -- feature it since it is wonderful and unique and then move out rather than backing onto it as a limited afterthought. Then look at sofa or sectional in the main or older part of the room and go from there.

I would keep the bookcases -- would love to have them myself and agree with keeping them wood and cleaning them up as needed if they are nice, consider painting if they are not. i am reluctant to paint brick and don't think you need to. You might try washing a section and seeing if it changes color (it can trap dust). I was considering painting my fireplace brick, but we discovered that painting the walls had a huge impact on how the color of the brick looked. Painting brick is a difficult thing to undo, so I would wash it, get furniture in the room and even consider changing wall color before I painted the brick.

I don't dislike the mantel so much as wonder about it being shorter -- closer to the width of the arch -- maybe just outside of the arch rather than all the way across.

WOW!! I love the transformation :) It looks cozy and warm, even without any furniture in place yet. Thanks for sharing the updated photos!

Wow, amazing what paint a a new carpet color can do. Love love these bookshelves.

I can't help but ask--do you have a lot of books? I do, and that room looks like heaven to me, especially if there was a good view out the window. I would get comfy wingback chairs at the very least.

Wow! That is some transformation! I love your space!!!

Regarding your fireplace problem, I had a similar one in my older home, It turned into a success story, when I took an idea from Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house, where the furniture was built into the architecture.

You can use the 20 foot-long stone base of the hearth as a seating area. Cover the left and right sides with furniture cushions and bright pillows. I recovered four seating cushions (about 2 x 3 feet each) from my wornout sofas. Now I watch the grandchildren and teenagers bring their board games and video devices to that warm, cozy area along side the fire.

This has been a fun post to follow! What a huge, fun room to have as your sandbox. I agree with all the feedback on the shelving, if wood quality is good, restore. If not paint or remove. That fireplace! I'd be inclined to rip out the insert altogether or paint it black. I'd also whitewash the brick, but would dilute the paint enough to leave some of the chalky redness of the brick showing through. Hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like the mantle is a beautiful slab of reclaimed wood which I think would pop much better against the whitewashed brick. And I agree with other posters that some bench cushions and throw pillows on either side of the fireplace would create such an inviting warm space to curl up to.

Thanks for keeping us updated. Everything look great! I just scrolled back to look at the blueprint to get a better idea of the dimensions of the room and have a few questions. Can you move the sectional into the room a little more (so it's primarily in the "existing family room" as listed on the blueprint), allowing for more room behind for the seating in the bay of the "new family room"? Will it work to place the TV in the area shown in the 3rd group of before and after pictures? Either on that wall space or on a piece of furniture on that wall. When do we get to see the new kitchen???

bac717 - Yes, that's where we put the TV for now, and it seems like it will work out that way. We just got kitchen cabinets installed and countertops will be here in about 2 weeks, so hopefully I'll have some "after" photos of the kitchen soon too!