Thanks so much for the response!

This is our main living space. We have a sitting room that we envision being more formal, so we would like for this space to be more casual. For now, it is just the two of us and our dog, but children are in our future plans. We enjoy entertaining, so it would be nice for this space to be able to accommodate 8-12 people.

We are open to ideas for everything, but especially furniture, accents, rugs, and lighting. I, personally, like the window treatments, but am open to changing these if something else would coordinate better with the rest of the room. We are not considering changing the stone on the fireplace.

The bay window faces south, and the wall of windows faces east.

Thanks again!

I have a similar layout with the kitchen and living room having an open flow, I am not sure what your room dimensions are but I am pretty sure as Lilysmom stated a sectional could be too large for the space. I have a couch and a loveseat in the main space, two side tables and a coffee table with a light rug underneath, I have a lot of dark accents with the wood/cabinetry so I needed to include lighter pieces to balance the dark, otherwise it is too overwhelming. I would change the window treatments to something lighter as well and put a couple pieces of 'airy' light coloured art on the walls - maybe it's just the lighting in the photos but everything seems so dark. I have two large dogs and leather is a life saver, easy clean up and very durable

Thank you again to all who have replied.

The room is roughly 350 square feet. Here is a mock up of the layout with measurements:

We have considered going with leather given that our dog sheds like crazy, so we're still keeping that in mind. I don't think leather is quite as comfortable, but we're open to it.

Sounds like the general consensus is to lighten up the window treatments (which my husband was hoping for, so score one in his column!). I am all for making this room look and feel light and open. What do you all think of keeping the blinds but switching out the curtains to something lighter?

Again, thanks to everyone who has ideas/suggestions!

This may not work at all but have you thought of putting your TV on the wall to the left of the bay window and put your couch facing it with the back of the couch to the kitchen. Then your two chairs with a table and lamp between would go on the wall where the TV is now. A nice rug in front of your couch and pillows to match would look nice, I think. Is your bay window suitable for using as a window seat with cushion? If not, then I would put a nice green low viney plant on it with maybe some decorative candle holders. With your furniture this way, you would be able to see out the windows/door. If you want, get lighter colored blinds and lighter colored drapes.

I wish, but the wall to the left of the bay window is all windows plus the entrance to the deck so the current wall really is the only place we can put the TV. I definitely want to incorporate some greenery into the space. The windows on the bay window go all the way down to the seat, so a cushion is not really an option, but some decorative touches there are a great idea. Thanks so much!

Question - if we go with a leather sofa, I imagine we would go with a deep brown. Perhaps something like this:

Would it look okay to incorporate grays/light blues into the room given that the couch is dark brown? If so, do you have any suggestions of specific pieces that would help lighten up the space? And do the chairs and ottoman need to be leather as well, or does it work to mix fabrics? For example, I really like this chair and am considering two of something like this to go by the bay window, but I'm not sure if it would clash with the couch.

Maybe the right rug or accent pieces could tie it all together?

(Can you tell I'm hopeless with this!?)

Thank you Lily'smom! Yes, I need to find some more inspirational photos. The ones you posted are very helpful, so thank you for that! I definitely want to keep the majority of the accents (rug, pillows, curtains) light in color to brighten up the room. I'm not a big fan of yellow/beige. Of the three pics you posted, the first is more my taste than the others. I really appreciate all of your help!

Thanks so much, Lily'smom! I appreciate all of your input.