I think it would cozy if you could extend the stone and mantle all the way across the wall, with occasional stone the ledges on either side. Do you need windowcoverings? Are you happy with the TV where it is?

The plan was to have some sort of shelves beside the fireplace and have the tv built in there, I just didnt want it to be the focal point so we put it to the side but Im not opposed to moving it.

It's a lovely room and wouldn't take much to step it up. I would start with a carpenter and make bookcases and a tv. casing.

Sounds like you need a designer to help you pull this together.

I don't feel qualified to give you specific suggestions without knowing you and your taste, but I think your "blank slate" is beautiful and could go in many different directions and end up looking great. I really like the color and lines of your existing furniture in that space. I also like your idea to keep the TV from being a focal point. Our living room set up is similar to yours, with the fireplace as the focal point and the TV on a side wall inside a cabinet that stays closed unless we're actively watching it. Something like that (maybe centered between the chairs) could work, or your idea to build it in on one of the sides of the fireplace.

With your simple mantle I think a large, beautiful painting would work great above the fireplace. I wouldn't clutter the shelf up with random, little things. Maybe a larger rug with more color would help the room to feel more cozy to you.

I like that you've left your space uncluttered until you find what you love. I think it's easier to visualize possibilities that way.

It is a wonderful room, but one that definitely has its own mind. You've already followed the main advice usually given, though, to live with it for a while. :) As for starting, first off are there any problems decorating needs to address? Is that view of your own property or is privacy an issue? How about hot sun some time of the day or year? How about what you really like about the room and want to play up? Should the windows be left just as they are because they work well and you love them?

Regarding making it feel more cozy, built-ins, and/or something else, such as darker or lighter paint on the lower walls to an appropriate "ceiling" height, are often used to pull visual focus down to living level and make it feel more cozy.

Simply putting all art and furniture below and to that level and basically leaving the upper reaches to simply add airiness without dominating is also used. Running the focus up high with wall sculpture and so on can be very dramatic, but it's very, very seldom cozy. Also, having important foci too high to serve their purpose for people sitting in the room can be less than desirable.

I'm not sure this is a room for built-ins because of your window placements very close to places where they could be built in, the various important horizontal levels to be integrated, and the shallowness of the fireplace. If you did that, they all suggest to me that a professional designer should be involved. Those long window lines and the bottoms of the vertical windows would definitely dictate where any additional horizontal lines would have to go. The fireplace mantle need not be considered because it could move up or down to fit. (In fact, I keep imagining it simplified without a mantle and stone at all.)

Without a decorator involved, though, I think I'd start simply decorating the lower room, choosing an imaginary "ceiling" height line for both sides of the fireplace (roughly defined by one of the window lines) and not hanging anything at all above that, just letting the windows be the events. The entire height of the wall the TV's currently on might be potentially available, though.

Maybe a long, elegantly simple storage unit sofa or sideboard height for that wall, TV and art above it, sculpture, lamp, snacks for guests on it, etc. Since the room's not wide and there are already many horizontal lines, I'm imagining that piece in a light value so that it would settle back and let the focus go to what's on it and the wall behind.

Hope either a hmmm, or a no way! kick off some ideas. :)

How do you feel about color? The black/white (or off-white? I don't trust the color rendering on this monitor) is attractive, but a bit a bit stark. A colorful painting over the mantle and a new rug to complement it would do wonders to cozy the room up.

I think you need a bigger TV for that space! It looks too small in the corner.

Or some sort of entertainment shelving.

Oh it's lovely. Those windows! Tell me about the rest of the house. How does the living room relate? What other rooms are there to hang out in? What do you want to do in this room?

I want to see more! Is that a gorgeous, big chandelier peeking at us?

Like localeater, I'd like to know more about how you want to spend time in this room. It looks like a lovely deck to the right, and maybe a nice view of the woods? Do you need privacy on those gorgeous windows?

Is that truly a mantle or just trim work above the fireplace? If you watch some TV in the room, it would be nice to get the TV out of that upper corner where it looks a bit out of place IMO. Could you put the TV in a console on that wall & move the 2 chairs into an L by the sofa? Built-in shallow bookcases would look great but you would have to be mindful of your windows as to the depth. The rug needs to be bigger and brighter, so maybe choose an accent color for the rug and sofa pillows and go with that before choosing a new paint color that will make it feel more warm and cozy.

Such a great room!

it plays with heights..I'd follow that game

love the suggestion about grouping the chairs together, bringing in a credenza/shelving (either ready made or custom if it works better for your needs) for the TV etc., along that wall, across the sofa

wouldn't do furniture on the sides of the fireplace, not anything big anyway. A sculpture, a plant, an odd chair later-maybe.

I'd put a rug away for now..until I find something new. I'd also get a different coffee table? Or maybe not, lol. I really like yours-it's great. But it might be that something airier might work, or oval shape one, to break out the square-ness of other furniture? In short, I'd take the rug away for now and see which rugs I love and how I feel about the coffee table. No need to hurry.

Continuing with the heights..I'd get a big plant. Won't shy away from a tree. Will be this three-level thing-y going on..human scale, bigger scale, grand scale..or what are the proper terms? Your eye will travel around more easily.

I'd get a floor lamp too.

And yes, of course..art! A big painting. Or-a piece of a very interesting fabric, framed.

The room is blessed with light, very interesting, architecturally speaking. Which means-great bones, lots of freedom. You just need to narrow onto colors and moods you love enough to be surrounded by them.