Ingrid, you mentioned the pillows tying the sofa and chairs together. That's what I was trying to do with them. There's a big difference in the color of the chairs and the curtains and I was trying to add pillows that would pull all the colors together. Not too sure I managed to do it though. Dilly_dally, that TSP is amazing! I can still faintly see in some place where things were hanging on the walls, but the spots aren't nearly as noticeable now as they were before I cleaned the walls. Les, I swapped the chairs and sofa this morning. Here are a couple of photos. I had to move the coffee table down so it would be centered in front of the sofa, but now it's not centered with the medallion on the rug. What do you think of this arrangement? I still haven't put anything back on the walls and looking at these photos, the room looks so empty to me! Here's a link to how the room looked before I started doing anything in there. Any suggestions are very much appreciated!! Here is a link that might be useful: Living Room Before

I think a detailed floor plan would be helpful here . I am not sure that opening the wall more would help anything but certainly if it is not load bearing it would be easy to do other than replacing flooring. Since the space is small maybe rethink the size of your furniture and remove the furniture you do not need . IMO the bookcases just look cluttered and the chest beside them just adds to the clutter. BTW when hanging mirrors always make sure what they reflect is something you want to see twice.I love the stained glass in the windows but hate the center light fixture, I almost never like center lights in LRs they cast shadows in the weirdest spots . I think the buffet piece in the DR looks like a bathroom vanity so I would put the pices from beside the bookcase there instead. As for covering the fireplace I think what is there now suits the space.

Hi All, Im a silent reader here and I think its time to post and ask for help! We bought a house, and we are turning a year at this place on February. We’ve been using our old furnitures since and few weeks from now, we will be getting our new couch and love seat. i have no ideas at all on how to design anything. i bought a snow white leather look couch, affordable and better than what we have. I thought white will be the safest way to go. If you will ask me how i wanted my living room to look like, uhm my heart melts every time i see rustic layouts but again, for now i think i will go for just what will make it look nicer- basics but pretty. i have attached some pictures on how it is now, please dont hate my living room. Advice I need is whee to put the furniture what color i can use for my living room, that curtain is already new (i know it looks like its not) i have a big window and fireplace and an odd living room size. if you notice my house is so bare- no wall arts fireplace full of plants, i just have a clock on the wall (took me 4 months to decide on that)

Hi olive pearl, This is a very common question. If you're not dead-set on having a colored ceiling, flat white, 'decorator's white,' is a great ceiling paint. Flat paints spread light from your fixtures more evenly allowing the semi-gloss trim paint to better reflect light down the wall. I actually wrote an article on the topic if you want to learn more - here's the link. Hope that helps, -frank