First, what items will be staying and what can go. What would you like to see here. Will you be adding and sofas or other soft seating areas? How many people will these areas need to seat?

Perhaps nature-related wall sculptures can be a good idea. Or modern hand-woven rugs.

I think all the wood is lovely but very overwhelming and your floors are also the same tone of brown. You might think about breaking up all that by keeping the ceilings and beams the natural wood but painting the walls another color (not brown).

Agreed Jamie Ludwig.

I like the "lodginess" of it. It's dudely, ranchy and I'd stay there happily.

Bigger, brighter artwork, maybe some serapes as drapery panels. If you can get dirt-resistant rugs, they would break up the brown floor. But this is a ranch.

Corral all the metal bits and bobs into a frame - mount them on some nice contrasting foam core in a rustic frame.

Paint the table and bench bases bright colors to go with the serapes.

What sort of a space is this? What do your guests do? Is this a space just for dining/eating? Are these paying overnight guests or friends and family who come to visit? How long do guests stay, approximately?

It would be easier to make some suggestions if we know exactly how the space is used and what your budget is.

I agree, ptreckel. No softness or warmth. I like the wood, but the brick seems borderline institutional (as does the water fountain).

True, it's a lodge and you want it to be functional and hard-wearing. But could you find some big colorful braided rugs? I also agree with the comment about the iron bits and pieces. They look lost. I'd get some BIG colorful framed prints, in the western style of Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, etc. Or even Bev Doolittle.

Heck, I'd like an invite!!

We had a 3 story barn that we gave a western flair to with many of the furnishings/items from my former ranch in CO One of the most effective, easiest and most inexpensive is to hang indian blankets, mexican serapes/blankets on the walls. I used one for our MB "door" in our ranch house. I love the older ones with the more faded, muted tones but they can be tough to find....and prob expensive. They weren't when I found them 25 yrs ago. New ones aren't expensive.

Antlers, animal skins, old horse tack, saddles, boots, spurs, hats,.....you can have some fun here.

Being in my mid 60's, I grew up with Roy Rogers and old cowboy shows from the 40's, 50's. Really had a ball buying copies of black/white publicity photos from back then and framing those.

Your best bet are flea markets, antique stores.....you can find some fun stuff.

Love your chandys! Buying 2 wagon wheel chandeliers was the first thing I did when we started work on it... they hung down from the ceiling of the 3rd story. The edge of one is showing a little bit on the left side here.

Here's a sampling of the type of photos I bought. I didn't spend over $15 for any one. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2053587.m570.l1313.TR7.TRC2.A0.H0.Xroy+rogers+photos.TRS0&_nkw=roy+rogers+photos&_sacat=0

These lifesize cardboard cutouts are fun. I had Matt Dillon....but he's been discontinued...lol. https://www.cardboardcutouts.com/search?q=cowboy

The Remington, Russell art and braided rug advice from Littlebug is great. Very fitting.....easy prints to find in lower end antique stores or Ebay, Etsy. Braided rugs you can get in custom sizes....multi colored would be most fitting: reds, oranges, deep green tones. They're not too expensive last time I looked at them. I had a falling apart vintage one I loved in the barn. The furniture was a wild mix of all sorts of vintage/antique finds. Inexpensive and one of a kind stuff.

Are you adding soft furnishings at all? Do you have bedrooms in here, bunks? Oh, you look into some lamps to give it a nice, cozy ambiance at night. Old bridge wrought iron floor lamps, mission style stained glass table lamps work very well. Check Amazon for some of those lamps...also for mexican blankets.

I'm not sure I'd paint the walls. Diagonal painted wood is not the greatest look... been there years ago. I DO paint wood paneling a lot but it's the diagonal I wouldn't. Years ago bought a house with a basement FR with that stuff and I painted it a pale golden beige tone to lighten it up...no windows down there. It didn't improve the look..at ALL! :) It lightened up, but that's all I could say for it. What you have is fine...it just needs some color and interest.

Here's the photo I meant to upload above in my first post....day shot showing lamps, the types of fabrics, colors that would work for you. The sofa was an antique pine Taos Bed with a rope frame supporting the cushion. THAT was a find. I miss my western stuff. :(

Some good western rooms here ..http://eyefordesignlfd.blogspot.com/2015/06/decorating-western-style-home.html

Honestly, it looks very western, including the walls. I don’t think it needs a lot. Mostly the artwork that is there looks small and seems to kind of blend in to the walls. I’d get larger artwork, and if it is going to be framed use a frame that won’t vanish into the wall - something chunky, maybe, and darker. (Dark tooled leather might look really cool but I don’t know if that is a thing that exists.) If this is a commercial place where you host paying groups or something, then you can also see if there are any local artists who would be interested in having their work featured for a bit in exchange for you having their contact information available. (Like you see in some coffee shops and local restaurants.) That can be a way of getting a rotating variety of items on the walls so repeat visitors don’t get bored.

Also agree with adding softness - some of the wall art could be fabric hangings like interesting pattern woven blankets and saddle pads. Also cushions, table linens, upholstered furniture as the use of the space allows. Leather can also add a little softness to things and wears better than fabric for some purposes, so that is another way to go for some of those items. Just go for fairly rugged leather to stay in keeping with the feel, this is not the place for fine calfskin. Rugs will help a lot, too, and is again a place for some color.

One thing you might want to consider is your lighting, also - it looks kind of dark in some bits of the rooms. Maybe you can add some subtle cable lighting along or between the rafters? Lighting isn’t my thing, so I’m not sure the best products here. But if you get someone local in to help with lighting, also see if you can come up with a subtle way to make some of the unframable pieces like the dream catcher stand out a bit more. (Not a bright spotlight, though. It isn’t an art gallery.)

In the area by the tables, it’s a little farmhouse rather than western ranch, but possibly add a chalkboard? Seems like a good space to have one for writing up even just a fun quote about ranch life, which again you can change from time to time.

You may get an idea or two by looking through Ralph Lauren Lodge Decor

Indoor outdoor rugs would be a good choice for the space and will add some different texture and color. They can be taken outside and hosed off when dirty.

Thank you so much for all the comments! I was able to get so many ideas and start brainstorming!

Our ranch is in a very remote area on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon ( in the middle of no where, honestly). To get to our ranch, you can either fly in from Las Vegas and land on our private airstrip or drive on a dirt road for two hours from the nearest town in Southern Utah (which is how we travel to the ranch). Because of our remote, secluded location, we do not have any electricity. We run on solar power and generator, which is the reason we don't have a lot of lighting...we just don't have enough power to run much more. We have guests coming to our lodge 8 months out of the year. From April-Sept. we host many guests going on river trips down the Colorado River. Those guest only stay one night. We have other guests that come exclusively to stay at our ranch. They typically stay 3-4 days. We have 6 rooms with bunk bends upstairs in the lodge. We also have cover wagons behind our lodge where couples and families can also sleep.

As far as what we want to keep and what we want to get rid of, it's pretty much all open. It can stay or go. The things we would like to keep, but just put in a different arrangement and explain what they are used for are some of the unique tools on the main floor walls. They are tools that have been used on our ranch for generations. We would like to still display them, but they obviously need to displayed differently.

Because we are on a ranch and dirt is everywhere, the lodge tends to fill with that dirt and dust on a daily basis. I agree that we need to lighten things up and rid the heavy feeling. I don't know if rugs are a realistic option because of all the dirt.

We feed around 80-100 people a day in that dining room. It's also a place the guests like to gather. We definitely need more comfortable seating, but we are limited on space. The space designated for couches just isn't very big. Bulky, comfy couches don't fit there as well.

Thanks again for all you input! It was very helpful! I look forward to hearing from you again as more ideas come to your mind.

I don't know if rugs are a realistic option because of all the dirt.

If you can establish certain areas of the room, for example this is where the dining tables go and this is a sitting area with sofas, you might want to consider something like trompe l'oeil rugs painted on the floor. So you get the look, color, and pattern of a rug without the maintenance.

Given the limited power and lighting, I think it's almost necessary to lighten up the walls. I realize that there's constant dirt and dust (we live on a farm in western Canada with 500 head of cattle so I understand the battle), but even if you have to get a bunch of people together to repaint once a year, it's a good way to keep things from looking too dark.

Do you have something like votive candles in Mason jars at supper time? I think that would add some softness and a bit of light, just for decorative purposes.

Every farm and ranch has bits and pieces of things in (or behind!) the barns, sheds, and shops; what's everyday stuff to us is fascinating to others, and can look like art if it's arranged, with more intention, and less haphazardly, especially with larger pieces.

And I was just reminded of a place in Ontario, South Pond Farms, featured on a show called "Taste of the Country", where they host weddings, reunions, and other events. The main room is in a barn but when it's all fixed up for an event, it seems cozy rather than cavernous. One thing that might be possible for you is the mismatched wooden chairs in a variety of colors, which livens up the room and adds personality,

Wow! I love love those ideas beckysharp! Thank you so much!!

I don’t know your budget, but given the cleaning needs I’d definitely look at leather for some softness. Maybe leather cushions on the benches? A reasonably heavy duty leather should be fairly wipe-and-go for cleaning and would just soften things up a little in that area.

If you don’t want to do rugs (indoor/outdoor rugs can be hosed off outside pretty easily) then are you open to changing your flooring a little? You can do ‘rugs’ with a tile pattern to add some color and define areas.

Great ideas PirateFoxy! Thank you!

And yes, tc_kellygirl, I totally agree!

I want to add I know vinyl/fake leather would be cheaper and is less ‘fussy’ to clean than regular leather, but I think for some things it’s probably worth it to spring for a good quality leather because vinyl doesn’t give the same ‘feel’ and also if people are sitting on vinyl cushions on a warm day, it is rather unpleasantly sweaty.

Given your somewhat unique situation with power, you’re probably going to have to think outside the box a bit, but I do think it is important to have more softness in the sitting and meal areas, so try to brainstorm what you could manage to keep washed or cleaned reasonably well. Maybe table runners would be easier to wash often but still give some fabric texture and color? Throw blankets on the seating areas?

Also definitely look for local or regional artists or artwork to feature. Given the restraints for cleaning soft furnishings, I’d keep an eye out especially for things that can introduce softer-looking textures, like fabric wall hangings. You don’t want to make the place look like a quilt shop, but I think only framed ‘hard’ surface paintings or glass-fronted photographs wouldn’t do enough to help break up the hard floor/tables/walls. So you want to aim for a blend of textures in your art pieces.

I still wouldn’t paint the wood - I think painting it will just highlight the 70s-era diagonal pattern in the paneling, which is not what you want to call attention to. But some more light really would help. I don’t want to tell you your business, but are you sure you’re maximizing the power you have? There’s lots more possible with relatively low power LEDs these days than there used to be. If you haven’t recently I might look into that again just to be sure. Plus, again, think outside the box - if you don’t want to use actual candles or lamps due to fire risk, maybe you could use solar lanterns? You’d have to remember to put them out to charge, but they do make some that give a nice light. Or battery candles with rechargeable batteries? Perhaps you could schedule recharging the batteries for the candles for when you’re more likely to have a surplus of power, or maybe someone has standalone solar battery chargers you could use. (Again they’d need to be put out, but if you had enough batteries on hand you should be able to have some in the candles and some charging and some ready to go, so even if a charging was missed it wouldn’t be a dire situation.) I’m just throwing out ideas, I don’t know what will work for you.

How about colorful nature photos/pictures in groupings (or blown up) like this?

Bird. You could feature birds and animals native to your area.

Maybe ask local artists if they'd display metal sculptures and other art to advertise or sell their work?

Carol

tc-kelly girl...re the saddles on the railing. No one other than us went upstairs; it was a shop. We also didn't have any children hanging around or friends, family who are that stupid or drink that much. Yes, you have to know your audience. :)

The rug I posted above is basically printed on flexible plastic so it is very durable and cleanable and very inexpensive. The 6 by 9 is less than $150.

Use some western-themed rugs as wall hangings... bright and overall light toned. keep the walls wood/unpainted. Add in a couple more light toned dreamcatchers, finding better places to high light them. You don't have room for many cosy comfy chairs, but drop in a couple where you can - they don't have to match.

Looks like a fun place!

Thanks again for all the input! So many wonderful ideas! I really, really appreciate it!!