I have a very similar coffee table, painted black. They do paint up very well, as long as they are cleaned good, to remove polish etc, and sanded and primed with a sealing bonding type primer first.

I have that exact color painted in my entire house and I love the dark wood with it. I would NOT paint your coffee table. I think the warmth of the wood and the dark color in it goes well with your banister and adds a natural element to the room. Not sure what to suggest about your furniture. I think you have to choose what you love. We went with a charcoal sofa, dark wood furniture pieces, cream, and texture wherever I could get it, such as in dark bamboo shades.

do you really love gray in your life? i am not seeing it in your ideabooks. the world is leaving gray behind, and having looked at your ideabooks, i am wondering if you won't wake up in a few years and say it is old. I see a lot of white, i also saw yellow in one, and i see what looks like yellow on your old walls. so let me give you another direction maybe?

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My house is also light French gray throughout, medium gray carpet and a medium toned LVP wood look in bath/kitchen/entry front/entry garage and laundry, and the sofa w/chaise I got for our main living room is a sapphire blue color velvet-ish. We have cherry cabinets and our wood furniture is heritage cherry/mahogany mostly though there are a few black finished pieces down in the basement family room/my craft room.

As far as I can tell your home decor isn’t committing one of the great decorator sins and if you like it you shouldn’t feel like you have to replace it for a theoretical guest who might dislike your style! Do they live there, are they paying for it - if no on either then pffftht and do what you like. ;)

I would go for a color on the sofa. Do you have a favorite color that isn’t gray?

Some ideas.

light gray with navy

With emerald green

With sunny yellow

With beige sofa, blush pillows and drapes, slightly darker gray walls.

I don’t have anything against gray, in fact I’m thinking of painting my master bath gray. But i see so many posts where someone has a gray sofa, gray walls, gray rugs and gray drapes, and they’re wondering why their room has no color or life. I think gray can be beautiful if used with color to set it off and vice versa. IMO.

ETA love your coffee table

I really liked the yellow walls! But that's over and you're working with gray. Havingfun had some good suggestions for bringing in what you seem to favor. And I do think it's yellow!

Your style seems to be on the traditional side of the spectrum. Maybe you'd consider some transitional elements as well. A classic wing chair - in yellow - with your English roll arm sofa in ivory and a more contemporary area rug. See below for a mock-up of the idea. Note the Roman shades for the fireplace windows. You really don't have enough room for panels.

I think your coffee table would work fine in the room - unpainted. But think that a glass table might work better because it is a smaller room. Glass takes less weight and also reflects light.

I gotta say I'm confused about what your first post means - you like the look, but not the furniture. What mistakes were made? [I also liked your yellow walls, so crisp against white mantel, etc... and about havingfun's post]...

Pleasant room. if you're changing your sofa, you might want a rug with more color. If you're keeping your sofa, you'll want a more plain rug.

(We have the same coffee table; I bought the two end tables as well -- that was in 1988 or so.)

Rather than drapes awkwardly pushed to one side, use white adjustable wood louvered shutters for the two windows beside the fireplace. Add those two drape panels to rod of the large window behind the sofa. Consider investing in some color coordinating pull back ties for those drapes.

Not a fan of yellow hues for walls -- not even yellow for a kitchen -- reminds me of an older home my family rented for a time while I was a child.

A pale gray wall color would look better. Alternately, if you're keeping the sofa or staying with your current furnishing colors, a light brown -- a pale tan, one without any pink or yellow hue -- would work.

Don't see an overhead light in the living room so lamps are needed -- preferably several tall thin metal ones with a medium to large white shade. Perhaps you could repurpose those you are now using to a bedroom.

You could add a pair of matching low tables or cabinets (lower than the windowsill) in front of each of the windows beside the fireplace with lamps and, by moving the photos you could make room for a pair on the sideboard at the end of the sofa. Choose the led 1600 lumens bulbs -- three-way lamps are a plus.

Choose art that is something other than individually framed family photos over the mantel. Pick something with a lot of color and/or that reflects your personal interest. In the meantime, until you find the perfect art piece, leave it blank.

Since you obviously want family photo's in your living room, in lieu of a lot of smaller frames, you might consider choosing your favorite pictures and having them all framed in one or two frames; either

... two square wood frames (thin rather than wide frames) -- frames that have glass the same size as the glass of the top half of the windows that are beside the fireplace. These could be hung side-by-side above the mantel.

... one large rectangle frame intended to be hung horizontally.

What does this chair you like look like? What I see in your "after" picture is that brown chair looks too large for the space. I would encourage you to give yourself more walking room, open space by paring down the size of your pieces if you are buying new. Flanking your couch with end tables might do more for you than the coffee table is. I love the suggestions to bring life into your room with some brighter colors in the new pieces. Perhaps something other than metal slat blinds on your windows. They are such a nightmare to clean!!

Mine would be a "no" vote on keeping and painting the coffee table. That will not change the table shape and legs.

"I don't want to repeat the same kind of design mistakes I made in the past" You did that by choosing paint first. It is easier to choose a textile first: either rug or upholstery then choose paint. Have you sat on that sofa?

Thanks for the feedback!

HavingFun - I love the pics you sent. I may lean towards incorporating a yellow/gold color in the area rug.

SayPoint - Love the navy but was worried that a dark sofa would overpower the small room. I agree about not doing everything gray. I really want to add color with accessories but am afraid to commit to doing it with the sofa.

Manon - The yellow (cork) wall color was great but it's been 15 years since I painted that room and I wanted a change. The adjacent dining room is a shade darker in gray. Love the roman shade idea. I also was leaning towards a glass coffee table.

so are you wanting to try different colors? you also look more chiq to me then a painted top coffee table, doesn't that tends towards french country?

I wonder if it’s not that you didn’t like your original style but that the look wasn’t cohesive. The style was, but not some of the colors. A few simple tweaks like changing the curtains and drapes would have made a big difference.

You can’t pick your coffee table until you pick your sofa.

I would: get a final plan together before purchasing a sofa, rug, etc. and allow myself to change the wall color if needed.

You may be in a different situation, but I just don’t have a lot of money to play around with, so I HAVE to plan out my major scheme. Not to say I can’t be flexible but it still has to make sense and not leave much to chance.

IMO there is no such thing as a neutral. Every color has its version of gray or white, for example. So there is no such thing as a “safe” choice. Look at all the people here who went out and got a big brown leather sofa and then don’t know what to do.

I don’t ever want to decorate myself into an unwanted corner.

The only choice you will regret is if you don’t stay true to your tastes. And if you don’t know your taste, it’s too soon to plan, let alone shop. First you have to analyze and explore what kind of home you are truly happy living in, day in and out. Think about the elements that bring you joy in terms of color, mood, etc. and then start to refine this. Shopping comes last.

I like your sofa choices a lot, but it’s not my home. Go back to what YOU like. As for not wanting to commit to a couch color, may I ask why? Believe it or not, certain colors are as much of a neutral (if a neutral exists) as gray. Blue, for example, works with all the colors... gray, orange, pink, red, white, green, yellow, purple, etc. Just has to be the right version of the color. Pattern is much more of a commitment than color.

Thanks Anele. I also love the couch choices and now I'll decide on the color. I don't have a lot of money to play with hence the overthinking of the right couch for the space. I am not going to paint again as this paint runs up the stairs into the upstairs hallway. Plus I really like how it brightened up a darker room. :)

cd, imo gray is a fairly neutral color, though it can have undertones. so i would go around the house and get fabrics that go with your couch choices. if you get a color you truly love, you can change the look a million times just by changing the soft items, pillows, rug, curtains. I happen to love white or light curtains and sheers, in which case you would not need to change those out. for reasonable you can even do seasonally.

Contemporary patterned curtains to draw the eyes up.

I like the navy sofa. I think it would look great, and not show dirt/stains the way the white/cream ones would. I just had a sofa slip covered in midnight blue velvet and i love it. My light colored sofa in the living room always looks dirty along the front edge of the cushions even after cleaning. Maybe time to recover that one too.

In the beginning,

Pick out 3 room photos online you adore.

Study the photo & take notes for each photo of what & why you like it.

Now you have an idea of what to look for when comparing all the options.

Then measure & get a floorplan of existing. Draw to scale. Print another cut it out & place around. Or use computer.

Write a list of everything you like currently & the list of dislikes.

Keep the likes, prioritize the dislikes from worse to laters.

Determine $ allowed.

If there is enough $ allowed, an interior designer would be a nice gift to oneself.

Before committing to color change for sofa, put a fabric or sofa cover of the color choosing over sofa & see if u like it daytime & nighttime.

Currently the room has nice neutrals & it's a great canvas to start with.

It's important to keep to what brings you joy in your home. So, the photos of inspiration you find, will help stay towards your goals & tastes.

Hope that helps.

I think a white textured frame gallery would look really neat, if you used mirrors it would open up the space and reflect more light from outside if you chose that wall across the window.

C D, I'm not going to post design help because it's not my area of expertise and you've got some great advice already. I just wanted to say that you've asked a really good question that most of us probably should ask before we re-decorate. Good luck!

cd, i love all three colors you chose. gray and white are neutrals, I think of dk blue the same way , like jeans, but not all do. so are you doing due to love or momentary lust. that is what will see you through.

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