The sofa is in the right place but the loveseat is lonely over on the wall. Bring the loveseat and its side table to relate to the sofa. Put the side table at the right of the sofa and the loveseat perpendicular to the sofa wall coming out from the side table. So they are almost like a sectional sofa with a table instead of a corner seat.

It appears that you have a lot of seating in this room. How many do you typically seat? I also do not see any lamps. Are you open to getting hardwood floors? If so, I would go with something light and paint the walls in a nice " tan" that coordinates with a color from the stone. I would remove the scarves from the Windows.

I would go with white washed FP.

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Thanks for answering brterk. My front formal living and dining are right next to each other and are 13' square, making an ultimate room of 26' by 13'. Very similar dimensions to your space, which is why I was asking.

I agree with everything cawaps said! Two seating areas is the solution and it's very common - easy to find pics of.

Also, filling sunken living rooms is very common! Check out youtube - lots of videos showing it done. Your hearth on the fireplace is tall enough you have plenty of room there, so the only question is how high it is now from the floor to the bottom of the beams just where they meet that arched window wall? I think so long as you still get 8' with the space filled in, and budget allowed, I would want it filled in. Oh - but I don't think you'll get 8' clearance to the dining room on the right - that header would have to be raised.

Just for fun, attaching several pics of spaces with two seating areas. Note completely different styles of furnishings and decors - just shows how commonly it's done.

BTW if anyone in the house plays piano - a baby grand would look fabulous in that back corner! :)

I would close up the two peek-a-book shelves flanking the fireplace. As long as you have multiple steps and railings, it is less of a fall risk, so you can save money by leaving them in place. I would be more interested in changing out the window style and eliminating the arch. Wood stairs and floors with a large area rug and a lot less furniture will improve the look and the flow. I agree you should gather one seating area at the fireplace and another in the remaining space. Is new furniture in the budget?

I also would fill in the spaces next to the fireplace....with those and the fireplace stone, it looks sort of busy. If you need the light coming into the room from the shelves, then I would take out the shelves and just have the plain glass type space.

I think the proportions of your room are amazing! Before you take the drastic step of filling or raising the floor perhaps you could take some time to consider how you want to use this space, and the 'look' you are going for. I would start by removing all of the window scarves, the paintings, the collectibles on the open shelving etc. and extraneous furniture pieces and then take a good,long, look at the space. The suggestions for the 2 different areas are perfect for this room , you could get an idea of how this would look, and work by shifting your existing furniture into some of the arrangements suggested and pictured above. Hardwood flooring and changing out the railings to something more modern would be definite items for me.

Oooh, let us know how much the quotes come in at, would you? Pretty exciting.

I have a layout for your room using your existing furnishings. It might not be ideal because of the walk way, but your loveseat will fit between your windows and the combination of all the seating around the fireplace will really be much better for conversation. This is an easy layout to try in this room and see if you like it.

This is not a Craftsman Tri Level. You have a contemporary Tri Level home and your traditional furnishings are a bit at odds with the architecture, but I suspect you might already know this.

Please take down the Scarf Valances. They visually lower the grand space of your room and the 80's want them back.

This could be a stunning, dynamic space with the rock faced fireplace & ceiling beams, but you have put the brakes on doing anything to help it and only you can know why that is. Personally, I would not spend the funds to raise the floor. Just install the wood floor. If you raise the floor the windows might be to short and if the windows are within 18" of the floor that have to be replaced with tempered glass. Too much money for not enough effect.

You could take some baby steps by keeping the sofa and loveseat and replacing the wing back gold chairs with chairs less traditional. A chair with a curved back.

Good luck to you, brterk.

BTW, I can think of a few reasons our homes get stuck in a time warp, and I totally get it! So excited to see your progress - can't wait to see what you do!

I would still go through with getting the bid on raising the floor because I know what it's like to live with a home where you think for years and years "if I could only", and so it'll be nice to see if that dream actually is a feasible reality. Then you can either do it or make peace with it and move on. Besides, nowadays companies can do such amazing, life-like renderings too - so that would be cool to see if someone could do that for you.

I'm squealing - a double sided fireplace is so cool! I definitely say go lighter and try lightening before walling in or having it torn apart and built differently. I say that because it can be done so inexpensively and with your wooden ceiling, a natural stone fireplace is only, well, natural!

Go to Pinterest to look for how-to's on whitewashing - soooo many posts about it. Can easily be done yourself for very little money. Beverly posted about staining - that had me researching because I always thought to go lighter you had to paint. I found Masonry Cosmetics. I'm super excited about this because I have exterior stonework I want to change the color of and I did not want to change a maintenance free item on our home to one that has to be maintained. But indoors I would think white-washing would last just fine?

Please don't sheetrock or box in that fireplace, it is beautiful. Is it lighter on the kitchen side bc the majority of fires have been tended from the livingroom? It looks like you should first give it a good cleaning, then decide what kind of finish you might want to try. The inspiration photo from Gwen with the natural fireplace looks to me like the way to go, that or the stained fireplace posted by BevFLA. Your room has the natural wood sloped ceiling, a 2 sided fireplace (wow) and majestic proportions that I would embrace if I were you.

It seems like your room does need some work. We agree that the peek a boo shelves would look better closed up and the fireplace would look great white washed. The fireplace should help the room and blend with it, not stand out. Right not it seems to be standing out and looks out of place.

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