take the lamp with the yellow shade and set it on your end table. It will give you a feel for size. Im not sure you can go much larger on the end tables might start to get stuffy. Also, do you have floor out lets? IMO, not at pro. But I think that whole back wall could be better sorted. maybe a sofa table behind the could be a better place for lamps? OR maybe a long narrow console table on the back wall. move your art around and put lamps there?

Candid! The first thing I saw in both rooms were the window treatments. The living room valances, although formal in design, are a dated look even for kitchens. The dining room drapes and swag should be framing the stage in a theater; they're just too heavy and dark. The red art in the dining room and the blue art in the living room are "off" elements in contrast to you furniture. The red ones might work in your kitchen, and the blue could theme another space. Dried floral arrangements and sticks as decor faded a long time ago. The living room rug should be as large as the one in the dining room. What to do... Here's a favorite house of mine and you have the furniture to pull off a similar look if you just simplify and get a larger rug and some side tables and a coffee table that are in scale with your other pieces. Click through the link with the photo to see other rooms in this lovely home. Brighten up your space by painting both rooms as below (believed to be Navajo White walls and White Dove Trim.) Consider wainscot for the dining room and a new chandelier. Updated window treatments that match in both rooms, larger rugs and less clutter would improve things. If you do paint, then removing all the tchotkes will happen anyway. Pack them up and only put them back judiciously.

When you have family over, do you visit or watch TV or play a board game or put a puzzle together? Do you all sit together or break up into groups when in the living room? I was given a sectional and find it very inflexible. I find a sofa too long to be flexible. A love seat saw many quiet conversations with kids, and I've napped on it many times, but I'm short. Lately I've liked the idea of a low table and four chairs or a pair of live seats. But Jan's right about number of seats. I hope a living room can be more than just a seat counting, because I want to live in my living room, not just sit.

There are no rules that say you have to have a rug. Because you are struggling with the color of the rug, I would suggest that you decorate the rest of the room and get the rug last to match any art or other pieces that you put into the room. That is if you really really want a rug. I don’t use them in my house because they collect dust and hair, especially animal hair. But then that is my personal preference.