Yep, Lav, where you live it is topsy turvy. Heat is more important to you. The first time I was up in Massachusetts for the summer, with no a/c, I was really suffering. My DH finally agreed to get a portable heat pump which only provided a/c, not heat, because he had a brand new heating system installed the year before. Well, by the time he got it home and in the window, the hot season up there was just about over, and it was cooling down again. I could not believe it, because here in south Alabama our hot season runs until the first of November, and sometimes longer. Just think of when hurricane season is, and that is our hot weather times. If you look at the ocean temperatures around the world, just off the Alabama coastline the Gulf of Mexico is already 87 degrees F, and is the hottest temp shown anywhere on that map provided by The Weather Channel. It looks bad for the home team, because hot water sucks in the tropical storms. So, yes, the AC is the most needed of all. However, if we built houses like they did back in the 1800s, we could have cross ventilation, raised foundations for air flow, deep overhangs for porches on every side except north, working shutters inside and outside too, that had adjustable louvers, tall ceilings. And the builders did not bulldoze the big trees either. Lavender, we can all live in the places we prefer if we learn from the old timers how to build our homes, and how to ORIENT THEM PROPERLY for heating and cooling optimization. I'm a great fan of passive solar heating, it should work here, with lots left over to charge up a whole bank of storage batteries. Friends of mine in Iowa who run the Iowa Parrot Rescue bought a huge old house and found in the basement beaucoup old storage batteries which it turns out the original owner had used to power his lights and maybe a few other things. The house was oriented just right for winter sunshine in the major rooms, but believe me, it gets COLD in Iowa, just like where you live. To reduce their heating bill, they are using a corn pellet stove in the house itself, and then they built a big bird shelter covered by a couple of feet (at least) of earthen berm, and the window wall is a southern exposure. The berm is planted with wildflowers, and looks so natural. I remember visiting in Minnesotta and seeing the UM student union building underground mostly, where the normal temp year round is about 50-ish, so they only have to heat that up to 65 or 70, which is a lot less costly than raising it from the minus temps. Early man found caves better than living out in the open, and looked for them facing south too. Isn't the way we adapt to our environment an interesting topic? No one perfect way. Same is true of the way we cook, depends on the kind of fuel we have available.

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We're always away for the holidays so I like to keep decorations to a minimum. Since we downsized to a downtown condo last year, our decorations are limited to kitchen/dining/living areas. No holiday decor for master and guest bedrooms or bathrooms. I personally like small items so I limited the decor to a charlie brown tree with some ostrich feathers that I thought I was going to discard (but found new use for them), and some spherical ornaments in a bowl and coffee table. random balls: I like the LED glass spheres because they look like the Amazon biospheres a couple blocks from the condo, so I might keep them on the coffee table after the holidays. :)

The rug is beautiful. If you want to keep it, I would try working the furniture around it so the size works. It may not be perfectly sized, but I think you can make it work. The loveseat looks as though it fits well in the space. I like the idea of putting it on the long wall. Then you could put the blue table underneath the artwork on the short wall opposite it like it is in your picture with the loveseat. Would it be horribly difficult to try the loveseat in that space and see what you think? If it works, I think all you'll need is an ottoman or coffee table, accent chair, and floor lamp and you'll be done!