That's quite an order you've placed! I would suggest you upload a picture of the room the rug will go in, and some ideas regarding your tastes, budget, etc. Maybe you'll then get some suggestions.:) Dee

The look I was aiming for was transitional, sort of casual traditional with maybe a little eclecticism. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull that off. Yes, you can, and are well on the way. But, IMO, it is hard to fit the Queen Anne furniture pieces in. And you need to move the accessories from formal to contemporary. Btw, if the rug is part of the contemporary look, I did have a more busy, sort of persian-looking rug in the room, but I didn't think it looked too good, so I went for something more graphic. I like the rug a lot. But since it is going to set the stage for the room, if you dont like it, then make that the next thing to switch out, because it is going to drive the color scheme. Does the plant behind the chair look ok? I like it, and I think fake plants are just fine as long as they are clean and not covered with dust. Buy an uplight ($15) and set it in the pot shooting the light up at and through the leaves. Use a timer so it comes on automatically. You might raise the plant slightly so more of the greenery shows - try placing it on some books or a box. I will get a nice matte and frame for my dog drawing in chalk pastel, done by my brother. What color frame do you think I should get, goldish? I'm thinking of pairing it with two other pictures of my dogs in similar frames above the chair. I like the idea of pairing with two other pictures. I would stay away from gold. You could do three identical black frames. Another issue is the leather chair. I think the leather chair looks great. I will remove the candle sconces and maybe put sconces by the mirror. Maybe hold off on this area until you do some other things. In a perfect world, I would replace the Queen Anne console with something more in the style of the TV cabinet. For now, I would remove the sconces and try a couple things. Move the rectangular mirror over there, or just for the heck of it, see what the oval mirror would look like turned on its side. To me, a mirror + sconces is a formal look you are moving away from. However, if that is in a hallway to the dining room and not really part of this room, then maybe keep it formal. I thought light sconces might be a good solution above the sectional at one time, but when I used my planter things (holding my artificial plants) to sort of help me get an idea where they should go and how they might look, it never seemed right. But maybe I should just put one on the far right and far left end of the sectional, like MJLB said if I understood. Decorating above a sofa or sectional is difficult. You might consider this: Leave one of the two walls above the sofa empty. Decorate only the wall above the longer end of the sofa and use one large picture. Measure the length of the longer section lets say it is 80 inches long. Find one picture that measures in width somewhere between 3/4 and 7/8 of that length. Using the 80 inch example, the width of your picture would be between 60 and 70 inches. Now, go shopping for artwork with that width. You could even do that as you think about a new area rug, and whichever comes along first becomes the building block for the other. I'll look at lamps at a lamp store. Perhaps I'll buy a lamp on a pole by the leather chair. And maybe add a tiny table? Or a pole lamp with a little table built in? Pole lamps with built in tables are so practical, but I never see them in the better stores. Wodkas is really nice. It's funny, I was looking for squarish looking lampshades the other day, thinking they would look good above my mantle. Instead, I got the two lamps you see on the mantel. It's not too late to return them; they even still have the plastic on the shades. Personally, yes, I would return them and look for something more interesting. I like the idea of lamps on the fireplace, but another option would be to offset the picture to one side and put a blue vase or one lamp or something else next to it. Now the big issue of whether to paint the fireplace wall . . . what I visualize is probably too formal to work in my house though. The painted fireplace and all the other items in Ingrids room are gorgeous. But that is a more formal style than you seem to be going for. I would leave the brick alone, but give a good cleaning to the brass surround and then spray paint it with black paint (we can give you more info on how to do that - it is easy and cheap). It looks like you use the fireplace, so maybe shop the internet for new fireplace tools that are more showy. Down the road, replace the mantle with something a little bigger, and replace the country looking corbels with something more striking. It is all in the details.

The natural jute or seagrass rugs will not look as good on carpet and may permanently discolor the carpet. Plus, it is just another edge for kids to trip on, so I personally would not layer flooring in that room just for looks. Reluctantly agree with above poster who speculated that bar table, while cute, would end up as a horizontal surface only (read: repository for anything you need to put down) and not as an eating area. I would maybe get a bigger ottoman than the chair (if you replace the chaise) would need, and get a nice big melamine tray with sides and a handle for the top for their food. (If you decide you want to try a table I wouldn't try a round one if it is going up against a wall for obvious space considerations, and I would get a regular height one, not the pub height...... think kids horsing around and falling off those high stools, their center of gravity is pretty high.) I bought a bolt of green and white mattress ticking fabric online years ago and had slipcovers made for two sofas. The slips outlasted the sofas! The navy and white (more in real life like navy and off white) is very durable if the fabric is cotton twill and woven, not simply printed on the surface. If you google signal flag pillows (images) you'll see an embarrassment of riches. If you go the signal pillow route you can always just do solid color pennants on the rafters. There are etsy shops that will make them to order in the colors you desire or you might find them already made. I have to say though that I really like the flags on rafters picture posted above!

Is anyone going to use those chairs for reading or anything that requires "good" light? I wouldn't use a table lamp; you would need one fairly tall for reading, etc., and could be too large for the table. You don't have a lot of room and I also assume you have something planned for the wall so maybe a simple pharmacy lamp behind the chair that is next to the wall? I would suggest an arc floor lamp or floor lamp with larger shade but I don't think you have enough room for those. I have an ancient halogen pharmacy lamp I've drug around for decades (and stocked up on the bulbs long ago!) which I use almost every night for needlework.