After many years of graduate school followed by teaching university environmental science courses I'm pretty comfortable in my understanding of how wood in the forest gets digested, and my ability to interpret observations in the field. What we are talking about here are fresh wood chips coated in wet clay if they are dug directly into the clay soil. This will seal off a good proportion of the surface area of the wood to microbial action and microbial spread. If composted a bit first the situation will be reversed and the clay lumps can get coated in fine particulates and humics, and fungal threads will be able to grow around the clay in a more or less contiguous organic environment rather than be blocked by walls of clay plaster. If you are refering to deep incorporation of organic matter down into the soil... if worms etc could break up clay through the addition of organic matter on the surface you would not see the fromation or persistance of the natural soil horizons we are dealing with (the clay fragipan in the B horizon). I would not have a clay problem because I have had grass growing on my lawn for 42 years since the house was built. This means not only 42 years of root penetration and worm activity on decaying roots, but also 42 years of grass clippings from a mulching mower. Still, there is a claypan nine inches below the surface. The yard is home to a good population of night crawlers. Sure the top nine inches is wonderfully mixed topsoil (due to worms and moles), but that doesn't do my tomatoes any good once that top nine inches dries out at the end of June and the clay blocks deep root penetration to subsurface water. Surrounding the yard is a secondary growth forest that is over thirty years old. Plenty of time for soil life to mix decaying organic material into the clay...it just hasn't happened. And here is what I have observed with brush piles sitting atop clay soil for 20 years (total decay of the brush)... a couple of inches of rich black compost over top of clay (the same with old manure piles). I have cut and developed garden plots out of both the yard and the wilderness areas. This includes deep digging down to 2-3 feet by hand to break up the clay and mix in organic matter so I am intimately aware of the soil structure, root pentration and wildlife penetration. Worms do not live in the clay layer other than for a few permanent vertical burrows, and plants do not put roots down into the clay to a great extent. In a forest, subsurface clay is broken up by penetration and decay of large woody tree roots (over centuries), not from branch and leaf litter. Invertebrate activity will mix surface material into the nooks and crannies left by decaying roots. Most tree roots are on the surface in the nutrient rich layer, with very few deep verticals, which is one reason it takes so long for deep rich soil to form. Darwin's estimates of soil turnover by earthworms as so many tonnes of soil per acre per year (in an English cultivated and/or garden setting) seems impressive until you convert it to inches, which turns out to be something like 1/8 inch of soil brought to the surface each year, so over 8 years you could get an inch of soil covering your wood chips, but even this isn't going to happen in worm depauperate clay.

I’m laughing at the thought of my squishy, comfy pillows being called forbidding or them fighting with anyone. I took a couple of more pictures, including the chairs without the pillows and I think you’ll agree that the cushions make them look more inviting, not less. Also rearranged so that people can see that the sofa facing the fireplace, chair at each side will not work in the space. I tried it as the most obvious answer and discarded it. It’s awkward to me, like the sofa is turning it’s back on everyone. Also, due to the placement of the fireplace, the sofa and chairs cannot be centered on the fireplace or the bedroom will be blocked completely. I can’t pull the sofa back much more without blocking the walkway. The fact is, space for the ‘living room” is much smaller than you think. I also pulled the rug away, to demonstrate that the rug and sofa not going together is kind of the least of this room’s problems. I wish I could get a good angle that shows just how off center the couch and chairs are.

There are plug in lamps with multiple heads on them so you can direct the light in different directions. Lighter colored walls will help reflect the light as well. If you prefer to add permanent lights, you may have to hire an electrician to add some recessed lights. If you choose to do this, then consider adding a smoke detector as well for safety.

Thank you all for your replies! @Dave, I googled the cables you talked about and I think some of the updated wiring is BX cable, but when he was in the attic, the contractor specifically mentioned that the wiring was "old" and "cloth-wrapped". Also, it's not a matter of cheaping out--rewiring the whole house is something we can't afford right now. We don't want to gamble with our lives although apparently we've been gambling for years now, and so we were trying to approach it from the point of "what can we do for now that we can afford that is minimally intrusive". @Seabornman Thank you. I know that for this type of thing what we really need is a quote from an electrician (or several quotes from several electricians) but they're difficult to get hold of and the ones we've spoken to in the past couldn't be bothered with something small like just replacing/grounding a few outlets (makes sense though that it's not worth their time and they need bigger jobs). So the next best thing was to try to research, and then ask the internet to try to get an idea of what to expect. What you said about moving/disturbing a wire and the insulation possibly being damaged (or possibly being fine) sounds like what the one contractor may have mentioned, but neither of us could remember that specific bit about the insulation until you said so. Thanks!