Letting a beautiful rug form the basis for a room's color scheme works fine, as long as you A) already happen to own a beautiful rug or B) you have somewhere else to live while you wait to find a beautiful rug that you C) fall in love with and D) can afford, and then, gradually, build the rest of your room around it. For a long time, that's been the 'ideal' decorating scenario. But for those people who can't wait for the planets to align--which group includes myself-- picking your wall color first works out OK. Of course, as Dilettante discovered, you may find that the perfectly lovely color you choose for your walls doesn't come in anything but paint. And, if you're into the perfectly co-ordinated look, that can be a problem, but it it doesn't have to be. You don't hear people critiquing the blue of the sky because it doesn't match the blue of the pool, or the lake, or the iris, or your kid's eyes. That's all irrelevant. The blue is a background, so it doesn't need to match, and I generally take that low-stapproach when I'm working on a room for a client. Life's hard enough already without worrying about stuff like that. And at home, I never use my wall color anywhere else in a room, certainly not that exact color. It's lots more interesting if there's some contrast, or even a little dissonance between foreground & background. It makes the room look less stagy & contrived, and, basically, less decoratorish--and I say that as a decorator. So if I were determined to have a yellow room, I would get one, and I wouldn't worry about not finding yellow fabrics to go with it, but would just slap the color on the wall. Then, if it takes me a year or two to put the rest of the place together, I at least have a nice color in the meantime. That ought to count for something. By the last inning, when I've got most of my furnishings, I can always change to a different yellow if I think it might better complement the rest of the stuff, but then, maybe it's that dissonance thet gives the room its life. All I can say is that my furniture is a hodgepdge of different woods, fabrics, patterns & textures and that it's all worked equally well in rooms of a bunch of different colors: cornemal yellow, duck egg blue, spruce green,, paper bag brown, oyster gray, olive green & the newest one, Farrow & Ball's Churlish Green, the first time I've ever used an off-the-shelf paint color. So don't get all hung up on the rules about sequence. You can either follow the rules or the you can make up your own rules. That's what I do. One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons shows an older chef talking to his assitant who's adding some herbs to a pot: "Look, who CARES how much oregano you use!" It's like that. Don't make yourself crazy. It's only decorating. Regards, Magnaverde.

I love the clean, uncluttered look of your home and you've made some great furniture choices. My first thought, though, is that I would try to rework the sofa/sectional placement. It really is unwelcoming looking to me to have the back where it is facing a wall, when it could be oriented to look into the room and out the windows. It seems like if it were placed in the corner under the stairs that it would feel open and invite you to come in and sit. I'd hate to be cooking in the kitchen and have the family or guests with their backs to me. If you are having a TV in another room close by, do you need one in that room, too? If, so placing a 70" unit will probably only work as you have it. But, to me, it's not going to look like a living room but more like a movie theater, which is fine if that's what you're going for. It seems like it won't be a cozy conversation area, though. I might actually flip the rooms and put the dining room where you have the sofa now. I was looking at lights used with dining rooms and ghost chairs and saw this, maybe would work in the living room? Kind of fun. don't know if it would look as good without the colored walls though. And I thought something like these were interesting to consider for over your table:

I like yours localeater but I think it's too tall. We don't want to block our view. And I think I'm going to have to custom order to get something that matches my current sofa and rug (both of which are relatively new). The two chairs I posted are available through a local store so I'm in the process of finding out if they have them in the showroom for a sit-test. You all have been a big help in helping me think this through and come up with the idea of two chairs opposite the sofa. I know many of you are so good at this and I am not. I know what I like and I think once I get some stuff it looks decent but visualizing what to do - I am not good at that.

a few additional thoughts. consider moving and angling the two chairs a little away from each other so you can see the fireplace and put a low side table between the two chairs. you mentioned you like MCM, maybe consider swapping out the credenza that tv is on for a longer one that has more of a MCM feel. I would just get a large coffee table and not ottomans in front of chairs. curtains on windows will help soften the room. heres a few pics of mcm credenzas and a coffee tables with additional texture and interest. a photo gallery wall with bright colors might also look nice on the long wall.