It’s hard to visualize the floor plan from your pictures. Could you sketch it out with dimensions?

A light color, dark in there. I like the green.

Too much clutter, too much stuff, I can't tell. Too dark too : )

I"ve tried multiple times on my laptop and smart phone to put my sketch of the floor plan and have been unsuccessful, sorry. The site claims that the page I requested was not found. I agree, way to much clutter :)

Try taking a pic of it on your phone and when you comment on the bottom click photo and choose library, please include basic measurements and where adjacent rooms are. Also what is the primary use for the space. I have an idea of how to use what you have and make it functional and beautiful pretty economically with color you prefer which I assume is the green I see adjacent to the fireplace area

The primary space needing improvement is the lower half of floorplan which is my living room. My husband, daughter (4) and I gather here to watch tv or play toys or games. Thanks!

Gotcha ok so when you look at the below picture. Does it feel more comfortable and your style? Just look at the ceiling, beams, and paint color with the black table. Orange colored walls u never mentioned as your primary color choices. Is the carpet acceptable for another year?

Couch in front of fireplace or sideways from fireplace. Tv on one side of fp. Chairs on each side of couch. Group a play area for kids. A round table for games near the tall cabinet.

My suggestion is this, find a great painter. Do a pickle finish on the knotty pine. Walls and beams two coats and ceiling one coat. It will still show the texture but update the space overall. Do NOT let them use a white that’s has warm tones, blue toned white pickle finish. Then the charcoal? Sofa/divan works. The area to the right of the front door is a play/study area. Move the tall cabinet on the stair wall. Then the wall it was on becomes the play area future game table study area with a comfortable large scale upholstered chair on the window wall. Then move the tv and console/stand to the wall opposite of the larger bay windows that backs your kitchen counter. Place a long console in front of the bay of windows and place the sofa/divan in front of it. Use the chair ottoman to the left of the fireplace for the time being. Add a comfy chair just to the left of the door when you can. Kids are ez so have a few floor cushions made for tv viewing fun. Cool puppy! Pyrenees? I ❤️ the wall lamp above the sofa. Navy or deep royal blue and medium green with a pop of coral are good accents and mount those shades about 3/4 of the way up the windows. Looks cold there so u can add neutral drapery panels to draw when you need a little insulation

The two pickle tones I suggested

And my not so smart with smart phone floor plan markup lol good luck cool home with great light

Thank you, there is a lot of good advice here and moving furniture around in ways I wouldn't have thought of. Much appreciated. Our dog is part husky part (most likely) part pyrenees. She's a furry handful! I agree I have a lot of clutter. My husband purchased the home from his mother as he lived here is whole life. She basically sold it with furniture and all. So we have a lot of furniture pieces to work with. Probably to many they appear to line all the walls! The carpet can wait, but do you think sticking with that light beige/ cream color is good? Flecks or no flecks? I thought maybe the flecked added extra busyness with the knotted pine? It probably will be quite difficult to convince the hubby to paint on the wood, the home is sentimental and he's macho about the wood so do you have any advice on color choices if we stayed with original wood walls. Thanks a bunch, you have given me some fresh ideas for sure!

I love the wood windows, don't paint everything! Wood gives your home character & u don't want to ruin it. And maintenance. Paint first the walls & get samples & hang them up to see day & night.

I understand change being difficult. Why don’t you change the ceiling and beams as I suggested and if the carpet can hold up another year... it will kinda blend the two. Once he sees the light (lightness literally) he may change his mind. The green in the other room is a color you could use on wood pieces with a light wash of cool white to tie the ceiling to the carpet. That would allow the charcoal sofa to kinda blend too

Your space is "acting" smaller than it really is, because of the small pieces of furniture lining the edges of the room, that are taking up room but not adding a lot of value. There are little cabinets and shelves everywhere that are shrinking the space for your large, more useful pieces of furniture.

I've taken your floor plan and added in where I think the traffic paths should go, in pale yellow. These 3 foot wide spaces should be left clear, right to the wall, to give you enough room for your large furniture pieces. The only exception would be to hang the TV flat on the wall (Is there a wall?) to the kitchen. If not, use a very very narrow cabinet.

You can see that your spaces for furniture are actually quite large. I've shown sofa and chairs in gray, tables in brown. There's easily a space for a 7 ft sofa, for example. And there's a good size area on the opposite side of the traffic path, where the kid's toys and table can go.

Once you have the large pieces of furniture in place, then see what else needs to go in the room for display or storage, hopefully higher up and not taking up valuable floor space. Maybe some shelving and display items can go in the office.

I like those ideas, partim, for rearranging the furniture as well. Thanks so much for your advice and I think breaking the tv away from the tiled area makes the sitting area more its own space just as S Reed design suggested. Thanks again S Reed design for a lot of useful advice. Which I never would have thought of. Thanks, Martha on your input on pickling the walls and undertones on that beige carpet. I will definitely take a closer look at that as well. All these good ideas has got me really brainstorming on where else in my home these pieces of furniture and such can be utilized better. I've already started moving a few things out. It's amazing how different and less cluttered it looks. Just doing a little at a time let's me brainstorm and produces less shock from the change.

Have fun with it and experiment, it really is a nice light filled interesting space!