I guess you didn’t need us after all :-( LOL. Glad to hear you are now able to rearrange. I think your whole room will feel more comfortable and relaxing to you when you aren’t fighting all the angles. Wondering if you have tried another alternative arrangement. Put the couch with its back to the windows, where the chairs are now. Floor lamp down at the end closest to the fireplace. Bench in front as a coffee table. Then the two chairs go where the couch is now, table between them and a lamp. Extension cord from the lamp, under the one chair and then the couch, to get over to a plug on the wall by the fireplace if you can. Looks like there is an ottoman that matches the chair? Make that chair the one furthest from the couch, so there is room for the ottoman away from the coffee table. I think having the chairs there will feel more open and less like a wall than the couch does when you see it from the hallway. Curio where the tv is currently. If it is lighted, be sure to use the light. It is a great way to add some light to a dark corner. Perfect on that angled wall! The the tv down in the corner to the right of the fireplace, as you planned. Move the piece of art that is down at the far end of the room to the right of the windows, over to the wall to the right of where the curio will be. Move the piece of art that is currently there over to the wall where the curio was, and also move the suitcases to that corner. Open the smaller one, angle it slightly on top of the bigger one, and fill that with the boston fern from the top of the curio. On your mantel, switch the “L”and the butterfly pix. Right now the placement of the letter is leading your eye off the edge of the mantel, instead of in toward the center. I would think about propping it on top of the small stack of books for more impact, but probably minus the top book so it doesn’t look imbalanced. I think you need a new spot for the Eiffel Tower - it is lost against the black clock. Maybe on the coffeetable, sitting on a stack of travel books? I am wondering if you could also find a place to hang the butterfly pix, perhaps on the wall to the right of the new curio location. Then pull out a couple of the cool pottery pieces you have in the curio, to bring some color to the mantel arrangement. Maybe one of the pottery pieces could borrow a few of the branches in the large floor vase, and give some additional height to balance the letter on the left side. Be sure to overlap your pieces a bit, so they feel like a grouping, rather than a line up. You did that nicely with the Eiffel Tower now, but I think it is lost because of the color and open design of the both that piece and the clock. I love the large floor vase and arrangement of twigs, etc. That could possibly work grouped with the suitcases and fern in the one corner, or sitting in front of the window to the right of the fireplace. I’d like to see it a bit away from the walls, because I think it is lost a bit against the color.

When planning size of the table/chairs and location of the chandelier in the living area (or whatever you decide) you will need to consider leaving a clear "walkway" from the tv area to the bathroom. It doesn't need to be anything formal but there does need to be a pathway. To add: When standing at the bottom of the stairs consider centering the room to the left with lighting and furniture placement. If these bedrooms are guest bedrooms your guests will be carrying backpacks/suitcases and need a clear path. When going to your storage room chances are you will be carrying boxes, sports equipment, etc and again need a clear path. Just something to consider and again it doesn't need to be a formal pathway but just clear access to the back of the basement. This post was edited by blfenton on Sat, Jan 3, 15 at 15:05

Thanks very much for all the ideas, including the suggestion to leave nothing there. Perhaps I should focus on hunting for a new rug for the entry...more to research! I may still try out the tall slim topiary idea from @fun2BHere and @maries1120, or a very skinny bench. My hunt yesterday turned up these two, which are 10" and 7" deep respectively. If I go that route, I'd probably repaint the bench black. The art on the staircase will soon be changed out, and the staircase walls patched and repainted. I have a whole 5 days next week without my kids in town - first time in 12 years! So this is all part of an endless stream of projects I hope to get done.

For starters this rug for a living room is too small. Minimum 8x10 would be appropriate. Once you add a coffee table no one will see the small rug anymore. You can position a round end table with lamp & a tall tree behind the table to accent the corner appearance. I couldn't find your rug exactly but here is a larger size to illustrate how much larger it makes the room appear.