Tara, your dilemma kept digging at me. I happen to be shopping for furniture for my living room right now, and it is also a challenge - completely different challenge, but difficult all the same. I have been looking at Stressless furniture and one of the photos that they have on their website doesn't have a sofa - just chairs. It is a very modern look, and today, as decoenthusiast pointed out - people don't really like to sit close together. Then I thought about the home I grew up in. We had a family room with a door, then a sofa then a recliner on one wall and across from the door was a big round table where we ate most of our meals. Next to the table was the TV and then my mom's desk. The 3rd wall was all bookshelves with cabinet lowers. My mom and my aunt usually sat next to each other on the sofa, my dad sat in the recliner and the kids sat at the table or laid on the floor to watch tv. We had 6 kids. It worked. The is what I came up with I used a free app from a furniture store on the internet, so colors weren't options and some of the choices were limited, (Why you have a mirror instead of a TV) but I think you could do something like this - maybe two storage hassocks in the corner so that someone in a club chair could use one to prop their feet up. Pillow and blanket could be stowed in each for the kids to use to lay on the floor.

I had an inspection done, the plumbing and electrical are all up to date, thank God. There is no HVAC but I am going to see how this summer goes before I decide to install it through the house. I live in Virginia and the summers are hot but being up in the Blue Ridge keeps some of the humidity at bay. The windows are original and there are exterior aluminum storm windows covering them. I am hoping and praying that they are sufficient to keep the house from being windy inside. I think the cafe curtains and tension rods will work perfectly while I get settled. I was not planning on working on the exterior of the home right away but it looks like the porch roof will need to be replaced and all of the windows and trim around the exterior need to be painted. The 115 year old wood is exposed. The previous owners did NOTHING in the way of maintenance. The walls have been scribbled and written on by their children, they didn't bother to paint over it. So it has been at least 13 years since any exterior wood has been painted.

The current paint is fine honestly. I definitely like the idea of curtains or maybe some Roman shades. What’s bothering me most in this photo is the orange pillows. I think you need more texture and maybe stick with whites. I also think the coffee tables a bit small …

Your real estate paperwork should have blueprints and measurements of all the rooms, no? Your furniture seems too big for the space you have. Ideally, you could float your sofa where the chairs are, float the chairs to face the sofa, and move the TV to left of fireplace. However, you don't really have a way to get through the living room. Any chance you could return the sofa for two more chairs? This is what's often advised in such small spaces. Paint the entire space a warm white that works with the floors. Get your blues and mustard in there with art work and rugs. You've already made a start. Jan offered a good suggestion to swap the middle space--current dining room--for living room. If you have an attractive eating space in the kitchen--do you?--then a beautiful round table or a long retangular table with casual but upholstered armchairs (less formal than these) could be very inviting as you walk in. Then no problem with walkways. Do a Google search for "switch living room and dining room." Lots of great photos as examples and how to do it. Here's a photo of a front door that opens into dining space. The chest and mirror by the door gives the sense of an entryway along with the hooks.