Ingrid, the fireplace is definitely a cause for ongoing contemplation - what to do with the darker blue area jutting behind the mantel, the mantel colour, and the fire surround. Pillows are a little difficult as they slide off the leather, but if I see some must-have lumbar pillows I will snap them up for sure. Thank you for your suggestions. As for books, I have bookcases full in the finished basement, and stacks in my own room of "next reads" which I am constantly trying to tame. As there isn't much surface area in this main level "everything" room, I tend to just carry around whatever I am reading at the time. I love the look of vignettes with books on coffee tables, but I use that surface frequently to serve hors d'oeuvres or beverages, and don't want to hunt for somewhere to clear items other than maybe candles or fresh flowers. I guess I am getting a little lazy in my older age;)

I've had a house with a small LR where the door opened directly into the room. I used a 60" love seat and floated it facing the fireplace, and then put two chairs on either side of the fireplace. Of course, we didn't have a TV in the room, so you would probably put one chair on either side of the sofa, so one could watch the TV, which I assume is going over the fireplace. In the end, we actually built a wall with an opening into the LR. Everyone told us not to do this as it would make the LR too small. Well, the LR was going to have a pathway to the rest of the house from the front door, so at least we now had a wall where we could put things up against. We were very glad we did this, and subsequent owners of this house have told me they loved having that wall!

@RedRyder I walls has the thickest rustic plaster I have ever seen in life. It might be so glaring because of they owner didnt use flat or eggshell paint. I would like perhaps painting it matt as suggested by @User would make it less disturbing. While a Santa Barbara style plaster would be preferred, it would acceptable if it was toned down like this photo I am dangerous now that my daughter taught me to use screen shot. lol

@HU-187528210 Thank you sooo much! We can absolutely avoid the built-in on the left wall 😊 I'm not particularly keen on that option either as it may detract from the FP and also make the room feel a bit crowded/narrow the entry way. Even without the built-in, the left wall does seem to provide the best location for a tv if we decide to have one since I love the little niche atop the FP and don't want to cover up that detail. Trying to visualize a good set up/use on that wall so it's open but doesn't feel empty! Thank you so much for your input! 🧡