I know the way we do it is not for everyone, but I will tell you what works for us! We do not homeschool, but we do believe that education happens all day long, and much of it comes from us as parents. We keep educational things all over our dining room. Our dining room is also the main eating area for us, since our kitchen is not an eat-in kitchen. Almost everyone that comes to visit sees the dining room from where they are sitting or standing, or has to pass through it at some point. The underlying décor in the dining room is nicely done and the school materials are fairly well organized. There is no one that would visit here that would not understand why our dining room looks the way it does, and we have never been embarrassed by it. Our kids have grown up with placemats that have maps, math, presidents, etc. on them, and have learned many things from the conversations we have at the dinner table while using these placemats. We have had conversion charts, periodic tables, maps, money charts, clock posters, and number lines on the wall over the years. The kids have learned from them because they are where they can see them any time of day. The room is constantly changing as the kids grow. The kids also have their desks in the dining room. We don't really have another place for them. We have an extra room, but we use that as a craft room, which is usually somewhat messy...their desks stay clean and useable when they are out where we can see them. They do use the craft room for school projects, and that way the projects can stay out until they are completed. Our dining room is never in magazine-worthy condition for sure, but I know that the kids are only kids for a short time, and it is so fun to use every opportunity to teach them new things. Also, this is our own home for raising them, so I don't really think about how the décor looks to other people that might stop by for a visit. I will have a beautiful dining room later in life, when the kids are grown and gone. To me, at this stage in our lives, this is beautiful décor to me! This post was edited by myfoursquare on Tue, Oct 8, 13 at 13:31

I saw the photo Yayagal posted when I was scanning Scandinavian style for my response, and agree it is good inspiration for the look you're after (if I understood your meaning). The warm woods and caramel leather warm up the space and make it inviting, but it still reads light and bright. I held off commenting on the fireplace. I really don't like the black and white pattern of the stone with the abstract pastel patterns in the existing decor. I do think it would be a fantastic focal point with a certain stripe of contemporary minimalism. But I'm not sure about it with the Scandinavian style of Yayagal's inspiration pic. I think I'd wait until the new furnishings were in place to reevaluate.

Is there enough room behind the sofa for a very narrow console table? It could hold a lamp (or two) instead of using any end tables. I could imagine myself sitting sideways on the sofa facing the fireplace and using the table for my coffee cup while I talked on the phone. There is something about the drapes that bothers me. They are beautiful and a lovely color but seem to block the beautiful window. Could you have all the panels at the two ends instead having four groups? I, too, have struggled with a backdrop for ZOOM calls. Remember that on Zoom you see only what is directly behind the person and a couple feet to each side, not the whole wall. So only a few feet of the bottom any large panels would show. You may have to make a trade off on what looks good in the room versus what looks good on ZOOM. For my ZOOM calls, I ended up not using my desk. I took an unused corner of another room and put an old laptop on a small table to make a ZOOM “studio.” I put a console table behind my chair with a large Grecian bust and a small topiary plant over one shoulder and a tall pair of brass candle sticks with two small family photos over the other. The wall directly behind me is blank and coincidently is painted a color that contrasts with my coloring, which also looks better on ZOOM.

True story: I used several bedrooms in a 6 bedroom house as offices, and when I put the house on the market, the realtor insisted I convert the offices back into bedrooms, complete with beds (I piled up books on the floor, put an air mattress on them, and then "made"the beds! --- decorated with kiddie stuff). The house sold the first day (location, correctly priced) and it was bought by a childless couple who needed to run their business from home and needed more than one office in the house. Go light on making permanent changes so you can switch things back.