When you say the rug in the living area is going away, do you mean the w/w carpet is going to be taken away everywhere we see it in the picture? Is there hardwood under the carpet or what will be there? Leaving about a foot of space between an area rug and the wall is a good look. I prefer big rugs in big spaces, especially under a dining table. Too small, and with a table and chairs on top, it looks odd to me. I have a LR and DR spaced somewhat like yours. I have two oriental rugs that complement each other, but they don't match. The space between the rugs is large enough that each (and the room furniture) defines its own area. But if you had two great rugs that matched, I think that would be fine, too. Any links to show us? How about a floor plan to visualize the floor space better?

And once you get your items in the space, you will see what the colors really look like with your lighting. Trying to find a gray that works is the subject of many., many posts on Houzz. I would recommend an in-home color consultation. With all that light, you should be able to do some fun accent walls (maybe a cool wallpaper behind the entertainment center). The key to making in homey are the plants, textures, and larger-scale knick-knacks. The thing to keep in mind is the dark wood floor you will have. You will want to choose rugs that bring the light down onto your floor.

Lovely room, and I like that you’re considering a traditional rug. I’m not sure if you’ve looked on the eSaleRugs site, but I found pages of beautiful (real) Persian rugs for under $1000. Most have the option of seeing it in your room, as I did below, so you can play around with sizes, colors, and patterns. These are antiques and semi-antiques, but the rest of the site has new rugs if that doesn’t appeal. https://esalerugs.com/persian-oriental-rugs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Examples: https://esalerugs.com/red-9x12-tabriz-persian-rug-22420989?pos=12&rt=aisle Love the colors .... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://esalerugs.com/red-9x12-shahrbaft-persian-rug-22461083?pos=58&rt=aisle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://esalerugs.com/beige-7x10-meshkabad-persian-rug-22452938?pos=71&rt=aisle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://esalerugs.com/peach-7x10-farahan-persian-rug-22471130?pos=21&rt=aisle

can you post a pic from the other direction? (stand next to fireplace) can the round dining table be placed closest to the kitchen? maybe off to the right in the foreground of your first picture as shown in your floor plan? are you putting a tv in there? where is the cable outlet? this layout is rather long and narrow. media cabinet lay out do you have an area rug? I like something like this to the left of the fireplace under the window or behind the sofa along one of the walls something like this would look cool. easy to hack w/Ikea Billy Bookcases.