I want it to look light and bright and was thinking of painting a light color, but everything I'm reading lately says that for dark rooms, you should go with the midtones, not pale colors. Why. Why are midtones better than pale colors for dimly lit rooms. Dollars to donuts those who give advice like that are working from bad and or misinformation about color and light. Same thing with stuff like white will never come to life in a dark room. Ridiculous. What colors work or do not work in a space depend on the specific characteristics of the light and *reflectance aspects of the paint color. White can indeed 'come to life' in a dimly lit room if you know to choose the right white. And you can use lighter colors in your dimly lit rooms too. *Reflectance aspects include tone. Or in other words, how grayed down or knocked back the color is. When you look at a paint color consider how light/dark (lightness value) it is and also how grayed or toned it is (intensity). Light/dark and grayness combined is called a color's nuance. To loop this whole thing together, the answer to choosing paint color for dimly lit rooms is to partner the dim quality of light with with perfect pitch of nuance. And for low-light, dim rooms that means you want to look for colors (light, midtone or dark) that are clearer vs. grayed. Might sound complicated but it's not. But the fact that the right way to do it sounds complicated is why stupid stuff like white will never come to life in a dim room and/or don't use lighter colors in dark spaces is perpetuated.

For the time being at least, leave the stone above the fireplace plain. If at some point in time in the future you find art you truly like, the you could add that ... but don't just look/settle for something there because you think you should want something there. Like recliners myself. Consider a pair of them. As long as you leave the walk path clear between front door and back of the house, how you define your sitting space as being separate from the walk space depends upon what works for you. A room sized rug would be worth considering and/or a long runner in the walk path might serve the purpose. You could invest in a couple waist high shelving units and put one on each side of the room with the back to the living/sitting area and the doors, whether glass or solid ... or even open shelves ... facing the entry hall. They'll need to be sized and weighted and/or secured to wall/floor so they'll not easily tip over so you could also add a lamp on each one. Think: upscale overhead kitchen cabinet with glass doors and finished board on top set atop a built base. #5 of 20 https://www.thespruce.com/ingenious-ikea-billy-bookcase-hacks-4006865 https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/sarreid-ltd-library-bookcase-rfd3082.html

One option would be to turn the main room (5.34 x 4.05 = 21.6m2) into an open kitchen/dining room and use the current kitchen in the extension (2.64 x 1.87 = 4.9m2) into a snug. The current kitchen is on a slightly lower level, 3 steps down from the main room. I’m not sure how to approach the layout as the main room is almost square, the only natural light is on the south-facing side, coming through the entrance door, the window in the main room and the window in the current kitchen. I also need to create a lot of storage space as there isn’t any built in at the moment. Some sort of storage for coats/shoes by the entrance door would be helpful. The entrance door opens to the left and there isn’t any room behind it for coat hooks or a boot bench. Suggestions most welcome.

How textured are the walls - a palm sander hooked up to a shop vac would knock down a lot of the gloss, fairly quickly (220 grit). There are deglosser products , but I would prob do some amt of sanding anyway just to assure best adhesion. The sanded and/or deglossed green then becomes your base coat - no need to go back to primer. Lovely color - looks great with the floor and fireplace.