I have restyled the shelves in my living room. I bought some larger pieces to add in. I have tried to edit down, but I think I didn’t go far enough. It’s just so hard! Some of these pieces were acquired through the years at vintage shops, estate sales, etc, and they “spark joy.” But I’m really trying to elevate the look a bit. I would appreciate your impartial but very helpful suggestions on how to improve the decor on these shelves. I just finished this morning but don’t think it really is just right. Thanks!

Remove wall hangings. All wrong. (sorry). Try hanging large art currently behind chairs but turn it so long sides are upward. (Looks like abstract, so might work turned vertically). Move faux plant to bay window and add a couple more descending heights. Add a pair of floor lamps one on each side of fireplace. No additional art behind them. Turn rug so it runs across the room. Place sofa facing fireplace. Put sofa table behind sofa. Angle chairs either side of fireplace. Add small drink tables one for each chair. Temporarily put coffee table (too small for scale of furniture) and replace with large square glass top and wood coffee table. Style new coffee table with 4 quadrant styling. A interesting grouping in each of 4 sections of the coffee table.

Well, - you do have a minimalist look as far as furniture goes. 😊 How do you use the LR space? Seating looks like an arrangement for conversation - TV watching not so much since no seating except the one chair facing TV, When sitting in LR, do you read, have a cup or glass you need to set down somewhere? A table between the 2 chairs would be good - the chairs would need to be closer together to have easy access to table between them, The coffee table could then be pulled a bit closer to sofa. Maybe a little bit of rearranging seating will be needed?

Another update, mostly for myself. I've finally got both walls filled, and I'm thrilled as my patience allowed me to bring a bit of my kitchen from our house of 27 years that we closed on a couple of weeks ago down to this kitchen in our retirement home, still a work in progress. I posted this piece of furniture before, but now it's filled with some of my most prized kitchen possessions. My mom's Franciscan Desert Rose dishes, some large enamel pots, my grandma's big macaroni bowl, etc. Plus I really needed the extra storage behind those closed doors. I really struggled with the other empty wall, but got what I considered a great idea back in May when we were working on emptying our big house to get it ready to sell. About 10 years ago my son and DIL (at that time his new girlfriend) had given me a beautiful wall calendar when they were living in France the year after college graduation. It hung in my kitchen ever since, first used as an actual calendar, then with the bottom of each page removed (the calendar part) as a sort of changeable decoration - I could flip the page whenever I wanted a new picture. I always loved each individual page which had beautiful food/drink illustrations with the French description above. (Le Café, La Soupe, Le Pain, etc.) I finally got myself motivated and I separated the pages and framed them. Viola - gallery wall. Extra inspiration came to me to use the Le Vin and La Biére pages over our little bar area - an antique dry sink that's been in my husband's family forever. I'm going to miss the house we just sold with all of my heart, but being able to have these little reminders makes me so happy!