I've looked at the fabrics. Fabrics are SO hard to choose, for a lot of reasons. One thing I learned when I was doing this for myself was to absolutely NOT select a fabric without seeing it in person first. They look completely different in person. You want to hold them up to furniture in the light of the room in which they will be. Light affects colors and fabrics dramatically. If you're doing this strictly online, you should be able to request swatches from Smith Bros. Better still, if there is a retailer near you yo can actually walk in and look at the large swatches and take some home, do so. Other considerations. Cleaning. It is my understanding (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that the fabrics that are 100% man-made materials ,i.e.: polyester, acrylic, etc., are very hard to clean, that you want a fabric which at least has some cotton or wool or whatever in it. Also, you want to feel the fabrics so you'll have a sense of how comfortable it will be to sit on. Will if "feel" too cold in winter? That sort of thing. And wear: you don't want to have to reupholster the pieces in five years! Re: the fabrics you picked. Love, love, love 334211, the chair fabric. Beautiful. gorgeous colors, and it'll look stunning on that carpet. You absolutely can do the entire chair and ottoman in that fabric, and should, IMO. I love the chocolate brown/muted gray/blue color combo. Didn't particularly care for the second patterned fabric you chose for pillows, but that's just a matter of personal taste, of course. I do think the two patterns clash. re: the sofa fabric. I'm really not sure about it. It strikes me as being too dark for the carpet you've chosen, but it's hard to say w/o seeing a swatch in person. I think that with such a dark carpet, I'd want a bit more of a contrast. I think you're right, though, to go with a "railroad" pattern for the sofa, rather than jacquard or floral or whatever. I believe in being conservative with sofa fabrics (so they won't get dated and need to be recovered fairly quickly) and dressing sofas up instead with pillows and throws. Okay, I've gone through all the fabrics, matched them back and forth by using multiple windows, and this is what I came up with. For the sofa, purely by coincidence, I kept coming back to #329511, and it's the only one I settled on. It also has some cotton in it, which is good for sofa fabric. It'll look stunning on the dark brown carpet, and it goes very nicely with chair's 334211. The herringbone pattern gives it some texture, which you will like on a large piece like a sofa. For the sofa pillows, I love the Palm Island counter fabric, 334311 OR the same fabric you'll have for the chair, 334211. These fabrics contrasting with the richness and starkness of the deep brown rug will be gorgeous, in my opinion. but again, ALWAYS look at swatches in person before making a final decision. If you were to get a set of wood slat blinds for the two windows on each side of the fireplace, I think that would be the icing on the cake for that room (see link). Room with this color combo and these blinds would be warm enough in winter, cool enough for summer, serene…just beautiful, IMO. and why won't you use the wood-burning fireplace? Oh my! You must! Just remember to close the flue in the morning so your heat doesn't escape up the chimney! It's gonna be gorgeous, Carol! Here is a link that might be useful: Fireplace window blinds

Yes, that is exactly where we started with Les' arrangement--except there would not be enough space behind the sectional for the bookcase as it would put the sectional too close to the TV. The room is only 17' long. It did not work for us--as we are a family of five with two teenagers and there was too much contention for seating when watching the TV. Having it this way so we have an extra chair facing the TV works so much better and when we had friends over for Thanksgiving who'd been here before we switched it commented how much more spacious it felt. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the kitchen table really is quite close to the family room so putting any furniture in the middle closes everthing in and makes for awkward walkways. Here's a couple before shots so you can see what I mean: I tried the sectional as Johna had suggested earlier, while it looked better, unfortunately the sectional is not oriented best for that (there are two pieces that butt up to the back wall) and would just come apart (think teens that are not overly gentle on the furniture and like to lounge here)--so reality having it pushed against the wall is the most practial solution. We just had the electrican over two weeks ago to get the cable moved. I tried moving the bookcase down further, but it looked squished since part of it looked like it was hidden by the console/TV and it's so pretty that I want it to be visable from the kitchen area. I could probably center it under the window, though if I remove the floor lamp--which is a possibility since we do have recessed lighting for this room. So, no one is liking the dried flowers from Michael's? I need to go there later today so am wondering if I should return them or not.

No worries about our conversation yesterday. You had to feel very torn apart dealing with me, the salesperson and your husband all at the same time-lol.. My hint on narrowing down swatches that I think helps is to take two of them. And between those 2, decide which one you like the best. Once you decide on that, discard the one you don't like. Put another swatch with the one you like and discard the one you like the least. Keep doing this until you get through the swatches. If possible, I hope you will have the opportunity to look at them also at night. Other thing is what are these swatches for? Both window and fireplace chairs? And if you like the blue, don't be concerned that you have it in another room. It's in another room and personally I like to take one color, if not more, and use it in each room to tie them together- even if it is a different shade of that color or even if it is in an accessory. And even if you are anxious to get this done, don't settle if you aren't feeling any of the samples. If you love the sofa fabric, you can always get that ordered as the fabric is neutral enough and then you can look at more fabric samples or go shop other stores for the chairs. Shopping for the chairs you can always do on your own and when you have it narrowed down, then drag hubby to the store. In my livingroom, not one piece is the same brand. The kitchen I was talking about is another Houzzer kitchen I'm helping with in a new house. Though I am putting the plans together for a huge remodel and additions to my house. Though at the snail pace I'm going it may be another yr before the work begins. I'm not very motivated as the job is going to take about 8-12 months and I will have to move out. The house is 19 yrs old and I knew when I bought it 3 yrs ago that it had very good bones but would need help to realize it's full potential and beauty. And that it needed more than lipstick..

HI -- Nice room but you need some color ..I think .... think about putting the TV on an articulating bracket on the wall into the right corner ...possibly on the wall beside the patio door if the TV will not fit on the right side of the fireplace . Get some lined blackout curtain panels for the patio doors - on a black rod and hang them full height . You can have grommet tops or on rings . Put the sofa on that big empty wall so it faces the patio doos and the TV that's beside . Have matching cabinets / dressers on each side of the fireplace with 2 or 3 shelves above on the left of the fireplace to balance with the TV that is on the right side . Now have the chairs placed backing to the kitchen . This will open up the room and give you better viewing to the TV with no sun glare . With the TV being less of the main feature in the room. Now you can have a pretty round mirror or a painting over the mantel and a family photo wall or Art above the sofa . This will give the room better flow because the sofe was cutting the room in half . Also maybe fatten up those ceiling beams by wrapping them in wood and staining them a medium to dark color ... they could also have some strip LED up- lighting on top of them .