I am at a loss as to how to redecorate this room. It is the main room in the house and where we spend most of our time. We are DIYers and are in the process of remodeling the kitchen that opens up into this main room. Gone are the orange countertops! We remodeled both bathrooms a year ago. Now I want to keep going with paint, decorating and new furnishings, nothing structural. Any ideas what to do with this room? Oh, all the woodwork is rough hewn, just terrible to dust and look at.

Other end of the room.

Can you post some pictures of what you are doing in the kitchen? If it's unfinished, tell us what kind of cabinet, color, countertop, etc. It sounds like the rooms are open to each other, so it would be good to make great room changes that harmonize with the new kitchen.

We are working on the kitchen, cabinets should be installed mid-February but I have these lay-outs. The cabinets are white washed knotty alder with black pulls, light gray paint, gray sink, countertops gray/off-white quartz, SS appliances, tin ceiling with flat finish, dark wood floor. It's a small kitchen and one step up from the main room so I thought I'd make the ceiling the statement piece in the kitchen.

Oh, that's tricky. That kitchen style is really far apart from the living room style. I do not have the style chops to help here, but hopefully one of the Houzz pros can give you great ideas.

Are you committed to the tin ceiling? That seems especially hard to mesh with your living room, and not something I'd expect to see with the other parts of your kitchen design.

I think that a lot can be achieved with paint. I would paint all of that dark wood for starters. Then remove the built-in bench to the left of the fireplace. That area looks pretty cramped. I would be inclined to paint the all of the walls the same color, no twp-tone. Remove those overhead lights and use lamps on tables, and floor lamps. New, more current furniture can then be added in.

How about removing the stain on the wood, or bleaching? Shame to cover it up with paint.

Yes, improve your lighting....and add color and pattern in your new furniture.. Please reconsider

the gray paint in the kitchen...is that an outdoor window ? why not a white sink? Please be sure your lighting in the kitchen is bright and cheerful I recommend Daylight bulbs in 4000LED

Before you paint, change the lighting to 3500-4000K LED's so you get a true daylight feeling and can judge the colors you're considering. If the kitchen reno is set in stone already, I would wait until in is complete so I could match the paint colors in the other room. That big room will look even more dated once the kitchen changes so much. We need more and better pix taken from across the room to capture the entirety of the other side in order to suggest options. If those turned posts separate a foyer from the room, that might need to change/update.

So many good ideas, thank you! Yes, the dark wood is an eyesore to me, it is stain on rough hewn, not smooth, cedar. My husband has a planer and we've talked about using it to smooth the wood which would probably remove the stain also, at least some of it. I agree one color on the walls, the grass type wallpaper used above has to go. We are planning to paint it the same color as the kitchen.

Everything in this house is original and it has a rustic feel to it. We are in the country and I want to keep it rustic but still updated. It's been a tough thing to figure out with the wood being the biggest obstacle and the hubs being the next obstacle....he thinks it's "fine". He was single for many years and more interested in his hobbies rather than home improvement so the amount of updating that need to be done is overwhelming, but something I enjoy. One more thing, we have a blended family of five Yorkies so pet friendly is important.

I would get a lot more good lighting and use great updated wall and ceiling color that works with your new kitchen. I wouldn’t waste time and energy smoothing out those beams. Here are some ideas.

@decoenthusiaste I love the suggestion about brighter LED lighting before making the paint decision. The kitchen cabinets are set in stone and the layout. I have already purchased the tin ceiling tiles and not sure if I can return them or if I want to. The kitchen faces north with one window so it's dark, I was hoping the metal would reflect light. The main room is one step down from the rest of the house and was separated by two pony walls with spindles. We have removed the spindles and the pony wall closest to the kitchen because we opened up part of the wall, again to try to bring in more light.

I will take pictures from the other side of the room tomorrow and post them.

Again thank you everyone.

@Flo Mangan, the pictures are beautiful, thank you. In your experience have you ever known of rough hewn cedar being painted, bleached or whitewashed? The woodwork is so rough that it cannot be dusted only vacuumed. Pretty sure a man made that decision!

Yes. You just need proper rollers to paint or stain rough hune beams.

We bought a 70s house and it was also full of that rough-hewn cedar: door and window trim, baseboards, pillars, pony walls, built-ins. It’s hard to explain how bad it is! It’s like decking: scratchy, orange and so hard to paint or stain. We did a major remodel (which you're trying to avoid) but replacing much of it with smooth white trim was a small part of the budget and so worth it. The main ceiling beams in the LR we wrapped with new wood and stained. It’s worth at least pricing that!

I agree with Hannah on wrapping those beams. Just a matter of budget but very worth it from several viewpoints.

I like the idea of wrapping them too. We've also talked about taking the large vertical pieces that are at an angle from the wall to the beams if we can determine if they are functional or decorative.

We have some scrap trim that I can use to experiment on painting. But replacing with white is a good option, too. We used white when we gutted and rebuilt the bathrooms, it's such a clean look.

1. @Hannah Wolfson, the beams were really a thing in the 70's. I would love to see an after.

Here is the other side of our construction zone; main room, kitchen, hallway, entry way.

Can't wait to have a orderly space again!