Oh I see…I thought that whole corner might be open like the others…back to the drawing board…😊

I know, arranging in this tight space is tricky!

As for color (happyleg and others), the kitchen I think is called Simple White (SW) and the living room etc is Rococo Beige (Behr). Any chance I can carry Simple White through the rest of the house? Or just paint the accent wall Rococo Beige ti match adjacent walls? Trying to save my myself time/effort. I have three young kids, let’s be real: even painting one accent wall is a bit of a stretch for my time 😉

I’m a fan of Simply White as it feels light and airy.

I relate to your scenario lol, as I’m the painter in the family and having 3 kids remember the balancing act.

Seeing the whole space has generated some new ideas that may help with flow/function/aesthetics…Could the metal shelving unit be swapped with the dark sideboard cabinet in the kitchen? I realize this may require some reorganization but hear me out. The plants could grow by the window and the cabinet could give you a proper entry way/storage. The glass table lamp behind the sofa could be placed on the cabinet, along with the books and a plant. The fire wood could be placed in a storage basket beside the hearth. Hoping whatever is stored in the cabinet can be reorganized/moved to the shelving unit so some of the entry stuff can be stowed out of sight in the cabinet. The open storage would be further away from the children’s play area too. Then swap the living room chair with the low wooden storage bench on the stair wall and place the bench under the window to the right of the wood stove. The chair would be a nice addition to the entry to pull on boots/shoes and drop bags/gear when coming in the door. The bench could provide toy storage/play surface/extra seating. The sofa/rug could be pulled away from the accent wall a bit so it has some room and doesn’t feel squished into the corner.

This is an interesting idea, Susan. The green sideboard cabinet in the kitchen has recycling in the bottom (we used to have a much more unsightly system), plus a kitchen “junk drawer” (scissors, pens, etc), and kids arts and crafts. I like how this works in the kitchen, and while I’d be willing to move these functions to a different space, it’s a real benefit to not have these things on an open shelf. The wire shelf has mostly temporary items in it currently, so that we can fill it completely with seedling trays starting in a month and going through October each year. We have lights on it so it doesn’t necessarily need a window, though this would be our first year growing away from the window actually (the shelf used ti be in the dining space to the left if the wood stove). If we moved the sideboard out of the kitchen for entryway storage we’d need a new space for recycling, a billion coloring books, etc. But I do like how the wire shelf creates a distinction between entry and dining, and the sideboard would do that as well which I like.

Another option, which is a project that never fully materialized, is a floor-to-ceiling entryway storage bench/cabinet to go beneath the stairs. At this point it’s a race to see if my husband will finish that started carpentry project or if we’ll build an addition first ;) Neither is imminent…

More immediately, I’m thinking about swapping the dining table and the cedar chest below the stairs just to see what that would do. Not sure the table would work there but I’ve always wondered. I know that our current living room space looks like it’s meant to be a dining room, but it makes having an actual living room anywhere else really difficult. I’m not moving the couch today to try it, but I’m not ruling it out completely.

is that chair in the corner mandatory? it's really too big

instead, try doing this in the corner. smaller chair, some shevling (put your tv on it or do the shelving on the window side.

You need some type of storage for the toys. do a bench under the window near tv. or do some type of ikea piece on the floor for storage (look at ikea hack storage)

here's a small narrow room like yours.

much nicer when it's not overcrowded.

love maureens pillows, these too

Wall color. Any of these would look nice w/the tile and the wood floors

you could just opt for all white, everywhere. then bring in these warmer elements

The tile behind the stove? if you want to change it, use rustoleum High Heat spray in the matte black or see if there are some other colors you could do. (or change out the tile and do a DIY thing back there)

I know you say you love having an accent wall, but I'm going to try to talk you out of it.

Accent walls were all the rage 20 years ago but have fallen out of fashion unless they have a good reason, aesthetically, to be used in a room. Maybe the room has no natural interesting focal point, or you want to draw the eye to a certain wall.

Your house has a natural focal point, the fireplace. Whatever you do, the eye is going to be drawn to it. With the accent wall on the other wall, the viewer's eye bounces between the 2 areas of strong colour, which makes the room feel unbalanced.

I would paint the wall the same colour as the rest of the room, and keep the eye focused on the fireplace. If you don't like the colour of the tile, don't repeat it in the paint above the tile.

Think about whether you need curtains - do you draw all of them in the evening? If any curtains are just decorative, remove them. For the rest, make sure that 100% of the glass is showing when they are opened, and that they cover a good bit of the wall. That won't leave you with room for 4 paintings on your current accent wall. That's a good thing, because you don't want to draw attention to that wall at all. Here are a few ideas that are budget-friendly but will give your room a simpler, fresher look. Note the much larger lamp to fill the corner.

For the fireplace wall, use paint to reduce the visual impact of the fireplace. Paint the area above the mantle the same as the walls, and also paint the wood pieces that frame the fireplace, so the room is not split in half quite so emphatically. Find a reproduction art work that fits the size of the space, and resist the urge to further decorate the mantle. Your room has enough going on without decor items, and will look more peaceful without them.

You can paint your fireplace tile if you don't like the colour. Much less fuss than replacing it. Reviews say it holds up to heat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqkmltKXYLU

Beth, I’m starting to lean toward all white walls. We have a pretty rustic house, including wood trim, so realistically I’ll never pull off a super clean modern look, but I’d love to capture some of the elements from your photo inspo. The chair in the corner could go. Toys can go away (the ottoman has toy storage, they just keep exploding into additional bins). A shelf could have kids books/toy bins down low, disguise the tv maybe, and add visual interest without an accent wall. I love that idea.

Can I pull off all white walls but leave the woods stove surround as is for now? I’ve wanted to paint it so many times but haven’t had the confidence in my decision. Will it look too dark if left as is?

try some of these neutrals. will look better w/the flooring and tile.

a lot of these have the pink undertones, which is what you want. nothing too yellow or too green.

I know these look pink, but they're whites that lean toward the red side of the color wheel

if you stick w/these tones, you can leave the tile behind the stove.

bring in some leather elements and the pillows like shown in the earlier photos.

In fact, look up "decor w/terra cotta floors". you can see what they do w/the white walls

Thank you for your feedback, Partim. I think I’m convinced to get rid of the accent wall. Your mock-ups are great and I think convince me that I want a whiter wall color (though more work than painting just that one wall. I agree that curtains should extend out.
I think I have a tendency to add more stuff when I don’t like how something looks, oversimplifying makes me feel like the space isn’t intentional. But if done correctly I can see how simple is better, more calming and open.

terra cotta/aqua rug. I think this is lycoi? or something similar. look on wayfair. chrislovesjulia rugs. terracotta

I like those neutrals Beth, thanks. I’ll check them out further. The current wall color is Rococo Beige (Behr). Does this have the wrong undertones? It would save me a lot of painting if I could just paint the accent wall lol…

I like that rug too :)

If you're going to paint the walls, that would be the time to close up the pass-through if you don't use it. It increases the visual complexity of the room a lot, and the room would look more simple and peaceful without it.

The sideboard and it’s contents could work in the entry…recycling closer to the door and junk drawer/kids arts and crafts out of the kitchen work area and closer to where they will be used.

if you can close up that pass through, that would be great.

I'd flip the sofa, do a thin console on the closed wall, and place the tv over there. get it out of the corner.

Do you like the Rococo beige color? if you do, use it.

You're going to have to prime that clay color wall anyway, so prime it and try some samples of the other colors. if you use the behr sample pots w/a color match to the SW or BM colors, it's cheaper. I do it w/mine since I prefer Behr paint.

Try the Tres Naturale or the Linen colors. see how those look

you could also paint that wall black and paint your stove tiles black.

then I'd bring in some natural textures like a jute rug, basket, maybe a pendant light in the corner

OMG…FANTASTIC IMPROVEMENT!! LOVELY!!!

Brilliant.

If I may suggest a tweak, consider putting the toy kitchen on the slate to the left of the fireplace, facing the armchair. That will capture some floorspace (the slate) as play area for the footprint of the toy kitchen.

That will give you the space, I hope, to rotate the metal shelf to sit flat against the wall. That will give the children more room to use the front hallway as part of their play area. And it will really open up your space. Where before it functioned to give your dining space a sense of enclosure, now it is better to open up the play area and "remove" the wall.

Next, remove the decor items from the metal shelf. You really don't have room for decor items in this space - use it for the necessities. Then put some of the items from the coat-and-boot area on the shelf. That would relieve the tightness at the floor level for the kitchen table and the stairs.

For example, put the white boxes and the contents of the above-coat-hook shelf on the upper metal shelves where the decor items are. Lay a solid surface (boot tray?) on the bottom 2 metal shelves to contain mess, and put the logs and boots on those shelves. That just leaves coats on hooks where they are, and both visually and practically makes more room around the table.

Also if firewood could move to a basket/holder, the 2 bottom shelves of the metal shelving could be swapped so the boot storage could move to the lowest shelf. The small runner could be placed in front of the door, parallel with the length of the shelving unit if you want to have an entry rug by the door. It will be out of the way when pulling dining chairs out to sit. Bibs could be stored/hung on the knob hooks on the stair wall.

Boot storage and hat/mitten bin!

I think the accent wall is a positive now…no need to get rid of it, (unless you really want to). Spend your time/energy on the window treatments…there are many budget friendly/diy tutorials online for no sew curtains and even operable Roman shades using old blinds that could be done using your current panels and would greatly improve the window treatments.

Big improvement!

Huge!!!! IMPROVEMENT!

What about this latest change? I put the metal shelf against the wall, tried to consolidate/declutter the coat rack slightly. I think it makes the dining table feel less crammed. As a note, my last move was to put the shelf there as a wall divider because I felt like I needed some separation. With the table moved I’m feeling less like I need that room distinction?

I think you’ve done an outstanding job of utilizing your space. Those little changes have made a big difference in opening up the rooms and making them more inviting. Thank you for being so gracious with the advice given!!

Hot diggity dang, it looks great!

Thank you all for the feedback, everyone. Susan, I’m still thinking of changing up the accent wall. I’ve really liked having it, but I am getting sick of the color and the way it competes with the wood stove surround. I’m a little worried the living room will look too plain/unintentional if I paint it white/off-white, but after 5 years of having it, it might be time to try. I’m still open to alternative colors too, but if the consensus remains to nix the accent wall, I’m going to try that. I SO appreciate all of you weighing in and providing thoughtful feedback!

garden, fantastic job. looks great.

as for the wall, it's only paint. try a diff color over the clay color if you want. it's not a big investement and shouldn't take more than an hour. if you don't like it, paint it another color. however, it does work w/the stove tile and the spot behind it.

You could paint all of that black. the tile, the wall, the accent color. (and you wouldn't have to prime over the clay color!)

just a thought.

(Personally I'd like a diff color rather than all white. you can do the others white, but I like a wall w/some personality.

Here's an idea of what it might look like without the curtains and with the above-fireplace wall painted the same colour as the rest of the wall. You'd get the eye moving across the room at the top of the wall, without the fireplace and the curtains breaking it up.

That's a good idea, what partim showed you.

you could also paint out that tile to the same white, if you don't want that terra cotta color

here's a quick photoshop w/black

what about redoing it? this is super cute

if you did the tile white and a black accent wall.

white

don't know if you can build something like this around it. you could use a black slate tile. it's cheap, stands up to heat, and could be a DIY project

this one is brick, but she painted it w/chalk paint. maybe you could just try it on your tile. (it washes off if you don't like it)

You've done a wonderful job utilizing your space!

Some additional ideas are:

==> woven wood shades (preferably cordless with the little ones, or corded that the cords are tied up) hung outside mount above your windows.

==> Accent wall and above fire place in a grayed spruce green

==> long narrow art such as THIS ONE

Thanks all for the additional suggestions. Actually, my wood stove surround didn’t used to have paint up top (I’ll include some old photos), and I thought it looked awkward so I painted the top to match and draw the eye up. We have relatively low ceilings (8 ft?) and honestly I like the change of having the same color go all the way up- I personally think it makes the room look taller (though some may disagree). Perhaps the issue was the two wood pieces that go to the ceiling on either side. I’ve definitely considered painting the tile or stenciling. I like the idea of dark green/gray or black/charcoal. Or something light/neutral/white. The wood stove itself is very dark, and has red/maroon in it. If I went lighter, it would definitely pop, which I’m not sure I want? As much as I love a whitewashed look, that’s really not my house. But still at the root of this conversation for me is what to do with the accent wall. As Beth suggested, it’s only paint and a quick fix. So that’s where I’m going to start, since it’s easier than painting the wood stove surround. If/when I decide to change up the wood stove color, I’ll have to possibly make another decision about the accent wall (unless it’s just a wall lol).

For reference, the first photo is our living room shortly after we moved in. I’d like to think we’ve improved the space since then... But you can see the windows with no treatments and the wood stove with the top unpainted (and no gate). There’s also an old photo of the wood stove straight-on, an old mock-up I did of a gray color, and the inspiration photo for that idea (I realize I don’t have the ceiling-height stove pipe though).

And Kelly, I like the woven/natural shades? They would draw the eye up without the bulk of long curtains. I will definitely consider those!

I like those last photos u posted. The wood mantle with that decor is very nice. Not so sure about the gray tile though.
I think you could explore some other colors, if you like.
If you prefer to keep them the terra cotta color, then I’d do a black hearth, maybe some lighter-white oak around it. I do like the stacked wood as a design elem et

…element. If u like the terra cotta look, search living rooms with those colors. You can get some good ideas. Some are a boho type of design.
As for the woven wood blinds. Try Blinds.com

Following and I love the changes so far….

I like the woven shades. For something different you could try going with lighter paint (no accent wall) on all walls, then add interesting , updated, or fun, curtain panels instead of the white. I like the changes so far.

Your curtains should reach the floor. I would lower the rods and extend them beyond the window frames.

I’m not a big fan of wall art but I think a sign like this might look cute hanging over the metal shelving:

And maybe this hanging over your dining table….It’s from Wayfair.

Love the grey mock-up behind your stove. I agree that having the stove tile/wall above the same color looks great, especially with the vertical wood trim of the whole area. It’s such a lovely focal point…and the kettle on top…sweet!

Wonderful improvements! Few paint color ideas

Meant to say I’m not a big fan of wall words…..but those above might look really cute.

Amanda, I’m not a big fan of signs with words either but I happened to have two that looked like the ones you suggested so I just had to take a photo because I thought it was kinda funny. I’m not necessarily keeping both of these here… but thank you for the suggestions :)

“Home Interiors with Ease,” I have been eyeing many of the colors in your suggestion, thank you! Before starting this thread I ordered some SW paint chips in the mail and they just arrived. The ones that speak to me most in this space are Redend Point and Interface Tan (one shade lighter on the same color strip). Here’s a photo with those two chips above the light switch (actually two photos, one with the curtains taken down- though honestly the snow outside is blinding me haha). I still like these options as an accent color. I have almost a gallon on Behr Rococo Beige on hand, which is what all the other walls in the space currently are. I’m debating painting the accent wall in that (the quickest cheapest thing to try). That would help me imagine a consistent color for all the walls even if I eventually go with a different color all around. Or I’d still consider these shades for an accent wall, though I know it’s becoming an unpopular opinion for my space. I’m having trouble letting go of it :) I just like color.

Gardengnome..if matching all the walls is a option that would be my choice no question! Saturate your sofa with all your rich deep colors..in pillows and a throw….I see you removed the white sheers! Great….add some curtain panels with a printed option.I think I would go in a more rust direction with your accents..similar to your ottoman…all warm palette.

Love your room without the shears, opens it up! Your house may be small but I like it. Love the wood window frames, the wood trim, the beams, looks well built, and I see you have a nice front porch. You are a busy Mom with 3 little ones! I think you've done an excellent job with your decor and storage solutions!

With all the walls the light color matching the rest of the walls.

Your home is super charming!

Home Interiors with Ease, I love those color ideas! I’m a sucker for teals and I like the idea of drawing in the woodstove surround color with textiles.