I don't think a beam down the center will add anything aesthetically to the space. I don't think that molding works either because where do you stop it? You wouldn't run it up the walls that adjoin the pitched ceiling. I think the grey walls are very pretty. I'd paint the air vent cover to match the walls. Ceiling fixtures are easy enough to replace and get something more in line with your taste. Not sure what look you are going for with the stairs. Can you say more about that? Is this a forever home? If not, I would not do a double sided fireplace.

What's on the other side of the room? Can you pull the couch off the wall ?

Also funny I have the same entryway light and I would like to replace ours too 🤣. You have a Beauitful space - I see why you feel like it's a bit sparse. Large plants and more texture can bring in more life too

I second the above comments- what is your style or post pics you gravitate too?

Here’s some images that represent my style. Our home is very modern and sterile feeling to me. This wasn’t supposed to be our forever home, but we bought it in December 2019 at a 2.4 interest rate so it seems like we will be staying for quite a while. I’ll attach a picture of our current fireplace that I’m about 90% sure is getting ripped out and completely redone.

I’d love anyone’s design ideas, mood boards, Inspo picture. Even better if you are able to digitally show me what I could do with our space!

This is our current fireplace located to the far right in the original photo above. Gray is my least favorite color in the world and the entire house is the same shade of gray and the fireplace is different shades of gray…my worst nightmare.

I want our space to be cozy, warm, inviting, and welcoming. Right now it’s too bare and cold.

Please post a to-scale floor plan of the space including doorways, windows and stairs. That will help with getting the furniture layout correct. Your inspo pics are all very traditional/country in feel and your current home leans more MCM. The artwork you have in your stairwell is very pretty. I would pull a soft sage green out of that for the walls and window coverings (need some texture for the drapes) and that will work well with the grey stone in your FP. Def need to get that TV off your FP a floor plan will help bring everything together. Nothing fancy, just need graph paper if you have it and a measuring tape.

I feel like the chaise bumper on the sectional is the wrong choice. It doesn't go far enough. Can you order a longer sectional piece to create an actual L-shaped sofa? Right now, that space near the window is dead space that would be difficult to fill functionally. If you do that, get two small-scale lounge chairs facing the sofa on the other side of the fireplace.

Something like this:

Small in Scale, Big on Style · More Info

American Casual Ellery Large L-Shaped Sectional by Bassett · More Info

As for the double-sided fireplace, I'd worry somewhat about privacy in terms of being able to see into your bedroom from the living space. Go to a fireplace specialist to see what's available before you make your decision.

A much more colorful rug, cushions and a throw, and/or a basket with throws in it will make a world of difference. Art on the master bedroom shared wall or move the tv there. Can you pivot the sectional so that it faces the shared bedroom wall? Window treatments with more substance would help as well.

I don't think your contemporary home requires molding

You can add a beam but it's not vital.

Finish the room and then decide.

I love cottage style and your inspo pics, but they are likely holding you back for the current situation. Those rooms are small and low ceilings and small upholstered furniture and wooden pieces. OTOH, the inspo pics use more colors and patterns than you’ve got going on now.

I would try to create some new mood boards featuring rooms with some of your home’s features, vaulted ceilings, more open plans, but with way more color, pattern, texture. Which could be in art , doesn’t have to be all in the furniture, but certainly things like pillows, throws, some other furnishings can have some rich colors. So you’d start looking for insp pics with some themes that feature more color, whether Modern, or “nature” themes or Southwestern or even look at updated traditional and, though I dislike the term, transitional. Which ones of those speak to you in a way you could see putting things together in a cohesive way.

You may well want to paint away the gray walls. With other colors and interesting things in the room, the gray fireplace will not be as dominant and you might be able to leave it. It isn’t holding you back as much as general lack of othef elements in the room, so just demo’ing it won’t get you a cozier space.

Okay this is my inspiration in redoing our fireplace. The one on the right is electrical to look like wood burning and to put it in a space that looks like the left. Then I’m thinking possibly some bench seating (or just really cozy seating on both sides of fireplace) under both windows to get some additional seats in our space.

Sure you can totally re- do your fireplace, but you haven’t dealt with the modern sectional, where do you put your TV, and all the other elements. Are you budgeting for things kind new furniture, artwork, painting and other things that could add real wow to your room? I get that the fireplace bugs you, so maybe you need to get some estimates and see how it sounds ? But these style still look like they belong in another room.

Mmm I get what you are saying. What do you suggest I start with first?

Projects fall into two categories: There are projects for homes that increase the value of the home and then there are projects that are just decorative and are not the type of improvement that will provide any value to the bottom line.

his is a contemporary home , that looks to be a raised ranch, which you are trying to make traditional in style. Buy a different house.

I wish we could, truly.

Options for the FP. You could simply limewash the stone.

You can paint the brick

You could over mortar the stone either just in the grout lines or over the full stone to make a more cottage like appearance.
https://www.chrislovesjulia.com/how-to-diy-over-grouted-stone-fireplace-for-under-200/

A dimensioned plan is needed. Maybe rotating the sofa to face the wall and relocating the TV to that wall is in order but who knows without some dimensions of the space as well as any furniture you wish to reuse.

The detailed floorplan and TV / seating situation first. Think of “ ideal placement “ and then descending degrees of acceptable, as to whether you can use the sectional, or parts, and how, and what placement coffee table or side table your family will use. Not just what is in a photo shoot, but how do you use the room. I mean, you have TV over fireplace so is there an alternative , or do you need to group seating in viewing distance. This is not for buying immediately, but for brainstorming. What COLORS do you like? The room is crying out for rich colors. What wall or walls could be for art. Could you upgrade drapes after have gotten farther along with more major issues.
What are overall inspo pics that give you a good feeling, but in this type of room ( but I repeat myself).

This is going to sound bad. You are wanting to tear out a wall and make a two sided fireplace when you have lived with Gray is my least favorite color in the world and the entire house is the same shade of gray and the fireplace is different shades of gray…my worst nightmare for 4 years? Paint is easy and relatively inexpensive. A sage, greige or other saturated colors could warm up your living area and really change the feeling. The fireplace would look warmer and more rustic with a less cool color up against it also.

What did you like about this house that made you purchase it? Maybe focus on that?

We like the neighborhood with all the kids and our backyard backs up to a retention pond and bike trail. That’s why we bought it.

Yes, paint is an easy change so that is happening soon. I didn’t do it right away because we got pregnant and then lost our son. Then I got pregnant again and our son who’s now 20 months old still wakes ever 2 hours at night so we are working off of minimal sleep so projects just get put to the side and I’m in survival mode.

However, I sent a new home to my husband this week and we had the hard conversation that it isn’t feasible for us to get a higher interest rate and new mortgage anytime soon so we should “make some changes so that you like it more”.

You're not really in any condition to evaluate or make design decisions being sleep deprived. Wait, rest, and then act with a clear brain. This time will pass.

It is really helpful to understand the look you are going for and that this home style is not your choice. Money, stress, neighborhoods, sleeplessness - life is going to keep on happening and you absolutely can start now to make choices that will make you happier here.

I wouldn't make architectural changes - forget replacing the railing or adding wood beams. They are never going to make this ranch like house into what you want. Instead, I would pay more attention to strategic decor choices that will help distract from the architecture. Bonus that it is less expensive too.

Paint the walls, ceiling, and railings the same color so the lines between them blend and make things like the ceiling slant less obvious. (A beam down the middle is going to make your MCM ceiling more highlighted.) Use textures, wood, linen fabrics, and vintages pieces, small vignettes mixed into your current furniture to bring more warmth and coziness. This pic below is a great example of a very non-specific room architecturally that has become really cozy and warm because of great fabric, color, and furniture choices.

N28 Tudor · More Info

I am so sorry for what you have gone through ❤️ i agree on upping the cozy factor and getting some color and texture added -

What about beams going the other direction, from the fireplace wall the other wall? What is the area opposite the fireplace wall?

Check out the wall treatment in this ranch house turned cozy cottage: https://hookedonhouses.net/2019/04/16/tiny-ranch-makeover-cozy-cottage/

Read this post about mixing mid-century and rustic looks. While you don't want to emphasize the mid-century, I think there are still really good tips in here that will up the cozy factor for you. https://www.thespruce.com/mid-century-rustic-home-decor-ideas-4580336

This is the whole space. Entryway leads into the stairwell on the left, living room straight ahead, kitchen and dining room on the right.

Here’s the rest

You have a nice house that just needs some better paint colors and cozy furnishings. You are definitely sleep deprived when you think you want a 2-sided fireplace that shares a wall between a very public space and a very private space!!

Nice space but I agree it is cold and sterile, especially your kitchen.

Put your living room rug under your dining room table. Place a side board or console table under your dining room windows, put a hug container of branches on it to bring in some cozy nature. Find a way to hang a chandelier over the table so it creates a feeling of the ceiling not being so high and vast. Hang curtains at your sliding door, high and wide - some kind of beautiful linen print that is not as transparent as the curtains you have now.

Get a much larger rug for your living room in a color that has more contrast with your floor. Place your sofa on it and pull the sofa a good distance away from the wall it is now touching. Get more tailored curtains with pin tuck gathers in a warmer, less stark color. If you are going to remove the fireplace anyway then first play around with painting the stone. I'm not a fan of your fireplace wall either and think you have nothing to lose by experimenting. Get a new light instead of the fan and one that hangs down more into the space.

Adding new stools and new lights to your kitchen will help a lot. The metal copper lights have a really hard feel about them. Get stools with some kind of texture to them.

It’s a beautiful home.

What I hope you’re hearing, and maybe sermon some of the examples, is that your spaces can look much cozier with ordinary decorating and personal touches. But they need to be things that appeal to you, AND they need to “ happen” somehow. It’s one thing for commentators to mock up some stuff — that’s good inspo and sometimes an OP uses a link to get an exact same item— a rug, an art print. But there’s a lot of browsing and debating and order/ shopping & decisions for the homeowner.

So, I’d ask myself, self, if and when I feel I’m ready, am I the type person who is good at that, at gradually selecting and collecting items, making choices, or would I be well off to budget for a local designer, maybe someone in a local furniture store. Or a close friend if you admire their taste & skills. I know nothing about costs, and I tend to think it’s expensive, but I probably need help myself. .

See, I’ve been in new- to- me house for a year & a half still living with no dining room chandelier and no proper guest bathroom vanity mirror & lights , and other things, because I get analysis paralysis and really basically am bad at things more complicated than smaller decor items.

While I think furniture is important, you do have some basics, and you’ve got fabulous walls for art. I might with some wall art. That would go a long way toward warmth & interest. Many people recommend going to local art galleries but you might find that overwhelming. You could take some measurements regarding what size & shape, square or rectangle/ tall vs horizontal and go to one of the online art sites and use the search functions. Heck yes I would search by colors you like, in general— but not to hung up on matching everything perfectly. But you know, reds/ oranges vs blue/ greens etc as a dominant color, but of course can have many colors. I would not go for neutrals, based on what you seem to like and because the house is more pale neutrals . But from that, do pick something that grabs you.

Sorry for typos , weird “ sermon” autocorrect and others.

Here are some great examples of a cavernous, cold space made warmer and cozier. This might not be your style or color choices but as you can see, it is possible to make an uninviting space with a huge pitched ceiling much more welcoming.

@kendrah - is that seriously the same space?! Holy incredible!

@snobunyz24 - It is the Maine house of architect Gil Schaffer. He is brilliant.

https://gpschafer.com/featured-projects/house-by-the-sea-in-maine

Please do not do a double sided fireplace. From what I can see, the rug should be turned to the length if the sofa and I would move sofa to face a fireplace. On the empty wall behind a sofa, I would put a sideboard with two lamps and large picture frame or two. It will be super cozy. Dont be afraid to move sofa to the middle, when things are missing, everything seem out of place, but once you fill it up with correct peaces, it will look nice.

I been in a home recently with similar ceiling and it had a beam in a middle, I didn't get a point of that. I understand everyone is doing it now but just one seem not completed.

I hope this help.

Okay I’m starting to get more of an idea of what to do. It seems like our sectional just won’t work in this space. If I put it on the back of the big wall the chaise jets out in front of the fireplace and it’s awkward. If I move it so the back is to the kitchen (the opposite side of the big wall) the chaise is the wrong way and it blocks my view of my toddler playing.

It seems like I need a bigger rug. A cream fabric sofa on the big wall, two chairs (probably forest green) facing the fireplace, a low profile sofa (probably leather) facing the big wall. Then a nice oval coffee table in the middle. A faux tree in the corner in front of the left window. Some sheep fur rugs on the sofas and cozy blankets, plus a few throw pillows.

I’m thinking Beadboard for the walls. Painting the Beadboard a calm green and the walls a creamy white. I need to swap out the fan for a wicker chandelier. Add some wall art and sconces and lamps.

I’m getting the hang of it now! I’m still redoing the fireplace though….lol

Something along these lines!

Yes! You've got it. Another nice idea from your photo is a woven blind in addition to your curtains.

That would look great in your house and give you the warm cosy feel you want. I would leave the stone fireplace alone. I think it would look really good with that style. Maybe redo the railing on the stairs with black iron or paint it. Your house is really nice.

I love the pic above w the rustic fireplace - is that plaster? Stucco over the stone? Beverly posted the pic further up (with the crow on it). It would be gorgeous in your space and make it feel more cottagecore - w a rustic beam for the mantle ❤️

I think you could build the "beam" right over the soaring mantle - I don't think it would be cost prohibitive and you would feel so much happier

• existing / not soaring mantle

Here's a stone fireplace with a super heavy German shmear- not expensive at all

https://tarynwhiteaker.com/german-schmear-stone-fireplace-2/