Nice room. Good floor, GREAT windows! New England homes were often very eclectic because the sea-going members of the family, or the missionaries, would drag back all kinds of things. Feel free to use anything handmade and of an authentic traditional style as if it had been dragged back from wherever by a missionary great-auntie in 1880 or a sea captain in 1780. I would split it into activity areas, unified by similar rugs, wall color, and identical window treatments. Let the collected things be the accents. Window treatments: the classic muslin tab-top NE curtain would be least stressful to your budget for now, and adding a layer of sheers to the window would cut the drafts. Wall color? Get the wallpaper stripped and pick a rug or tapestry or something and pull a color from it. Light colors, a creamy white, palest peach or extremely pale yellow will make it seem lighter and warmer in there on those dismal winter days. Avoid blues, lavenders and and cool grays because they intensify the cold winter light. Also avoid "muddy" colors and stick to the "clean" ones. Deep emerald instead of olive, clear yellows instead of mustards, amethysts instead of maroons, ruby and scarlet instead of maroon. A deep ruby red could make one heck of a room, and be warm-looking. Rugs? Old-style Persians go with everything, or you could use the local classic braided rugs. Or Navajo, or Chimayo, or Saltillo ... 1 - Photo 1 .. the dining area or coffee/breakfast/game playing table (if it's closest to the kitchen, if no, swap ends). Add a rug under the table, put a buffet into one of the corners, a china cabinet into the other, hang some art and it's done (for a while) 2 - Photo 2 ... take advantage of the windows and set up a reading, knitting and chatting area with a couple of loveseats or 4 armchairs or any combo of them. Add a bookcase, or have one built-in to each end corner on either side of the windows. 3 - Photo 3 ... fireplace. It's not bad. Scrub the brick really well, and paint the mantelpiece white to match the rest of the woodwork. If you want an accent wall, paint the area behind the fireplace - door casing to door casing. Add a couch facing the fireplace for winter chatting and snuggling with the child and a fireproof (wool braided) rug in front of it. On either side of the fireplace put a side chair - something classic like Scroll-back Chippendales style, but upholstered in an ethnic cloth from your travels. 4 - Photo 4 ... If you took the suggestion in #3 you have a long bare wall with a sofa back facing it. Use this for an art gallery wall. ====== ADDING: Roman shades might work, especially in an exotic fabric.

Great feedback/questions everyone! Excellent imagery ASV! How did you do that? To respond, I use my fireplace everyday in the cold weather, so 6 months a year here in Chicago. The 2 upper shelves are painted the same mustard-gold color as all the living/dining room walls. The oak mantle is the same color/material as the oak railing and oak floors. The wing chair is the only seat where you can sit to look out the windows into my garden, and the only place where's there's room for the ottoman to put your feet up. Most guests seem to choose that chair because it creates a good conversation area with people sitting across on the couch. My room footprint is smaller than it looks in the photos. I've tried numerous configurations with my furniture in the 10 years I've lived here and this way works best with the pieces I have. As this is a modest condo and not my forever home, I probably would not go through the mess and expense of building the big chimney box all the way to the ceiling - although I like the straightforwardness of it. My kitchen needs some work, so that's where my main effort needs to go. Just looking for inexpensive DIY fireplace fixes for now. BTW, I prefer eastern and middle eastern influences/styles Denice

Contact a finishing carpenter (if the mantle is wood) or a stone mason if the mantle is stone/brick. A few hundred dollars should get this fixed for you.

Hi. Thanks for the information about the importance of the fireplace. There is not much space in the entrance area and I see that is a high traffic area. With the fireplace important, you'll want your configuration similar to what Housegal mentioned. Ideas: If you want more modern look, sectional with one leg along the stairs (facing fireplace) and one leg facing the long back wall. This will "form" your living space, traffic flowing behind the sectional. On the long back wall, you will need something tall on either side of the window. I could be bookcases or simply art. A couple of more chairs could be placed where the tv is shown in the photo. Alternatives to the above are with a sofa and a couple of chairs. The sofa could be floated to face the fireplace, with chairs on sides. or sofa could face the back wall, with chairs along the back wall side. Finally, you could place a seating group around the fireplace and add a game table to the area in front of the back window. I personally think this is the best use of the space and the general idea shown in the first photo below. This leaves the room cozy, but with an open feel and gives you 2 separate venues. I would place a bookcase where the piano is shown and a couple of comfy chairs and a table in front of the tall window. Photos are inspiration for you. I don't know your decorating style. Other ideas.