Tonight I will try things:

1) switching the dining and living as per @azotova's suggestion

2) putting the sofa in front of the sliding doors to see what that looks like

I think I have decided it's best to move the taller armoire into the basement. There is nothing in it and I think it's to limited where it can go, so basement for now it is!

Thanks for all of your help :) I'm new to this whole design stuff.

Interested to see what you decide you like! Please post pix soon!

I will play around with the furniture again tonight, and post more pictures!

I like all your furniture. You should have an area rug in your living room but personally your dining area is better without a rug.Here is my suggestion for area rug

CHELSEA SHAG COLLECTION

or

Wow. What a difference! How is it getting around the coffee table?

Try this arrangement with the armoire where you have the short table. Pull the coffer 18" or less from the sofa so it can be reached for putting things down. Frame your friend's two pix and hang them vertically on the short wall that is behind the armoire right now.

I'd like to see the mirror painted the same color as what you choose for the coffee table and hung vertically between your two lamps, bottom frame 5" above the buffet. Center the table exactly under the light fixture, then add 24" all around it by taping out a "rug" on the floor. If it doesn't run into the buffet and allows a bit of a path to get past the railing without stepping on the rug too much, I think this is perfect.

Yeah, I am not liking the couch turned.

What about putting the couch back at the wall between the two doorways, just move it more towards the left doorway so that the couch is slightly off center with the wall. You can put one of the side tables in that same corner behind the couch, just turn it so that it just creates a platform for your plant and doesn't interfere with the couch. The two paintings could be centered on the wall over the couch (It's ok if they are not centered over the couch, just need to be about 8 to 10 inches and at least 2 inches apart).

I would center the dining room table in the room and get a carpet for under the dining room table. The size has to be large enough so that when the chair is moved out, it doesn't come off the carpet (maybe someone else could chime in with the exact measurements needed).

Consider top down/bottom up remote window shades if budget allows. You can use them to reveal the view of trees and sky without seeing the mish-mash of everyone's fences, and that will give you some privacy from the neighbors as well.

You can always swag a chandy chain to center over the table. I hope there's enough room for a rug. Painter's tape will help you figure that out. Maybe the rug should align with the door to the kitchen, and you can scoot the chair and swag the chandy away from the buffet some. I'm beginning to agree that the armoire is just too bulky for the area and should go elsewhere. Love the buffet. What color from your friends art do you think would look good with the lamp bases? They need white shades though. I want you to find a color from the art to sprinkle around your space to tie it altogether.

Also keep the table close to the kitchen door. You don't want to cross through the living area to take food to the table when you have guests sitting on the couch. If you like them, I think an arc lamp placed on the wall side of the couch could arch over your coffee table for a nice touch.

The reason for my view is that the area by the kitchen is a walk-though space. Putting a dinning table there makes it look like a holeway is trying really hard to masquerade as a dinning room. Putting a sitting area there makes more sense.

Just because the table is not next to the kitchen, doesn't mean you should limit your options...and besides, just think of it, you won't even be able to serve your guests in that cramped space anyways if the table is full. There won't even be room to move around and the stairs will be blocked off.

Think outside the box.

By the way, I like the mirror over the console table. I think landscape looks better.

Please don't block off the sliding door. You need the access to the deck. It would be a pain to have to move furniture just to get around the indoor/outdoor space.

San Anselmo Living Room · More Info

If you have enough pieces to make this kind of impact, you have two options - the wall between the kitchen and the other door, or the big wall at the end. Your table and white pieces are a bit on the country side style wise. the chairs would look pretty in matching white with new upholstery which is another spot to pick up your accent color, maybe in a pattern. You can always buy a slipcover for the sofa - try white duck. Use it in warm weather and remove it for the brown in the cooler season. I think the blue from your friend's painting will be a great accent with your dark floors and brown sofa, and will look great with white too.

You're off to a great start. I do think your art gallery, rug, a floor or arc lamp and a few accessories will make it work. Just take your time, don't buy anything you're not in love with and measure, measure, measure to help eliminate mistakes.

Just as I suspected. Considering your other design dilemma posts, Iand the fact that you already have a family room, I believe this space should be outfitted as a formal dining room...unless you prefer a formal living room, in which case your layout and design that you posted in the original post from a month ago would work great. I would replicate your living room as it was, with slipcovers on chairs, etc.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/decor-ideas-needed-dsvw-vd~2916009

Hi AZOTOVA, I'd have to think about it. I like having a space that I can relax where there isn't a TV, and even though our basement is furnished and cozy, I don't spend a lot of time down there. I'll have to really think hard about what I want.

MARLENEM - Those pictures are extremely helpful and that chair is almost exactly what the one my fiance's mom is upholstering us looks like!

I think my first step should be getting an area rug and then I can go from there. I might need to still consider getting a smaller couch as the brown one, even though good quality, is extremely wide!

Forgot to ask, do people think an area rug that has pattern, or something natural would work better?

I like any of the below... not those exact ones but you get the idea.

I do like the Persian style as they have a border & a very small pattern which is easy to work with. I would go with a light blue close to the color of your chair fabric (jacobean print).

I still would keep all your furniture the way you had it the first time you posted photos, with the exception of the armoire, the accent chairs & with the mirror over the sideboard.

I still would like to see the lovely originals above the dining table as they will be seen from the seating areas & while eating at the table. I do like the round wooden coffee table (only if it is smaller than the one you have in the room.) You could paint it distressed as the other one is.

Three things to do: Check Ikea for a rug, light pillow covers or pillows & also check Ikea for grommet top drapes to install close to the ceiling & take down to the floor.

Ikea has very good prices for drapes & they sell by the pair not by the panel as most stores do. I would go off-white, light blue or a wheat color for the drapes. With grommets they are easy to open & close. You could also look for a round or oval mirror there as well.

Trust your instincts for decor. They are really much better than most posters on here have been!!!

Please post photos after changes have happened. Good luck with the new house & with the marriage.

Hi all, I have not changed much but did get an area rug. I know it's very different from what I thought, but when I looked at more traditional rugs I just did not like them. This rug is soft, the pattern is subtle but I think it really brightens up the space. I don't have a picture, but I did put up my two paintings on the wall that the dining room table sits in front of. Not sure I'm liking it. I find they blend in with the wall, and I am now thinking of putting them in our basement family room (where we have darker walls) or in the hallway upstairs where our bedrooms are. I'm wondering if I should go with a bigger piece of canvas art for that area that pops...or should I put my wall gallery there? or, wallpaper accent wall? I also have to figure out a coffee table. i've been searching but alot of what i am liking is either expensive and over budget, or to small/big for the space. I've seen some nice IKEA Vjjitsok hacks, the glass nesting tables, where people have used the coffee table and have spray painted it. do you think if I did that, the glass and open look would help open up the space? I don't want a coffee table that is to chunky and hides the rug.

I think based on what I've been looking at my style is more transitional/eclectic. but i could be wrong.