Emily B, are you Sister?

Such a lovely room! I think I might try to bring in some of that beautiful blue ; maybe some kiln pillows for your fabulous sofas! There isn't so much room for extra seating but you can always find space to pull up a couple of small ottoman/ stools.

I meant Kilim!

Lynn, shame on you for your spelling. Go and hide!

Heeee, well I didn't want her to put one of these on her sofa

Lollol! I'm off to potter about the Houzz.

A clear lucite or acrylic table will let the rug shine thru.

The two brown chairs are not working with the rug or the other furniture. Not sure about this top on but it's $300 at World Market.

Leelee, love the lucite table. But the brown leather chair with the cream sofa is one of my all time favorite looks; Especially when a Persian rug is thrown into the mix!

Your room is lovely. Instead of adding red (which you have a lot of in the rug), consider adding denim or denim blue accents. It will balance the red and be very inviting.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I definitely gravitate towards blues, so I like that idea. I know the chairs I have in there don't go - I just had the sofas delivered Thursday, and I haven't been able to part with the chairs yet. My kids love especially the non-leather chair, so I had thought of having that one recovered and keeping it in there. I know the scale isn't quite right. I like the lucite table idea as well, and I like the World Market chairs.

And yes, I am Charleston Beachbum's sister :)

I kinda like the wood chair. I had one and it was sooo comfortable. I like the retro vibe of it; you could have it reupholstered in a lovely rich blue!

What are room dimensions? about 14x14?

About 12 x 14 of usable space. The rest of the space is walkway space with doors to the outside and then opens up into the kitchen. My 9 year old was reading this thread, and he said, "Please don't get rid of the wood chair. It's so comfy." LOL

Here are some more photos of the room. Please ignore the child playing, the dog and dog crate, and random lamps and tables. I know all of that needs to be changed. I had to start with the sofas.

It's a really tough room. I wish it were twice as big, but we have to work with what we have, right?

And I need my sister to come help me with the bookshelves. She is amazing! I know those need serious help.

It's not a tough room, just pretty small for a large family. I tried a couple of other arrangements but I think the way you have it now will work best. It would work better with just 1 chair, but if you need the seating??? The book shelves do need a bit of tweaking, but I have seen much worse. I would find a new place for mirror and get some art that is better size.

Here's a different take on your room. Move the end table and lamp from in front of the bookcase to the other side of the sofa by the staircase.

Or maybe go all in with a deep blue on your walls and woodwork.

I guess it being a little small is what makes it tough. The house itself is 3000 sq ft, so a good size, but the floorpan is just very traditional which means a little bit smaller rooms. We do have a large bonus room that also has couches and a tv that we also use for the whole family to hang out. I have a small living room that is used as an office/music room, so this is my main downstairs room for when people are over, so I want it to look adult and pulled together.

I actually did have the end table down by the stairs, but I moved it to make room for that wooden chair for the time being. And I'm definitely buying new end tables/lamps. I hope I didn't buy couches that are too big!

Love the suggestions, Beverly.

Just a thought, because you have large bonus room for the family, why not take out the TV and make this a sitting room for guests. NO TV wow what a concept. :>)

It would look so much nicer with just the sofas and a small accent chair and table.

Take those comfy chairs downstairs and let the kids enjoy them there.

Love the room. Love the couches. Size is fine. Honestly... NOT LIKING the red oriental rugs. Go with something more up to date for your floor. Add a nice dark wood coffee table. Remove tv to your 'other' room. Make this one for relaxing and conversation. Collage of black and white family photos above couch on left. A few throw pillows to add colour and comfort. I love the look of cream and brown... Good Luck! :)

Recover that wooden chair in a large scale black & white fabric. In front of the fireplace, put 2 small scale x bottom ottomans with an animal print cushion (light Browns, maybe cheetah?). Pick another small scale print fabric for long drapes. Go with a lucite coffee table to show off that beautiful rug. Simple blue couch pillows that change with the season- velvet or mohair for winter, linen for summer.

That sounds perfectly lovely JD!

I can't part with the rug. It belonged to my dad who has passed away, and it's so sentimental to me. I do like more neutral modern rugs, but I've decided I can't replicate the quality of this on my budget, and I could not replace its sentimental value. JD and Susan, great suggestions! I love the mockup. It really helps me to visualize how things would look together.

I wouldn't change that rug on my life! It is stunning!!! And is just beautiful in this space. I think JD really hit the right note withe the black and white print idea here. I to like the wood chair and think it is worth salvaging . Please excuse my feeble attempt at cut and paste here; it's the best I could do! But if you do put the cair up at the other end and push the sofas down a bit, add a couple stools it will be very cozy. A glass or lucite table to see the rug!

I am in the process of getting quotes for hardwood floors also. I think it would look so much better! Love all of the suggestions!

One issue I have with moving the sofas away from the fireplace is that I feel like it will bug me so much if the couch isn't centered in front of the window!

I really like this pillow from etsy. What do you think?

on sale :>)

http://www.pier1.com/Lively-Trees-Art/PS51054,default,pd.html?cgid=wall_art#nav=top&start=1

I wouldn't buy any pillows until you get the room finished. If you are keeping the chair and recovering or buying another. Then see what pillows you need. And leave the sofas where they are.

That's fine, I can't see the window on my phone, sorry! The pillow is pretty but I agree with Susan. You may want to try out some that you can buy locally just to get an idea and then return!

Oops, went back and found the window:( ... Your right!

The sofas are a bit big for the room. They certainly don't make the room appear spacious. I think the rug is quite nice, but you can only put so much furniture in a room this size, and it might have likely been a better avenue to purchase one sofa and two lounge chairs with one occasional chair for the room. That's really about your limit in terms of furnishings.

My suggestion is to paint the back the bookcases a blue pop of color from the rug and carry that over with pillows onto the sofa. Remove the two chair & go with matching fabric on dining chairs that can be pulled into the room for extra seating when necessary. I would also add soft LED lighting to the bookshelves to make them pop and then finish the staging you have started in the bookshelves. Because the sofas are so large you need to streamline with "less is more" and keep the color scheme simple, red white and blue.

With the sofas and the rug I don't see how you can go wrong with the pillow you picked above.

And don't let anyone talk you out of the rug. You have a great start and some wonderful suggestions in the post, including painting the room blue. It can be as modern as you like with the right accessories. I have antique Persian rugs from my family and any designer who tries to talk me out of them gets shown the door. I'd much rather have a beloved Persian rug from my father than a "pretty modern room" with stuff from a department store that has no meaning. My final suggestion, put your SOUL into the room, your taste and your things and your personality. It will then look beautiful.

At least recover the brown chair with legs. Maybe a pale to meduim gray which would be neutral since the rug is so forward and you don't want to interfere with the brown leather.

I was worried having the two sofas was too much, but I really wanted the seating. Ugh! The picture actually makes everything look smaller than it does in real life, so I think they will be ok, but I know I need to get rid of some stuff in there. Eventually if I feel like it's too much, I can move one sofa to the living room and get two chairs for that space. But I have some work to do in the living room before I can do that. And I just spent my money on the sofas, so they will stay for now. It's just hard to know what is right until you actually see it in your room, and then there's no going back on big purchases.

I do have two nice swivel chairs (similar to the ones in the link below) in my living room that I could try in that space instead of the couch. The swivel drives me crazy with my kids, and the fabric wouldn't work with the rug, so they would have to be recovered, but it's a possibility.

https://stroblerhome.microdinc.com/ItemInformation_NewUI.aspx?SKU=1633&Catalog=1069

The lovely sofas & the spectacular persian rug are perfect together. In thinking of pillows for the sofas, kilims with geometric rather than florals are the way to go. If adding additional seating a tan backless bench as suggested earlier will be wonderful. Treasure that rug, it will never go out of style & will always gain value.

Here is a photo of one of my swivel chairs that I could eventually recover and swap out with one of the family room sofas. I bought them from my mom who had them made and then ended up hating them. I wouldn't have chosen the fabric, and it wouldn't go with the rug. I'm sure it would be expensive to have two chairs recovered, though.

Again, thank you for all of your comments! I love hearing all of your input. It gives me so much to think about. Now if I could just put it all into practice in between shuttling four kids around to various activities! I also have trouble committing to things because I'm always afraid I'm making a mistake, so your insight really helps.

Put into the room what you love. If you stick to what you really love it is never a mistake, just another opportunity. I was so disgusted with trying to pick out a paint color for my living room 10 years ago that I went to the paint store and asked what is the most ridiculous name of a paint color that you have. I was told "Edgar Alan Poe Grey" and "Snuggle Puss Purple." Edgar Alan Poe Grey was too depressing so I bought two gallons of "Snuggle Puss Purple" and painted my living room. Yes, it is a crazy thing to do - but it was liberating. And I have nearly the exact same rug colors as you do. Yes I repainted the room about five years later - but I always tell myself - it's only paint - not a tattoo. Take chances, live a little!

Love the two sofas facing each other. It's perfect to showcase the rug. Is there anything else you could do to get that much seating, I don't think so.

Normally I would say add art over the sofa instead of the mirror but in your case the mirror works.

The one additional comment (and this is my personal hang-up) is that while you have a beautiful family, the group shot should move to the bedroom or a hall gallery. Photos never seem like they should be part of the wall decor in a living room.

Think about replacing that photo with a framed print. Vertical and hung low with the bottom of the picture just about 4 inches over the top of the end table.

Leelee, I totally agree with you. I really struggle with choosing what to hang on my walls. I have lived in my house for four years and have many bare walls. I hung that picture just to have something there.

Such wonderful feedback! I love the acrylic coffee table idea. And painting the built ins! This room has so much potential and I'm excited for her to breathe some new life into it! Yall are all the best!

I wouldn't add any more red; blue is where I'd go. (Not sea salt, either; that's a cool tone). I think you also need some warm wood to tone down the red rug, perhaps a skinny coffee table? Like the suggestion of painting the bookcases too. Especially like the idea of moving the TV to another room. If this were my house, I'd make this my reading, talking, visiting, no-TV-just-me-and-my-dad's-rug room!