I'm a huge fan of mid century modern. Congratulations on your house! Research the other homes by this architect - there may be an online fan club. Start decorating with a colour scheme that encorporates your tile & fireplace. Then choose modern sofas in light colours, and a few classic modern chairs that create a 'wow' feeling whenever you look at them. You can update with contemporary graphic pillows, start shopping in vintage stores for mid century collectibles, and buy art you love. No window coverings are required, but you could get large graphic patterned side panels to cope with echo problems. Large area rugs would help too, because you have a lot of hard surfaces. And rugs will create an area to group your furniture around, away from the walls. Is that a long window seat to cushion and add pillows, or is it a heating radiator? A high bar & stools would be fun in the walled corner of the bigger room. The smaller room would be perfect for comfy sofas, for intimate coversations at parties, or hanging out Saturday mornings with coffee and a paper. Lights can be vintage, or a contemporary interpretation of mid century. Just keep the good bones of the architecture, and you can combine modern with contemporary. This pic on houzz is inspiring! A tight colour scheme, well chosen pieces, and a good furniture plan. [houzz=]

I have had three ant invasions, fortunately tiny ones, over the last ten years. (I became fanatical after the last one and haven't had one in more than 3-4 years now.) There are two parts to my success: Part 1: Dawn dishwashing liquid, the blue one. That kills them instantly and also wipes out their scent trails. I wet down paper towels, put the dishwashing liquid on them and placed them on the trail. I also just poured the liquid directly on them and around the food they were after. It took a few days before they were never seen again. Part 2: Fanatical, absolutely fanatical, no-exceptions-whatsoever rules were put in place. Everything must be in canning jars, locking storage, the refrigerator or freezer. Cats are fed in their glass pie plates but the food, both soft and hard, stays down only for a limited period of time. This means I am feeding them more often, several times a day plus I always wipe the floor around the bowls with either soap and water or vinegar to catch any fallen bits of food. The water bowl is changed out daily but without food to attract the ants it seems to be left alone. Human food or drink, including water, is not allowed anywhere except in the kitchen or dining room. This includes bottled water if guests bring any. Some of these measures may seem extreme but they're not, really. And I am completely free of ants.

Lowes carries nice pleated shades. Measure inside of your window. Lowes will cut to fit for free. They are in stock. And not too pricey. Then you can buy inexpensive panels to hang on each side, to finish look. Another inexpensive way, in a beach house is bamboo shades. Lowes, Home Depot both sell measure outside of window. The length doesn't matter. They roll up. Come in color. White or dark brown is nice.

@Christine...the vapour barrier is what has caused this...and is the same reason we don't let vapour barriers sit over top of plywood. They trap moisture UNDERNEATH the sheet and then it reemulsifies the adhesives = icky, sticky, stinky mess. Before you covered the asbestos tiles, they were "breathing" well enough. There was enough air movement to continually evaporate the moisture that was moving through the glue/seams. That's all it needed to be happy. Once you placed the plastic on top you "capped" it (that's what it is called = capping). That trapped ALL THAT MOISTURE in one place. There was so much of it, the glue became "liquid" once again. I'm going to guess there were gallons and gallons of water vapour moving through the tiles/seams all the time. The toxic smell you are referring to would have been very much like the smell the installers had to live through = smell of the glue...and the first homeowners as well. That's why these adhesives are banned = nasty, dangerous things. Funnily enough, had you laid the laminate straight over top, most of the moisture would have simply moved through (just like before). It would have been slowed down by the laminate...but still would have had a place to go. It is very difficult to "seal" asbestos tiles/adhesive. It is hard to do, and expensive. That's why they are either left alone (try not to cap them) or pay the piper to get rid of them. Once they are gone you never have to deal with them again.