lovely.

thanks, however it seems disjointed to me, too many wood colors and areas not blending, what can I do to improve?

Just observation - color of entry door's rug, basic soft neutral yes? But the paint color is that, and deeper, and seems, from here, to not blend.... you think so?

The DR photo seems almost moss green - do you know the exact shade for us?

Different places sell chalk paint, which could be a blend with new floor... good 'luck'!

Remove the dark recliner, the little wood chair and little round table that are by the fireplace, and the teeny rug in front of the door. Now remove all the throw pillows and declutter the dining area, remove ALL the clutter. Rotate the dining table 45 degrees and take photos again. This will be a process taken in smallish steps, but you have a lot to work with :-)

Then put the orange chair where the recliner was and bring that turquoise table from the dining area and put it by the orange chair, on the room side, not the wall side.

Remove the picture hanging by the door and remove that little round table by the door. Once you get the big orange chair and the turquoise table where the dark recliner was you can stack your big family photos on that wall by the door, arranged how they make sense around that thing on the wall. The big plant should be taken out of the corner and moved to the other side of your buffet. Once you turn the table 45 degrees you'll have to eyeball where you want the buffet, but leave it on the same wall as it is now, with your plant on the other side from where it is now.

Wow thanks for these ideas and options going to start this weekend and try some of these furniture rearrangements and will post updated photos then.

Just trying to remove one shade of brown ( the recliner) and bring in the turquoise and green plant so the rooms won't seem so "brown" to you. Do you really need the dining chair cushions, because they seem a bit too country for the house style. Sorry if I seem bossy, I get too excited at moving furniture around!

Once you get the furniture placed then you can pick a color or two for new sofa cushions.

i have no idea how i missed the point. lets start with a more colorful rug. i do not know what is turquoise?

let me know if any of these appeal?

posting to follow

Update: Here are some changes that I've made so far based on the suggestions received from the great folks here.

So feedback is now appreciated, thanks everyone.

Seems good... the wall of units does take eyes away somewhat, from sofa, art.... but it's just a photo of your room, after all.... I like your chandelier in DR!....comfy chair cushions...

Living room looking better but would defiantly paint the fireplace cabinetry and do away with the spot light fixture over it. I think the rooms would look much better if the wall colors where changed. It may just be monitor but walls don't go with floor, IMO. I agree to get rid of dining chair cushions, too big and too country.

Agree plant looks better where moved, but will it be happy further from the window? I'm not much on houseplants, but would watch it for signs of stress. (Or is it an artificial plant, LOL?)

I am definitely jelly of that big plant! If you can get a large colorful art piece or poster for the dining room, sofa pillows to coordinate with the turquoise table, and a living room rug to add a soft texture, all in colors other than brown :-) I think you will be happy.

What do you think? What do you think you want next? Thanks for moving that turquoise table in, I think it looks great!

After looking at the fireplace wall it might be nice to remove all the dark items on the shelves, you can barely see them anyway and they do nothing to lighten up the room. I would put nothing on the shelves directly above the tv, or if you don't like that idea put just a few of the darkest things up there so as not to be visual noise while you are watching tv. Then put family photos together on one shelf, and light items on other shelves, try to make vignettes, don't just scatter things around. But the goal is to lighten up that wall. Bring in light items from other rooms maybe.

Books, shiny stuff, kids artwork, plants, etc.

Now I looked at the dining room and see you have light colored items on the hutch so maybe you can just switch stuff around. Try the elephants on the hutch and the lighthouse on the living room shelves. Put light stuff on the dark shelves and dark stuff in the bright dining room. All free!

Remove the angled corner shelving entirely. Then paint the walls to match the rest of the room. Remove the teal tile from the firebox and replace with something more neutral, possibly rock tile squares, slate or soapstone slabs; neutral. Spray paint the firebox black. Square out the hearth and replace the tile with what ever you put on the surround. Put some type of simple boxed mantle that is substantial.

If the fireplace is not gas nor wood burning, just remove the entire thing and paint the wall like the rest of the room and purchase a console that is wide and low and place it where the firebox is. Put TV on one side, art above, and a large lamp on the other end of the console.

ok, i think i am back with the program, and as such, i have to ask why have we not turned the couch towards fireplace and tv yet? or are there only 2?

Also, I don't believe that turquoise table is up to much, right? how about

If you are not going to remove the shelves or paint, moving things around could help. . .

i am not with removing the shelves, painting cool, wall paper behind is cool. i really agree with the person who wants to remove the upper cutouts.

Well it's been about three weeks since my last update and here's where we are ...

We are so pleased with how this is turning out! There will be a large painting above the fireplace (the same one in the original photo), above the tv we may put one shelf, then on the opposite side there will be two wooden shelves, the tops of the cabinets will be wood. we still have to repaint the walls on both sides and then the cabinets and around the fireplace and above will all be a creamy white or off white, (I already have the paint as initially it was planned to paint the old cabinets and fireplace etc, but then once we started we decided to pull it all out). That spot light fixture on the wall will be removed when we get to work on the ceiling as we also have to repaint the two corners where the corner unit was removed.

Not only does it give a totally modern look and brighten up the room but we also gained a foot and a half of floor space by removing the old unit!, luckily we had additional spare flooring and were able to add on to that end of the room.

I am opting to sell the old dining room set and buy a new modern one. In the current set the chair seats are lower and thats why they need to have cushions on the seats or else it's like your five years old again when you sit to the table, lol. I'm going to keep the current hutch and stain it dark, the plant loves its new spot and is doing really well there.

Comments and suggestions welcome. thanks all.

What changes! It's looking great. Keep us up to date with your progress

Quite a transformation. Great work.

Looking good.

i love it.

I never cease to be amazed at the wonders of paint! It looks great! Keep going!

Wow, not easy !...try to move the big couch to divide the rooms ...
Then place two of your big chairs on either side of the fireplace and take that wooden chair out , it doesn't belong ..
Then take a picture again ...also , I would paint the wooden book shelves ...and the room an egg shell color ...almost white ....but before that ...change the furniture around so that the big sofa faces the fireplace for a cozy area ! You have too many colors ...it seems every piece of furniture is a different color ....you need to harmonize all ....
Love your dog ....!

Nice! you could do modern glass shelving with collected vases mixed with framed art or add natural decor.

Wonderful transformation! I love it and love your plan for the dining room too. Please keep us posted.

It looks great. So much fresher and brighter!

Thanks everyone, silviakunst I think you can see on a photo I posted on Aug 22 that we have gotten a start on the some of the some suggestions you have, we moved one of the big chairs and the smaller wooden chair out of the room entirely. I will try the idea you and someone else mentioned to move the couch to face the fireplace and tv, however the room is narrow so I have a feeling it will cut it off too much and not leave much of an opening to enter the room, also, I don't think you can tell form the photos but from where the couch now is it looks out the large picture window to the patio deck and across the trees and lake!, it's a fantastic view as the home is raised and on a hill.

A few people commented on the paint color of the walls, its a brownish taupe color., the floors are a new greyish laminate plank that have shades of beige through them so they pick up the brown from the wall and look better than it does in the photos.

I think the next decision will be light fixtures. I will take photos of what there and post again in the next week.

Thanks everyone!

if we bring in more metals and glass to add reflexion and up the light it will make the room even lighter. i had this til recently.

loved it, room was covered in black and white art works and lamps out of brass etc.

Update: A few people mentioned using rugs and showed some very nice examples in their attachments. With our two big dogs who are still quite young rugs are not a good option for the time being.

However, I am wondering if I should change out the vertical blinds for curtains?, or keep the blinds? The windows are large with a great view and a door to the patio is in the middle along the same wall,

here are a couple of photos of the windows now with the blinds and also a photo of the curtains that I'm considering, what are people's thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

I would always choose curtains over verticals. They soften the widows and finish the space. The only issue I see is that you don't have a lot of room to stack them to the side and I hate to see you cover up a lot of the windows and view. If you don't need them for privacy, I'd consider using nothing at all.

i always prefer curtains, with pretty white sheers underneath are even better. and those are lovely ones.

Any update on your room? would love to see pictures.