Photos of your room?

I apologize for the quality of the photos. As you can see my sofa is a light brown tweed. That's the first problem-but I cannot replace it as it is only few yrs old. Next problem,the curtains almost everything else match the sofa-all tan and brown. The walls are SW white raisin. This was leftover from my french country muted look. Now I am aiming for light and bright, fun- farmhouse look. I like to change out artwork, and I like mixing antiques with modern. This is why the neutral looks of the above inspiration links I posted, appeal to me.

I can paint,and in fact I am going back to white or very light neutral, but not TAN walls-including the dining room /kitchen which the room opens to. Curtains, area rug, throw pillows can be replaced. I can paint the coffee tables and end tables, but the hutch & piano are off limits. I want to keep the mirror-it has sentimental meaning. I can paint the mirror frame.

I have researched a lot of threads that work around the "brown leather sofa" and there are whites and brights mixed in. I don't have brown leather, but I know it can be done, I just don't know how to do it.

The first link does not work- but the others do. I am not exactly following- it seems the rooms you are liking have the very light color upholstery and the sofas are more floating in the room?

Your space, while neutral, seems a bit darker to me and could be why your pops of color don't feel right. I think you could bring in some pillows with great textures that can add some dimension along with a little color. I love neutral decor. My home is very neutral with white, mostly light cream beige and some pale warm gray tones throughout. I've had a few ask me what my 'pop' of color is and I say 'neutral' lol. I'm more into texture than color. Take a look at some textures in way of throws and pillows and see what you think.

There is not as much dark wood furniture in the rooms you like. There are only small touches of dark (sofa feet, inside back of hutch). Paint what furniture you can, make covers for your sofa.