pamguevara, thank you! I love Surya products, it's just that my dog is well into 20 years old and although she's in great health, everyday it's a shock she's still around. She only had accidents on the rugs and never on the hard floors, so I'm just gonna wait to put my other rugs back down, well - when the time is right. :-)

Carolyn, one more question... If you don't mind. :-)... My dining room directly diagonal to this room. It is also open to my front entry. They are all connected with columns. Anyway, the dining room had the dark walls before I did this room. I figured I'd paint this one dark and then paint the dining room our standard neutral... It looks horrible - it inherited the dirty shadows! Should I carry the silhouette in there or would it be too much? I like a cohesive look and the silhouette is a lot... two rooms might be too much. Aghhhhhh, I was so sure! Thanks so much
.

Looks like you could use some lighting help which would do wonder for this space

Thanks tabitha, we are working on that. It's sandwiches between trees and a sunroom. Adding the dark color in the Living room made a huge difference - but now I think I just handed the same problem to my dining room - which was so pretty before. :-(

I haven't ordered the new Benj. Moore collection that includes Silhouette so I don't know if they offer lighter shades. I would not paint the DR the same color, but you could consider one of the lighter shades if they offer them. However, sand, looking at the photos, I don't see anything dreadful.

Carolyn, I think I've come to rely on you so much that I panicked. The difference is so dramatic in that room it looks like primer even though it's just our main interior color. I THINK it's growing on me, but I'll definitely have switch up the accessories and seat cushions. Ugh... wish I'd thought that one through a little more. Chalk it up to reasons why designers are worth their weight in gold! Thanks again.

You're welcome! Wish I could see it in person as it's so much easier that way. You might want to call in a local designer for a one hour consultation.

I sure wish I lived in Austin! We'd have this place whipped into shape!

Love your idea room. Just copy it. Not hard. Very dark walls, doesn't matter room is on the dark size. Will make the room more dramatic . It's a lot f tone on tone. With a pop Olof with lime green. Remember to use accent colors to a minimum. Love the rug 8x10 would be big enough. A black shade drum style chandleer to replace what you have. Lose the map go oil painting large. Don't care for the large dark wood chest and hutch. Throw some zebra pillows on sofa mix with lime green for fun. Get ready to be wow.

Sunburst mirror over FP. Shutters are good paint a satin white white. New furn. Fun.

Change out surround tile on firepl. Go a silver iridescent. Nothing on mantel. Ck out Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore grays they both have nice ones. Put samples on your walls first. Stay away from blue undertones.

I would get a med gray sofa with white piping. Place facing Firepl. With 2 chairs sitting across from each other a very big coffee table 40" square. On a area rug like one in pic. Add a backless sofa with high arms across from chairs. White with oil on that wall where map is now. Chairs should be a print with accent color. A ottoman like in pic in the green cross legs and zebra as fabric. Sitting at end of coffee table in front of FP.

travisinteriors, thank you. I've done some of the thing you suggested. If you want, check out the pics 3/4 the way down. I appreciate your input.

The chandelier in pic will work also for interest .instead of drum.

We can take a further look at the dining room/entry problem if you want to share more photos of those areas. But I will totally understand if you want to sit back and relax for a month or so and think about things.

Carolyn, you are too kind. I appreciated the first time you popped on my post and offered the suggestions I STILL go back and reread. I've taken up a lot of your valuable and limited Houzzing time with my questions and sincerely want others to benefit in the same way I have. I'll probably exhale, look at a few more photos and decide if I should find someone local who understands my quirky POV. Thank you!

Sandnmytoez, I have totally enjoyed the journey w/you as you transformed this room. It looks great!
Regarding the map, I must put my two cents in and say... I am sooo happy you stayed true to yourself and kept the map!
Those"personal touches" really make a home unique....can you tell I like maps too? Great job.

csevene, that's so sweet of you! I'm glad you like the progress- my brain is fried! I've been so wrapped up in this project I haven't really taken time to "journey" with others... Thanks to all of you, I think I'm gonna give it a try!

Sand, it has been a pleasure working with you. You are every houzzers dream, a "client" who responds with kind words and more photos. You get an A+ rating from me and I'd be happy to help you anytime. If you choose to start a new "design dilemma" I'd love to see it and to assure that, you could post a link to it here on this "dilemma".

New dilemma ... This vintage teal sofa with the ordinal velvet upholstery surprisingly found its way to me via my sweet 78 year old mother in law - it was her mother's and part of their very victorian and rarely used living room. The patina has worn in a way that absolutely makes it shine off the silhouette paint - talk bringing about life to a room! If I keep it there, (which would mean the world to her) what do you guys see with it? I came up with the pieces in the second and third pictures, but I have no idea what fabric go well with velvet. The mustard is also velvet, the other is not. (I was set to return the geo pillow covers, but tossed them on just to see.) WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK I SHOULD DO NOW? It does look pretty close to my original inspiration photo. Odd how things evolve, isn't it? THANK YOU!

Despite what I said earlier about not being keen on that pillow, I love the way they look on your sofa! They're definitely keepers. That mustard that is in the geo pillows looks great with the turq velvet, as does the orange, but I would prefer the mustard for a pair of chairs, or a single chair. The fabric could be a linen look. Mitchell Gold makes some pretty chairs, such as the Cara chair below and also their Blakely chair.

Just when you thought you were done! I have enjoyed watching the transformation of your room and loved your final look. Houzzers give such amazing advice.

I love color - our TV sits on a shiny orange credenza on a turquoise wall - so I love the color of your 'new' couch. The pillows look great on it. In my mind the pieces you have picked to go with it are great. I say embrace color. It will be interesting to see the ideas of everyone else. BTW your orange dining room chairs rock!

I would suggest moving the furniture away from the walls. That would create more movement in the room. I love the pieces of furniture you selected!

Is it just me? I see nothing wrong with this room, as is. It's beautiful and serene and a lovely place to double as a home office. Hope you have a fun comfy bed in the room for your Jack Russell. All I would add for "life" would be some plants. :)

Carolyn, hello again and thank you! Funny, I saw an ad for Mitchell Gold last night and was on their site looking at that exact chair! When you say two, where would you place them?
Would you add the charcoal one too?

BTW, the purple ottoman is from the game room and it was a great height of this little/low sofa. I found a remnant of this great fabric and was gonna cover the dining room chairs, then I thought about covering this... Yes, I think too much.

Debbie, thank you! I love love love how your room sounds. My main living area is full of those colors and orange ties the whole look together! My kids call it a modern twist on "That Seventies Show" - its happy! As far as those orange chairs that are getting so much attention - Target, my friend. The color is great, they are super comfortable - but, the quality is a lttle lacking with its pine frame, something I was willing live with for such trendy pieces.

pattirowlette, thank you. I agree with your thoughts. My dilemma is the room is in the middle of our open floor plan house so it gets traffic from all directions. Floating sofas towards the fireplace either blocks the walkways or chops the room in half. I appreciate you taking time to be so helpful and supportive!

litehearted, thank you. I am getting to feel the same way. This room is the most traveled through room in the house and our goal is to try and make it the most interesting too! "Super" has beds ALL over the house and basically follows me around until she plops into the one in the room I'm in.

I didn't mean that you should get a gray chair. It just happened that the Cara chair picture showed it in gray. I meant that you could get something like it or the Blakely in mustard.

I don't know exactly where the chairs would go but suggested them since you seemed were looking at adding furniture to the room. I guess if the two orange chairs are together on one side of the sofa, you could then place another chair or a pair opposite them, or possibly facing the sofa. Where were you thinking of putting the pieces you showed above?

Wow! What a transformation... Love the orange chairs with it! The only thing that bothers me is the big ol' ottoman. I think it is a bit much for the room, even if you recover it.

Love the orange chairs side by side. I would do the ottoman in a pattern of turquoise, orange, gray, mustard etc, but I am a little crazy!!

I so understand the dilemma of an open floor plan! I love watching the progress of this room. It looks beautiful :-)

For the ottoman, a solid or a pattern would work. Perhaps you could use a solid with a contrasting welt, such as purple with orange welting. Or a subtle pattern of the multiple colors that are in the pillows. See this link for Robert Allen closeout fabrics: http://www.robertallenoutlet.com/

Carolyn, I so appreciate you popping in again! I made puzzle pieces to see what made sense instead of moving the furniture around. This was what I saw last night. I totally understood what you meant about the chairs and will play with that today. I agree with the ottoman. The purple livens the room and the other tames it. I don't plan to use the orange chairs in there at all. They are great kitchen chairs, but not really aren't living room quality.

Debbie, I love crazy!

mkritt, thank you so much! That really means a lot! An open floor plan IS a blessing and a curse, isn't it?

Hi Nancy! I bet you like this. I remember you and your pops of color help! When we brought the sofa in, it looked so tiny and I wasn't sure at all if it would work even though the color was absolutely amazing in there. We just starting pulling pieces from all over the house to see if we could balance the size. I am, going to have to purchase a few things if we use it so the ottoman might go back where my kids also think it belongs - trying to save where I can here! My mother in law will be beside herself happy! She was heartbroken to give it up, but they can not sit on it anymore because the seat is only 16 inches.

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The chaise you have in your drawing, sand, looks too much like a loveseat, even tho it's a chaise. If I use a chaise I like it angled off in a corner by itself. The reason not to use a loveseat? They complicate the coffee table arrangement and it's frequently hard to get more than one person to sit on them.

Much preferable, in my mind, is a pair of chairs facing the FP with a round table between them. Then you could place a single smaller chair by the FP, with a very small table beside it.

If there is space for something facing the sofa, you could place a bench there.

Carolyn, again- my hero! Without even knowing, you addressed our biggest concern in the room... ample seating. I understand exactly what you explained so perfectly. I see it. We're gonna work in your direction. My most sincere thank you just even isn't enough.

You just put a big smile on my face! Thanks, sand!

I know you have put a lot of work into "brightening" up this family room, but I have to wonder why you did not consider installing some recessed lighting. When I was taking an interior design course at our local university, the first thing we were learning is the first step to any remodel or renovation is to prepare lighting for the space.

Love watching the transformation! Nice work!

Hi Amy! How in the world did you find us again? Thanks for sharing!

We do have recessed lighting in the room and it does help at night, but outside of kitchens, baths and kid's rooms, recessed lights feel kind of forced and uncomfortable to me. This space is sandwiched inside the hub of our house and an added sunroom blocks the natural light that would come through the windows by the fireplace. The rest of the house is full of windows with natural light and very bright. When all of these components were combined, it made this crazy room appear even darker and all the shadows made light colored wall look dirty. So... we used the dark paint to let the room be what it wanted to be. A few months into the new color, at least it seems to be a lot more interesting. Although we still aren't done, it's transformed into more of a study than living room and best of all, my family is actually using the space!

Congrats on taking that course! I bet it was fun and knowing what to do saves you a fortune in headaches and decorating mistakes!

meghanlissa, thank you! it's been amazing to have so many kind people along for the journey!

@sandnmytoez your house is beautiful!

Great job to all involved.

toonia,
Thank you! The space is coming along. I took almost all the advice given to me by Houzzers with me on a trip to a nicer local furniture store. I felt so passionate I added the advice of the store's designer and purchased two Bradington Young chairs in ... Green Leather! (Yes, really I was that crazy. I didn't even take home a sample or sleep on it!) DONT EVER TRY THIS IN YOUR HOME! It was a great idea in theory, but long story short, when they arrived six weeks later the scale was so wrong with the little vintage sofa AND to make matters worse, I sold all the other furniture on Craig's List! So...... As Carol suggested, I have an appointment with a local designer next week. Thanks to all the help here, I got pretty far into the design - but perhaps all the "love" made me too excited for my own good!

travisimteriors, I have such respect for what designers can do. We armatures can get close, we can even try our best to take your advice, but investing in a pro makes all the difference.

@sandnmytoez I can totally relate. We bought our sofa before moving into our house and while we love it, I'm sure we could have made a better choice for the area. I'm going to take everyone's advice on my family room dilemma and post pictures when I've transformed the room! Decorating feeds our creative souls, doesn't it?

toonia, please do post the pics! Everyone is so helpful and kind! What's your discussion called? I'll look it up!
On a side note, I reread our post and I mentioned a decorator on here who'd really been a huge help. Her name is CAROLYN, but my spell check must have renamed her Carol. I hate that, she was amazing.
Anyway, best of luck on your living room!

Hi @sandnmytoez here is the link to my design dilemma https://www.houzz.com/discussions/family-room-somethings-off-dsvw-vd~709913

Thank you so much for your kind wishes. Once I paint, I will repost pictures! :)