Your ideas are great. As far as I anticipate, you need more colors in your house, in the form of chairs, tables, curtains, and rugs, maybe! Lighting is a must. You need to arrange things, more shelves or cupboards to keep things in place.

Kudos to you on the lovely way you described your situation. It helps people understand your needs and goals.

Painting the wood would be a shame. Have you considered having the floors sanded and refinished? I suspect that would lighten them.

The other things that darken your room are the black leather sofa and fireplace brick. Although it's an attractive sofa, maybe something cream colored with washable slipcovers. Maybe scrub and lighten the fireplace brick.

The desk doesn't even look particularly functional, with the screen on the pullout work surface. Maybe get a regular desk to accommodate the screen and put your books in the built-in shelves by the fireplace.

All I can see is that Navajo rug. It is fabulous and suits your space beautifully!

Your home looks like it could be a showplace. I would start by ruthlessly decluttering. Keep the baby, the dogs and the cat. Everything else might be disposable :)

I think it's more than clutter. For example, the group of tiny somethings over your entry table could be replaced by a single larger piece. The top of the armoire in the dining room could be *clear*. You could look for a coffee table with a drawer or shelf underneath so that you can keep stuff you use nearby while not having anything on top most of the time. See if you can get some closed storage for the office so that you're not having to look at all the stuff on the shelves when you're not working there. Etc.

However, I want to prepare you for the fact that your baby will increase the chaos and clutter in your house substantially for about 6-8 years. Then the toys and crafts decrease over the next 6-8 years, so some spaces can be made adult-ish again (and games can be in closed storage, unlike many toys). Just try to draw a few lines so you don't feel you're sinking under the waves! :)

What a beautiful home! I agree with what others have said, but to me the biggest change would come from NOT using overhead lighting. Lamplight will amp up the warm/ cozy feel quickly. Overhead lighting is very harsh and does not flatter people or furnishings.

Remove the things on the walls and replace with colorful art. Replacing the shades with curtains will be great, too.

Thank you for preserving the bones of your wonderful twenties bungalow. Your place looks so homey and lived in. Anyone can see how well used the room is for reading, listening to music, playing with the baby. Don't lose that feeling. That said, a few streamlined changes would lighten the room:

--Choose a warm white paint that works well with woodwork. Here'a a Houzz article about that:

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/11-terrific-paint-color-matches-for-wood-details-stsetivw-vs~9025200

--I like the lights you picked. Here are some others that work, which have a both modern and vintage vibe:

Capistrano 4-Light LED Chandelier, Oil Rubbed Bronze · More Info

4-Light Rectangular Chandelier, Cambridge Bronze · More Info

--New coffee table:

--Remove little cabinet and small pictures on wall by staircase. Add simple hairpin table with oak top. Many Etsy woodworkers off this ty[e of thing.

North Coogee · More Info

--Art is so personal so I'm sure you'll know a piece for over the fireplace when you see it. Etsy has some wonderful art work from the 20s. Here's one with Winslow Homerish vibe:

--A couple modern round wood nesting coffee tables would add more flow and can be pulled out as needed. This place offers this idea in different woods so you echo your woody living room with a lighter feel. https://www.homary.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/j/0/j04cj000060__2.jpg

--I'm all for overstuffed bookcases with books not "edited" objects that need dusting, which you can't read, so I won't suggest that you straighten out your books, but someone else will!

I'd have to add the term "dull" to "busy." The busy is caused by all the "littles" as acm pointed out. When you box up the xmas, get extra boxes and do the same for the decor items small enough to hold in one hand. Label the decor boxes "warm," "cool" and "gone." With all that cleared away for the time being, tackle the books. Box them up under "read/keep" "never read/keep" and "give away." Live with your empty bookcases and cleared surfaces for a week or two. Be very deliberate about what you allow back in the space. It will still be winter so use the items you've designated as decor for the "cool" season. Leave the rest stored or hopefully already gone. Restyle your shelves with 1/3 of the books you're keeping, 1/3 larger decor items and 1/3 open space. Too cure the dull, you need brighter, more interesting rugs, upholstery and paint. I suggest you treat yourselves to a new, more bungalo style fixture in the dining room and a great piece of art for the mantel.

@latifolia - thank you so much for the concrete suggestions! I definitely am going to look into lightening the brick of the fireplace - perhaps a good thorough scrub will help with that! I doubt it's been done in a hundred years. If not, perhaps we can bleach or "whitewash" the brick - I'll have to look into that and do more research. I wonder if changing the bulbs and the wall paint will help lighten that up, too. I actually emailed the designer of the house for the white paint color so we'll be moving in that direction. I didn't dare ask where he got all those amazing oil paintings thought I'm tempted to ask to buy one :). We have one massive Georgian oil painting in our upstairs hall and it's too big to go over the fireplace (it's nearly as tall as I am) but it could go where the navajo rug is. I could also put the lighter color books higher up on the shelf and gradient them down to darker books at the bottom.

We really love that sofa - it's totally baby proof and we can just wipe everything up off of it so I might keep that until the little guy gets a bit bigger and stops spitting up on everything - but maybe adding a bank of white pillows or a white throw could help us. Perhaps it would be worth recovering the two MCM chairs in something lighter to offset the couch instead of going with navy velvet? I might grab some swatches from the fabric store and live with them for a little bit. Little guy rarely sits with us on those two chairs so they are less at risk :).

I also agree that the desk is...not super suited for the task at hand. Pre-covid it worked really well - I started and ended my day there with my coffee, planner, and journal and I could just close it all behind the table top. When I had to bring my work setup home I wasn't sure where to put everything so it just ended up there. When my office opens up everything will go back and this will be a journaling space once more. I like the idea of getting a smaller desk. but I will definitely revisit that post covid and see what the room gets used for once it's no longer my workspace. It used to be a room I spent a lot of time in - there's a lovely chair for reading and my "to read" books are all on that shelf - but now I just close the doors when work is done because I need some separation from the office and don't go in again until the next morning.

You gave such wonderful food for thought! I'm going to keep working with and playing with the ideas! I really appreciate it!

@User - Thank you so much! It's a very special sentimental piece and we enjoy having it in the house!

The house you linked is beautiful. It is also very my style. But oh man the kitchen. While it fits in very well it makes me hope there is another tucked in somewhere with a bigger fridge and such.

@amuzyczka - yes! 100% this! We've already started pulling down nick knacks around the house and trying to make some breathing room. The house is highly functional, and of course we have the lego sets around :) We're going to treat them like a Christmas village and put them away in January and pull them out again in October next year. We have survived isolation by listening to the Harry Potter audio books and building the corresponding lego sets.

I agree with others: 5 little things do not equal 1 good size thing. I try to never hang anything in my home smaller than the 12x15”painting that was done by my DH’s cousin. Most of my things are much larger. Knickknacks are even more of an issue for me. 5 little things are clutter., while 1 bigger thing is art. As your child grows, little knickknacks may become more of an issue for you.

I'm guessing that one grouping of little things is a Nativity set, so seasonal.

Few textiles soak up light better than navy blue velvet, so keep looking. While not MCM, Sunbrella upholstery fabric is an attractive and durable choice. It's the only one that survived Irma unscathed at our island house. And even if your little guy is an only child, your furniture has years of spit, chocolate, crumbs and abuse ahead of it, so easy care is your friend. Look for a washable wooly white throw for your couch.

Have you washed the windows? It's easy to forget, but it does let in more light!

You have a great space, and I love your rug. The lighter wall color will really brighten things up, and well as giving the bricks around the fireplace a good scrubbing. I think your large oil painting would look great where your Navajo rug is, and add more interest than the rug. Maybe you can drape the rug over the back of your sofa. I would add a floor lamp or end table with lamp to the end of the sofa. Once all the extra Christmas decor is gone, keep those surfaces clear. I would not use drapes. You don't have room to close drapes behind your sofa, and they will take away wall space and cover your nice window moldings. If you don't like your current shades, I'd replace them with some sort of simple interior mounted ones, but they look fine. At least wait until you've painted the walls because you may like the lighter colored shades better then.

Lighting and fresh paint will make such a difference. Lovely home!

Looking at the interior of the home you love I see black, white, and pretty much raw wood.......so start with painting all the walls bright white, paint the fireplace/ fireplace wall black, the entry black or entry wall black; what ever works for the entry....it might only be a wall. Hang your lights, make black, black/white curtain panels and hang from ceiling....add back your furniture and then check and see how much art is in each room of the model and approximate the large scale sizes with prints or real oils found at sales, etc......invest in the nubby wool neutral rug for the living room and you are getting there with the austere feel of the model home.....possible! You want high contrast with the wood softening the black and white.....better yet just do all of the above to one room completely furnished and accessorized and see how you like it? Then proceed from there.....

Thank you everyone for the advice! There was definitely a LOT of food for thought with this. I've started drawing out a little "road map" in my planner with things to do, starting with prepping the walls for painting. My new brighter, whiter light bulbs arrived today so once my husband gets home and I can get a ladder I'll swap those out. I've also started filling holes in the wall to prep for paint as well. After paint comes the install of the new lights, and then curtains. After that I'll address furniture (looking into sunbrella fabric!) and swap out the navajo rug (it'll go into the bedroom where it originally was so it won't disappear completely) for a large oil painting. We have a very, very large Georgian portrait upstairs so we can bring her down but she will eventually need to rotate back up so she's not constantly exposed to sunlight. I think that's a good start.

Obviously we're not a showroom kind of family - the photos you saw are about what the house looks like on any given day - we're tidy but we live here - so of course there will be baby stuff and lego sets and dog toys :) But we can deal with that. It's more just gently moving towards an ideal instead of rigorously forcing our house to become an unlivable show home! Thank you again!!

Putting some decor on the table would help. Changing it each season would also be good.

Also some more white would "shine". Maybe a white table would look good.

I feel like lighting will make a HUGE difference. Usually when people say "busy" I imagine cluttered, but your decor looks intentional and your house looks lived in but not like a completely kitchy mess. I think it's just the light/contrast letting you down. So don't be so hard on yourself!

I'm a photographer and the think that always stands out to me in houses that are really beautiful is how much light gives the spaces texture, definition, and brightness. Because you have darker floors and some darker pieces of furniture in some spaces they all kind of blend together and look really heavy even though they aren't packed too tightly.

It's super easy to just plug whatever lamps you have into outlets and flip a light switch that turns on some lights on your ceiling and stop there, but I think the big difference between really put together living spaces and those that don't quite feel as polished is often the intentional use and choices of light. Layering lights at different levels, paying attention to task lighting, and being selective with fixtures can really make a huge difference. I've no where near perfected this in our house yet, but the few changes we've made in some rooms have really had a big impact. I think the right lighting in your home can do wonders and really help establish the ambiance you are going for.

Okay... are you all ready for the after? We actually have moved away from this house, but when we passed our beloved home to new owners, this is what it looked like:

I wanted to add what we ended up doing:

- Ruthlessly decluttered

- Change the lighting to Restoration Hardware lighting in dining and living room, as well as taking out two of the sconces in the living room.

- Moved around art

- Painted all of the white rooms and ceilings Chantilly Lace (as suggested!) to brighten the space up.

- detailed the trim - scraped weird paint drips, etc, and stained over the existing stain for a consistent color

- Staged my work desk shelves

- Got big baskets to corral baby (now a toddler!) toys in the main rooms we were with him in.

- Introduced some organization strategies to help minimize clutter on surfaces.