Just looking for ideas. Thank you

It looks like it needs a good scrub, for starters.

Definitely. Tackling that and the “purge” today

I’d post a measurement plan before you begin buying new furniture, and a few photos of rooms you admire, and how you use this room so that we can give the best advice.

Maybe whitewash the stone, add wallpaper on shelf walls….paint the room a light warm color

Some pictures

Pinterest has lots of ideas

To start the ideas flowing, here’s a look at rustic chic. Your idea book has photos of monochromatic neutral color palettes, so I thought this direction might appeal to you. I’m hoping there’s a better place in the room for the TV, because the fireplace would be so nice styled with organic, natural materials, and the TV could be lowered for better viewing.

Oh these are excellent ideas. This room is primarily used for overflow family that come to stay.

To clarify, will this room require a bed? More than one bed? If so, day beds that can be used for sitting or sleeping might be a good way to use the space.

Not this room. This will be the living room area for the basement

Have you lifted the ceiling tiles to see what is under them? A new ceiling and ditching the big lights will do wonders for the space.

IMO get the TV off the FP and remove those shelves . I have a dropped ceiling in my lower level walkout but it is because we have hot water heat and there are lines everywhere so for practicality and the chance of water leaks we decided drywall was a bad idea. You can how ever put pot lightis in a drpped ceiling very easily and for sure you need them,\. Waht style do you want when done? IMO way too much stuff in there for sure as it is. MY advice remove everything including all the wall decor . Decide the style you want and what you have to have first . Putt hose itme in and then see what else you NEED.

Agree with @acm and would tackle the ceiling first (flooring can be hidden by rugs) - florescent lights are mood killers so I’d spend my money on a new drywalled ceiling and addressing the lighting.

FWIW In our basement FR the ceiling lights are only on when cleaning - the rest of the time we use lamps to create a relaxing hangout space

What is on the wall from where the picture is being taken? Can you hang your TV on this wall instead of on the fireplace? It will make the fireplace less of a focal point. In this order:

1. Fix the ceiling. Even if it has to be a drop ceiling, change the lighting, the vent, and get a more attractive drop product like the one below from Armstrong.

2. Will you add new flooring? Is the current a hard surface or carpet? If you aren't changing it and it is hard, find large area rugs.

3. Paint the walls, bookcase trim, and window trim the same color. Your floor color and ceiling color, and new lighting will influence your color choice.

4. Take a step back and see what the hearth looks like in this new environment. Is it a nice pop against your new blank canvass or does it still speak dark cave? Paint it or not accordingly.

Concurrent to this, tackle furniture layout and start ordering pieces. Do you ever use this space aside from extra family coming to stay? When they come to stay, would they also like a table to sit at, check email, whatever? Or are they just going to use this entire space to sack out and watch TV? Is the area they sleep in open to this space?

Definitely get rid of the drop ceiling and put up drywall with recessed lights. Paint the stone in the lightest cream colour you find in your floor tile (matte finish). Take the tv off the wall because it is too high for comfortable viewing and place it to the left of the fireplace.
Furniture: Another L-shape sofa with two small scale upholstered chairs or a 3 seater sofa facing the fireplace with 2 chairs facing each other on either side of the sofa. A large square coffee table or ottoman works with both layouts.

Other side of room looks like this (we started yesterday cleaning it out). Left side door is a walkout to the lake side. The right door goes into a game room and sleeping area.

Wow, I didn’t realize the room is so large from the first photo you posted. I’m glad that you’re getting rid of EVERYTHING and starting over. You must post a drawing with correct dimensions including doors, windows & closets. Only then will you get the proper help you need.

As the last things to go, the two upholstered chairs would be good to sit in front of the fireplace for a few hours or a day after the rest is all gone. You'll get a much different perspective once the room is clear.

Please post new photos when the room is empty.

--Repeating what everyone else said about dropped ceiling--remove. You don't necessarily have to put in drywall if you have infrastructure there. You can install external spotlights or overhead string lights.

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Notice how a few large posters bring color and light into the room. Take down all those bitty wall pieces and choose some great posters instead--lake scenery, outdoor sports photos, personal vacation photos blown up.

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--Leave your riverstone fireplace in its natural, lake house state. Get brown/taupe matchstick shades to cover those window shelves or find a great source of oversized, framed poster to hang over those windows--easy, budget friendly solution.

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Or fit translucent shade/window film in front of shelves with warm LED light behind to provide soft lighting to flank fireplace. Etsy offers many vendors who sell beautiful window films to size.

--Empty the entire space so you can see what you really have. Create two zones: TV watching area as below with small, comfortable sectional, bar and stool table behind it. In the rest of the space, add a round game table, pool table, orfoozball table, or gym area--whatever recreational equipment your family and friends enjoy.

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Cheapest/easiest things to do:

--Empty space entirely and plan two zones--TV watching and recreational at other side.

-- Remove dropped ceiling, paint it dark color to camouflage any infrastructure, hang external spotlights or string lights.

--Get creative with covering those windows flanking fireplace

--Buy new, comfortable sectional to define TV side of the basement. Back up a "bar" table behind it--again, try Etsy (or Home Depot) for table legs and live edge tabletop. Get a couple countertop chairs.

These are some great ideas. Thank you everyone !

Clean it up. Add a wood mantel, retuck the sloppy stone hearth OR put a big scale tile on the top, Use some interesting reclaimed slated doors on the cabinets to hide speakers/sound system and electronics.

You likely need access to the ceiling so simply paint the T Grid a color to match your ceiling tile.

Take out the fluorescent light fixtures and create a lighting plan using recessed downlights.

I'm not sure over the FP is the right location for the TV

The rock wall can be painted of limewashed

The OP says they can't afford to remove the fireplace. Are you sure? If it's only a stone veneer attached to a stud frame with mesh and mortar, removal is almost all labor (DIY?).

Plan a re-design, such as new bookcases with NO stone, and a smaller hearth area.

Then it can be refaced with a thin brick or stacked stone.

DIY is great, but it's also pretty easy to find a "demo" crew on FB or Craigslist that comes in, does the hard, dirty work AND hauls it away!

If you measure the cost in terms of time and effort saved, it's actually very little.

If you're able to do DIY finish work - you're savings is much greater.

I would also look at any and all options for greater ceiling height. If there is somewhere that requires access, there are small panels for that.

Ours was built in 1965, using lava rock. Stuff was so sharp, someone could have sliced their hand open on it!

Underneath it was brick blocks, so it had to be smoothed out for new thin brick.

The gridlines in your ceiling and the dark wood trim around windows and doors are the problems. You don't need outlines around things. There are great ideas below.

Here's a transformation for you on a small to medium size budget. I'm presuming you're not changing the floor tiles but if you do, perhaps a wood look vinyl plank would look good.

- Paint all the walls white, the window frames black, and baseboard white

- Paint the bookcase surround and shelves black

- Paint the ceiling suspension rods white

So far, only paint and that's not expensive especially if you DIY.

- Build a wood mantel over the stone one for contrast

The sectional, other furniture, and accessories, are mostly form Ikea, Amazon, and Wayfair.

Oh wow. What a wonderful low cost option

Tutorial which looks doable. I like how she painted the shelving back wall in black. Replaced ceiling tiles and added faux beams. She did a great job, IMO.

https://designsbykaran.com/how-to-whitewash-fireplace-easy-project/