It's not a plain room at all. There's a lot going on--beautiful wood ceiling and details, stylish wood furniture, art and accessories. But it doesn't harmonize. The clash between warm and cool elements keeps the room feeling unsettled and unfinished, or "plain." Adding another big pattern of mixed colors will dig the hole deeper.

You have lots of warm wood, a warm pinky-orange kitchen floor, green window frames and room accessories, warm white walls. Paired with cool purple cabinets and gray carpet. Gray furniture? Can't quite tell what color the sofa is. If you have the budget, I would replace the carpet with something warmer-toned that harmonizes with the kitchen tile and the wood. Or if you have more funds, replace the kitchen tile and carpet with one unified flooring material. Look for throw pillows that combine the kitchen purple with a warm tone. Ditch the dining rug. It's too much extra color and pattern in that space. I would remove the drapes too, unless you really need them for light control or privacy. That corner needs more openess, more breathing room.

I would paint the stair wall the same plum color of the cabinets. It would look great against the wood ceiling. Then add a few colorful art pieces.

It could work, but I like the contrast of the deeper plum against the lighter paint color. The plum is rather dark and may overpower the light, airy feeling of the room below.

I would replace the curtains with a cool geometric print like plum and white to accent the cabinets. I like the piece of artwork you have over the stairs.

I might look for some colorful rugs to bring all the colors together. If you don't need the draperies for privacy, I would remove them and let the green windows shine. If you need sun control only, I would add some exterior sun shades that you can control remotely.

Thank you all for your input. Lots of things to consider! My husband likes the terracotta tiles so I hope we can work around them for now. I will keep working on him though.

The painter is booked in July and new curtains are on the agenda. The carpet is too new to ditch! and we need curtains for privacy.

Here is a picture of the mat under the table and shows a bit more of the room. I will post some more views tomorrow as it is 10.30pm here.

It really is so helpful to see the room through another lens!

Because there is a lot going on structurally and visually, I’d aim to connect the entire space with color repetition using accessories vs adding some pattern randomly.

Stair area: Suggest removing the two items and just add large art (lower than the floral piece that was there) to ground/add interest to that side of room.

Kitchen: a runner and choose something to highlight your cabinetry.

https://www.amazon.com/Loloi-Collection-HUM-04-Contemporary-CloudPileTM/dp/B0B98Z2J41?th=1&psc=1

Dining room: sone large pottery.

https://www.potterybarn.com/products/7504873/?catalogId=84&cm_ven=organicsocial&cm_cat=pinterest&cm_pla=organic&epik=dj0yJnU9T3VDUGhQZnY4WHVHRVJrTEI0UG1DMTlQbjAzTlhPel8mcD0wJm49VWdYdlJjTkVNNGZGZlJKZFRsLXpGZyZ0PUFBQUFBR1kzY1NJ

My modern MCM home has LOTS of glass. i don’t need window coverings for privacy just need them to cut down on afternoon glare ( So Cal ). we have light ivory solar shades thrughout, easily lowered when needed. .

I love the idea of painting the top and side of the doorway witih the aubergine.!

A few more pictures. it certainly helps to take photos and see the room through the lens of the camera as well as read your comments. Thank you all again for your input.

We have recently changed the counter tops with a lighter coloured stone than what we had and it has made the off white colour (Dulux Stowe White) we have on the walls look dirty. That’s why we have booked the painter. We had decided to get new curtains that tone in with whatever new wall colour we choose.

i do like your idea of a geometric pattern in off white and a shade of plum, Cara Fidler.

K Laurence, do your solar blinds make your room private at night time? i understand the trend now seems to do away with drapes and we are trying to keep up!

Olychick, thank you so much for searching out samples of rugs that might be suitable. We found it so hard to choose one but feel the one we ended up with tied in the grey carpet and the terracotta tiles. I love your choices, thank you.

Those dratted tiles! When we had the kitchen altered some time ago, some of the cabinets that were removed left a huge hole in the floor. The thought of having the terracotta tiles removed - the dust and mess involved, we found some that again seemed to tie in the colour of the existing tiles and the cabinet colour. What we chose hasn’t photographed well at all.

Kendrah, you may see we have gone with your suggestion of replacing the horizontal picture eith an oblong one and removing the round basket in the stairwell. It does look better, thank you!

i do like the idea of two or three artworks going up the stairs, but I love my Pohutukawa art piece too and don’t know where else i could put that!

mcarroll16, i hear what you are saying about warm and cool colours. This is probably why i reached out in the first place. Once the new bench was added, the balance in the room felt off.

Now we are having the room painted, we wondered what to do with the big expanse going up the stairwell and over the kitchen units to the extractor fan.

What a lovely space. I would add much more vibrant rugs and colorful pieces of pottery in the open curio cabinet (on the kitchen counter run).

I would change this one view to add some drama and height.

You know Paul, that would probably look great. it would also solve the “What to do with the blank stairwell wall” too!

also H. Falls, yes, some colourful glassware for those shelves would be good. I am far too conservative!

Paul F. just to add, I have been hankering for about 1.5 metres of floor to ceiling slats coming out from the left of the front door, to give a sort of entrance.before entering the lounge. My persuasion skills are still a work in progress!