A few more pictures of the room

A couple of ideas:

1) The couch may not inherently be THAT ugly. It's just that it's so bright and....unsubtle...relative to the more dignified and subdued surroundings.

2) Sounds like your H is attached to the comfort, not necessarily the appearance. Therefore, re-upholstery with a similar feeling fabric (smooth, thick cotton) but in a more attractive color may be a great choice, maintaining the comfort while improving appearance.

3) If you have to stick with the bright blue, then you MUST use other strong/bright colors to stand up to and therefore neutralize or de-emphasize the blue. Ideas: Bittersweet, mustard. leaf green, oxblood, fuchsia, orchid.

4) More pattern generally would also help. Maybe a bold stylized floral fabric for curtains, and/or a patterned area rug.

Overall, it seems that re-upholstery in a fabric of your choice, though not cheap, would ultimately be a better approach than skewing your whole decorating scheme to a look you may not care for just to accommodate this big blue beast.

Hi. I like the size of your room and the slipper chairs are pretty. The stripe is nice and will go well with the beautiful fabric you picked out for window seats. Couch looks very comfy, I can see why hubby would like it. Have you considered having slip covers made for it? If that option is out, some pillows in the floral fabric would look nice on the couch. Is the coffee table a keeper or do you just need end tables and lamps? Great start. :)

I think for window treatments you could use a faux roman shade on each window for softness, something airy. Is tv in armoire? A large basket or vase/pot on top would be nice. Your dog posed nicely for pic! Cruise the internet for a table between chairs or check out Home Goods if one is available in your area. A nice sized lamp seems crucial since I see no lighting but with ceiling fan. :)

Quick question. What is on brick wall?

Do you love the chairs? Use them as a color palette of inspiration. Paint the wood a deep brown, the walls a (avocado) green, the fireplace brick a shade of from the chair you can live with. Lots of throw pillows on the bench and couch within the color palette, a splash of mustard yellow. An option for window coverings, a modern pattern roman blind.

The pics illustrate the palette a bit

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Ummm?... At first I thought about reupholstering the not-so-flattering couch, but upholstering is pretty costly. If his only concern is comfort, why not take hubby with you on a hunt for a nice, comfortable new couch? I bet it's going to be less costly starting fresh than trying to decorate around this huge couch that you don't really like.

The denim part is actually a slip cover the couch is naked fabric underneath. A friend said I could probably have it dyed a darker denim color. Which isn't a bad idea. I think that would be the cheapest option for the couch.

We don't have to keep the coffee table but we want something there so we can play board games as a family. No tv in the cabinet thing it is storage for all our board games and art supplies for the kids.

The brick fireplace are has a cover for a hole that is where a wood stove would be vented so smoke won't get in the house. The old owners replaced it with the gas stove. Our living room has a wood stove here is what it looks like. We talked about maybe replacing the gas stove with a wood stove because to vent the gas stove we have to open a window.

The cabinet is actually a natural wood color it doesn't have any paint in it just a clear finish. With the exception of the top piece.

You can go one better, and bleach THEN dye the fabric, if it's just cotton, and then you can go any colour you like!

Is that an Ikea Ekeskog sofa, though? Because if it is, there are quite a few online sellers of jazzy new slipcovers for them (we have an Ikea Ekeskog sofa - same dilemma, it's just too darn comfortable). Bemz is one, and there's also weu-weu and comfort-works (Google is your friend).

Re-upholstering is very expensive unless you're handy at diy and with a sewing machine, and it has been known to substantially change the comfort of the sofa, hence all the "recently newly reupholstered" sofas on Craigslist et al!

We just put the carpet in Monday it's subfloor under it.

The couch was from AFW.

I wish I lived closer to my grandparents my grandpa taught upholstery he even wrote a how to book. He would do it for me for the cost of the material but would need the couch.

Wood paneling and trim is going to stay the brown. We thought about painting it but it's just too much work right now. I like the idea of painting the table though

I think you should definitely take your grandpa up on that! I'm thinking he would only need the slipcovers not the whole couch?

HI -- I don't think the sofa is that bad and the slipcovers can be remade or dyed a little darker . Your room color is too weak to carry the room and complement the sofa as is . I would paint the wood on the window seats and the bottom wainscoting around the room in a white ( Cloud white by BM) and possibly all the other wood too .... and the walls would be better in a dark blue/grey . The room is large enough to handle the darker paint . Then have a rich gold and a few touches of red for the accent colors .Some colors for the walls --- sweatshirt grey 2126-40 by BM .....Kendall charcoal HC-166 or Greytint by BM .....Retreat 6207 by SW ....Gravel or Charcoal by Restoration Hardware

Thanks for your input but I really can't handle dark color its an old dark house without much lighting. This is the one room that is light and bright and I want to keep it that way. The wall colors and carpet are all staying. I'm really just looking for advice on wall decor, if I should paint the existing table and hutch, we need a small table between the chairs and window treatments. After comments above I'm thinking we need a new fan and more lighting as well. I really like the idea of painting the coffee table a yellow or white.

sorry didn't read the whole thread but wondering if you could remove the skirt to try to modernize your hubs beloved couch?

Here's light and bright even with the blue denim.

Maybe an accidental spill of red wine and mustard could take care of your problem.

Were Mormon so red wine is out and mustard I can see it now "it just gives it character makes the house look lived in" lol

The couch is a solid piece it doesn't have legs under the skirt just naked cloth

Americana-Red White Blue- Stars Red Bandana Pillows? Red always brightens

I like the light green in your fabric, I think that would be a nice option for your armoire. I would leave the wood crown alone and paint the body of the piece. If your coffee table top is in good condition, I would paint the legs and skirt light green and leave the top the wood tone. I think the light green would go better with the wood on the wall. FInding a yellow to look good against the wood might be a little tougher.

What a handsome dog! I peeked at your idea book and I like that you're consistently drawn to the yellows and blues -- I think if you stare at those long enough, you'll find a common thread to lead you on your way. And I hope you have a portrait hung of that beautiful puppy when you're done.

I'm not a designer so I'm not sure of the scale, but if possible I think a bit more of the paneling would look better. It seems to low on the wall to me. I think the rule for the best visual appeal, is "thirds", like 1/3 paneling 2/3 paint, based on ceiling height. Given your vaulted ceiling, it might even be higher.

I personally have always loved denim couches. They go with everything and are so family friendly.

I'd like to see a pic of the couch in some good lighting. And your chairs also. It looks like your fabric picks up the chair colors, true?

It appears that the couch cushions are a bit compressed, but I can't be sure. If so this maybe helpful, my Pottery Barn couch (Pearce sectional) cushions got "squished". So I called about it. They were only $135 for 5 large cushion inserts so I bought them and replaced them. Made a huge difference in appearance.

Yellow is my
Favorite color so I was searching yellow and blue :.) I will let GusGus know you think he is handsome. He is ALWAYS photo bombing so I'm sure he will be on the wall somewhere :.)

The two end walls are vaulted but the two short walls the paneling takes up 1/3 of the wall.

The cushions are squished down because my toddler likes to climb up there they are fluffy and don't had shape well. GusGus sneaks up there too. I bought the chairs because they matched the couch and I picked the floral print fabric because it had the same color pallet. Green would a good color too. Te chair does have those stripes I thought were yellow but look more green IRL

With a toddler and dog, I think I'd learn to love the sofa for a while longer. You can probably buy foam replacement cushions to insert. Add all the yellow you like and let it rock on until grade school and dog school change the behavioral demographic a bit.

While you may not be in love with the sofa, I think painting out the dark wood panelling might oddly be the answer. (Bear with me here.) The sofa only stands out because it has orange walls all around it. If the panelling were white, or almost any other colour that didn't contrast with everything else so much, the sofa wouldn't scream so loudly (and the room would acquire that bright freshness that you speak of wanting, to remedy the rest of the house's darkness). Also, the dark panelling against lighter walls makes the low parts of the walls seem that much lower by chopping the wall in half (like the ceiling is falling in and everyone has to duck).

As an aside, I'd consider window coverings with side panels and the lightest of sheers for night (even in a roller blind or roman shade) for night. To me, even when you don't need privacy, at night windows turn into these black inkwells that are unpleasant to be near, so cold and stark.

I like the sofa. It's bright and fun and looks comfortable. I also like the fabric you plan to use. But the mousy blue on the walls does nothing for the room. I would paint a warm, creamy white, whitewash the brick, and bring some accents in green and yellow to offset the strong color of the sofa.

I would paint the baseboard heat covers to match the color of the wood paneling. If possible I would paint your brick white and your cabinet a white as well, or the yellow you like. Same thing for the coffee table. Are you open to rearranging the furniture?

OK, grape juice! Just as staining. Really, it isn't that bad, Go with a not-too-dark mossy green on the walls like the one in the pic you posted with the floral pattern.