Also wondering if we should keep the track lighting. Maybe a mirror in espresso frame above the fireplace if we paint it a lighter color instead of darker?

Hello! What a great space to work with! I love the windows and the ceiling beams! And the fireplace :) Ok, I would suggest changing your rug first (only if you can/want to) And maying changing the picture of the woman, since that looks more cottage-inspired. Grey walls would be beautiful in my opinion! Valspar Pantone in String 16-1305 is beautiful (we have it in our living/dinging rooms) And what about painting inside the beams that same color as the walls, and leaving the beams white to make them pop? :) The track lighting doesn't look horrible to me, but if you aren't a fan of the style, maybe some more updated track lighting would freshen it up too. A different gray, or a bright white on the fireplace would be great!

Ikea has some great track lighting :) http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=Track+light

The space is a wonderful open plan and to more modern is a wonderful idea. My suggestions are to clean up the space and follow what is already modern in the space, the ceiling. A contemporary style plays with more mono-chromatic colors on your walls and taking it to a very deep tone on that fireplace like BM - Cinder. Works great with the furniture. if you are going modern, but keeping the furniture change the flooring to a deeper tone, espresso would be amazing and change the turned rails on your staircase to a BM Calm. Your rug should mirror your ceiling and its colors and shapes.

Then take it one step further and add punches of color in your artwork resembling Mark Rothko, and pillows to match. Considering the space you can go dark & handsome!

Let me know how it goes.

Love the idea of painting the beams a darker color and getting a large abstract piece of art to complement the room?

Although I love black on the ceiling, in this case I think white beams with grey ceiling would lift that ceiling and prevent it from looking and feeling heavy. If it's within your budget to do so, it could be wonderful to change your Furniture and decor palette from "Fall colors" to those that are clean and crisp. If you will be keeping your espresso sofas/armchairs, those can be your high contrast items to your lighter walls and ceiling. Add in 2-3 accent colors (avoiding browns, oranges and reds) in your pillows, rug (s), art and accessories and you have a lightened, livened-up space that immediately reads more modern. --This is my take. Have fun with your wonderful space!

Definitely get rid of the track lighting

Your home has very good bones to work with--architectural detail, modern fireplace. I would lean toward lighten, brighten, accent and accessorize as a strategy. I have a similar ceiling in my great room. I chose to do the same color--not contrasting colors. However, I did the ceiling squares in a flat version of the color and the beams portion in a semigloss of that color. It reads as a bit of contrast as the flat paint is lit from a different direction as light hits the ceiling.

Then do other woodwork and mantel in the semi gloss color as well. I agree that the track lights are detracting from the ceiling features. Some recessed lights around the outer edges of the room would add drama without distraction--spot light from the floor hitting decor features in corners could suffice if necessary.

In fact some layering of lights can bring a lot of warmth to modern designs. I would move that floor lamp from center of window to a corner position near the couch. If possible you could replace it or add a lamp that has a straight body and straight/lighter drum shade shape to afford a glow of ambient light at eye level in the room.

I think a freshening of the furniture /rug layout could give you more places for the eye to land. Perhaps, keep either the sofa or the loveseat and keep the chairs but move the ottoman and one of the big pieces to another space. Instead I would use a see through sort of table that doesn't interrupt the flow--glass/acrylic with legs/warm metals--antique brass and bronze-- that lift it up off the floor. A lighter striped or geometric rug would contrast nicely with very dark leather and darkness of wood floor. Also you can add a geometric accent table in front of the window between two accent chairs---this is where you start to make accent colors play well together. Coordinate a rug with geometric lines, similar accent color, and chairs with seats covered in a coordinating accent fabric. Replace curtains with another or the same fabric used for pillows on couch and/or seat covering. These color accents will show you how to choose a more modern piece of art to compliment your design. I would go one step further and put together a little gallery of art/ojects leaning against the fireplace brick on the mantel--overlapping pics/frames, small mirrors, wood and metal objects that fit your new color scheme will tie it together and give it the pop of professional design techniques. Mix taller and lower pieces, rustic and modern for interest. One modern pendant light over the center of the room would be an awesome accent. When and if possible, a coordinating fixture over the dining room table and hanging over the entry at the bottom of the stairs but visible upstairs would lighten and brighten the space superbly.

So back to paint colors. There are beautiful grays to mix and match---but they frequently don't blend well with the more orangey based woods. If u look enough youll find some shades that work with existing features/furniture/adjacent rooms. I collected grays and creams and whites from bejamin Moore for months before choosing my shades. Buy samples and test them on some purchased dry wall boards from a Home Depot or lowes. Keep the painted samples for a couple of weeks. Note the color changes at times of day, spots in the rooms, and with time etc. I thought that silver grays and almost charcoal grays were very pretty. I also loved creamy whites and creamy naturals. I went with the lighter colors because the walls and ceilings look larger and higher and cleaner---and I can play with changing furniture, rugs, draperies, and such much more often. Put your color where you want people to look---architecture and accessories. Benjamin's cloud white, sailcloth, white dove, ivory white are pretty. Benjamin's classic pewter is silvery and there are several whisper of silver gray shades by benjamin that layer well--they're almost white.

I'm guessing that the overwhelming part of doing a renovation like this is where to start and working the plan in stages as your finances allow. I would actually start with what elements you must keep and work around and the colors and size of those things. Find swatches of paint cards or fabrics that match those items. Now shop for fabric and paint that works with those colors on a board of swatches. I like to shop fresh furnishing looks at joss and main.com and one kings lane.com. You'll see modern items in colors you need to choose for your design items that are immovable. Then shop paint samples to coordinate with fresh accessories color scheme. Last pull in lighting, pendants, sconce, floor lighting, recessed pot lights. Finally dress the room with little accent furniture and accessories from websites mentioned or tj maxx. Then take a picture and post it on houzz! :)

Also, sherwin Williams has some beautiful creamy neutrals, natural choice and Greek villa are outstanding. They have a nice selections of warmer grays that turn almost taupe too.

Your room screams Modern Contemporary. Do modern art work, and look at this picture. I really like the lights!!!

look at this

You have a lovely room full of features to work with. If you paint the bannister a dark colour it will become a feature, if you paint it the wall colour it will disappear. I agree with Kimberley & hzjpmp, your beams would look great in a light colour a dark contrast will bring the ceiling down visually and make the room look more boxy. If you had high ceilings then it would be a different matter. Your track lighting atm is very distracting so it would be good to replace that as a priority. Your palm could be a feature in a lovely large urn - good luck with your project.

Modernizing means getting rid of some of the "country" elements which to me are the stair parts and the track lighting as well as some of your accessories (paintings and clock above the mantel). This particular track just looks dated and unfortunately steals the show. Simplify and use furniture with straight lines…add some more texture to room in mixing textiles.

If you love the artwork, do Not get rid of it! Going for modern does not mean everything the same style! The spaces between the seating look to large. Try going for two furniture groupings within the room. Maybe the two couches and 1 chair centered around fireplace, top of stairs and the other chair with reading table down where the palm tree is, with the two bookshelves next to each other, this would break up the space and create a book nook area. Look at the ikea catalog for ideas on how to arrange the furniture to create separate spaces within a large room. You can pick up ideas such as putting couches back to back to divide the room in two. looking at the picture , the lighting does nothing for the room and looks very scattered- I would switch to three identical fixtures down the middle for general lighting. Maybe like this: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/mission-style-ceiling-light. or if you want to keep tracks then switch to pendants with glass shades to distribute light more evenly.

If it's not too late, I thought I'd weigh in on this discussion. Almost any space could look more modern quite easily but unless you address its permanent features, there's no point changing the furniture, rug, artwork, as it won't make much of a difference alone. To start, I would paint the ceiling and beams a crisp white - this will look contemporary and also heighten the room (colour on the ceiling unless it is exceptionally high will shrink the room). I would also hang new draperies higher to the ceiling. Like others have pointed out, the track lighting dates (and shrinks) the space. Replace them with recessed lighting if possible, if not there are more contemporary lights that will look much better. The fireplace brick should be refaced in large neutral stone (granite, marble or even concrete) to modernize this important feature. I would lose the mantle as well. Or put one chunky beam as the mantle instead. If you want to go modern, less is always more. So lose all the knick knacks too. It looks like the fireplace wraps around into the dining room so make sure you do this all the way around if it does. The staircase/bannister needs to be modernized as well. There are some interesting stainless steel posts that would look good with a simple wooden hand rail. Remember only AFTER you make these changes should you start to look at the furniture, artwork, and other lighting. Start by using what you have if if it works, otherwise replace it. But sometimes incorporating some of the (non modern) pieces just make the new space all the more interesting. The dining room furniture might be too rustic (hard to tell in photo) but if you love it and want to keep it, try changing the chandelier for a white drum fixture and adding simple window treatments that are the same as in the living room. That might be enough and your space could be eclectic instead of contemporary. Hope this helps and be sure to post the after photos to show us what you've decided to do. Good luck from Montreal!

I plan to remodel my living room and also want to remove the track lights from my ceiling beam! Alas, miniature tracks of tiny LED lights look out of proportion, and wouldn't effectively illuminate dark areas beneath a 12-foot high vaulted ceiling. Recessed LEDs would look great, but there's no space between the ceiling and roof to install them. What to do?

If you haven't yet, updating the fireplace would really make a difference in the room. You could go with a gray stone veneer over the fireplace bricks to complement the dark woods. Would love to hear how it turns out! It looks like a great space- the ceiling beams would look great with a dark color to match the floors.

As one commenter said, address the bones of the room first. Some suggestions-
Remove the track lighting, it's competing with your very cool ceiling beams.
Consider bright white on the beams and white or a very subtle gray on the ceiling; and try a satin finish for shine and lift.
For the walls, a light to medium gray would be nice (a few shades darker than the ceiling if you go grey there), although white would achieve a modern look more effortlessly.
I love painting fireplaces, go for it! Try a bold color like a deep blue, perhaps. You may find you like the look of the fireplace so much that you want to see more color on the fireplace wall- consider multi-color stripes using blues and greys.
For the bannister, I'd go black and either keep the stiles white or paint them black to match.
Great room - have fun!!!

how about a darker color between the beams..maybe bring out the color in the flooring or the furniture?

CHANGE THE TRACK HEADS OUT TO A MUCH SMALLER LOW VOLTAGE VERSION.. YOU WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE BEAM SPREAD BETTER...AND NOT DETRACT FROM THAT CEILING!!!!!! OR UPDATE IT TOTALLY AND GO TO RAIL LIGHTING, DEPENDING ON YOUR BUDGET. LBL LIGHTING, TECHLIGHTING, OR CHECK OUT NORA LIGHTING FOR TRACK HEAD OPTIONS. didnt mean to yell but those are screaming for change and would do so much for the room.

@markenesmith rail lighting will work for you too....no said it had to be led..

if you have a budget for lighting, i would change a lot about how the track is even laid out.

I would go very dark on the fireplace, and beams, with light grey walls white ceiling or vice versa. Very crisp white trim and in this fellow houzzers picture. This will still keep it light, not to heavy on the ceiling and hopefully give you that moderness you are looking for. Good luck :)

Contemporary Living Room by Cambridge Architects & Designers LDa Architecture & Interiors

sorry the picture didn't load the first time... hope this works instead.

Way

I have to comment about the lighting. I have a large room like you. I have track lighting and just replaced the heads to a more contemporary look. Why I even hesitate to change my track lighting is because you can move where the lights shine on. With recessed they come down straight. If you move furniture around the recessed can't be moved and shines right down where you may not want it to. With track you can move around the heads and if you have cool artwork can angle it on the art. I don't care how many people or decorators would tell me to go recess I would not. It is not always about looks but also comfort.