Hi Sasha. What a great space with lots of scope to move your furniture around, and all that natural light! The first thing I noticed was the dark curtains drawing my eye to the dark window frames. Although you clearly can't do anything about the latter, I would definitely change the former. My go-to place for quick affordable pieces is Ikea and my advice would be to measure up the windows and head for their roller blinds and curtains. If you put 3 or 4 block-out blinds up under that pelmet you can control how much light and/or privacy you'd like and by replacing those dark curtains with a lighter linen variety, you'll add a contemporary feel to the room and bring the attention away from the [I assume] aluminium frames. You could get enough to span the entire width or just a couple for the ends. Splash out on a generous tall houseplant like a [dragon tree[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/midcentury-bedroom-midcentury-bedroom-philadelphia-phvw-vp~1905898) for any area's that you might like to add height - I think we tend to fall into the trap of having two visual levels in a room, one being the furniture which tends to end at about hip-height, and the other being art or such for eye level. Both of these are horizontal lines but a tall voluminous plant adds a vertical element like a standard lamp. I'd move yours away from the corner though and place it against a larger expanse of wall. If it has to stay in a corner, put something tall behind/beside it like a narrow book case, or an artwork that's centered with the lampshade. Then it looks like it has purpose. Also, I would move the sofa away from the wall and add a console table as a place to display treasures. Can you swap the long chaise part of the sofa to the other end? Doing this would define that area more and open up the view of your outdoor area. In fact, I'd be tempted to rotate the sofa 90deg to face the windows and put a sofa table/book case behind it for extra storage. I assume that's your TV along the wall to the right - you could shuffle it down towards the window corner and angle it towards the sofa [that would reduce glare on the screen from the window too]. If you do this, you'll create an area for the dining table if you want. I'm not sure from the picture if your table is currently against a wall or if there's more room off to the right that we can't see. If it's against the wall, I'd be moving it across to the left to about where that rug currently sits [a bit further this way though - if that makes sense!] Here's an example of what I'm thinking. That's where the rugs come in. I'd be using two large rugs to both define the areas and protect the carpet. One under the dining table and one under the sofa. These are both areas where the carpet can quickly get grubby! Large artworks are, as you say, a challenge but they don't have to be hung. If you have a large vertical canvas you can prop it against the wall or sit smaller works up on a narrow table [another use for that console table!]. Try to find [or even make] some large canvasses that have a lot of white in them and retire that red pic in the black frame for a while. If you go for the light/white curtains then a complimentary artwork will help to freshen the whole area. Hope I've been able to help a bit!

Hi Lindsey, I also agree with the comments regarding adding indoor plants to fill the gaps on either side of the TV. Some great, low-maintenance indoor plants are the Fiddle Leaf Fig, Monstera (also known as Swiss Cheese Plant) and Snake Plant (Mother-In-Law's Tongue). They're all beautiful plants and very ease to take care of. Another option would be to have some open shelving on either side, similar to the one we have used in this Living Room styling below. This could work really well, especially if you have limited storage for some bits and pieces you would like on display. A bonus is that including taller items like this will create a sense of balance in the room, and accentuate the height of your wall which will create an illusion of taller ceilings. Hope this helps! - Elena

What is in the second photo, a power point? And you think the tv socket is going to be in that same wall? Then that is where the entertainment unit goes. Is that the only power point? When you buy your entertainment unit choose something which allows access for plugging in the vacuum cleaner. Unless you have a rechargeable vac which doesn't need a power point. With hard flooring perhaps you will mop more than vac. Although if you want to soften or warm the space you might have a rug? I didn't understand "combination of bright and neutral colours" until I looked at your Idea Book. You have some lovely pictures there. Do you have any artworks yet? That might influence which colours you repeat throughout your space. The grey sofas are probably the most versatile and timeless, and something like that might be the easiest to source in a size and configuration to suit your needs.

Don’t cut the curtains. There is space to rehang the rod higher. Still leaving them brushing the floor but for the price of a bracket you’ll fix the length problem. Just realised you’re renting. I’d wash the current curtains, you may find that they shrink up a bit and will be fine.