Agree, it's not the brick that's the problem. The lighting needs an update, the blinds are making it feel darker and the furniture colour is not a good match. The amount you do all depends on budget. Start with the window treatments to add light, replace the rug and create zones within the room for each purpose (dining & lounge). If money is tight try painting or using a white wash to lighten the timber parts of the furniture (this will also give some continuity ) and get rid of that white melamine cabinet. If your handy you could make some slip covers for the chairs and make cushions out of the fabric for the lounge etc. The Artwork also needs to be more uplifting and in similar frames that are the same colour. Good luck with your project :)

@karenleonn:

Thanks for the input. Yes, I love the bricks too. And yes, the furnitures are bulky . The red leather lounge set wasn't my choice (neither anything else, except the camel hump sofa & dining set. That was from Hubby's last marriage, so I'm happy to remove them (;)). The blinds can't be removed, cause we just put them up, but will work from the rest of your ideas. Do you have any suggestions regarding the wall lighting? I want to remove the old existing ones. And any ideas of type of rug?

Brandi Nash Hicks:

Thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately I have no plans to paint the trims at this momement, so will work the furnitures instead. The blinds will have to stay. Pity that I don't have pictures when they're folded, cause they don't make that big impact and the light is amazing.

In order to try to avoid the all-beige-room, do you have any colour combinations in mind in regard to rug, curtains, throws and pillows? What do you think of the one marked below?

dohraime:

Thank you for your comment.

The camle hump sofa set is made in WA; great quality and very comfy so I would like to keep them. What do you think of reupholster them with a nice fabric and use it as a lounge set? In cream/white colour?

Oh, the lighting. The main light source is 2 x old-style fluorescent box light. We never turn them on because the light is awful. So the only ones are the wall scones and the corner. I'm planning to install downlight (with dimmer) wihtin the next year, so for now have to work with task and accent lighting.

In general, any suggestions of the type of buffet/sideboard and console table? The idea is to have a console table between the window and patio door and buffet/sideboard under the other window (next to fireplace)

Have attached a pic of the "floor plan" to give better illustration of the space.

Thank you for your time, highly appreciated!

@julienewans:

Thank you for your comment! Regarding the zones, I struggled alot with the placement of the tv and realised in the end that tv-corner position was the most convenient one. We don't watch much tv so I tried to make the window the focal point. Do you think it's a good layout as it is?

What type of rug to you recommend (colour)? And size? Should I aim to buy one that covers the whole lounge area, at least under the feet of future furnitures or perhaps 2 of same kind?

The white melamin cabinet is going OUT! Sorry, didn't mention that but that was the plan from start. Unfortunately I'm not handy nor do I have the time to become one. But in that case will perhaps replace the chairs to the something similiar to dohraime's 2nd picture with beige covering and chrome legs.

All the "artwork" is being removed, incl. the mirror. Have bought some nice art that I am planning to put up so that's covered.

Thank you, all luck is needed :)

What do you guys think of this layout?

I'm not sure of the dimensions but would the dining table fit where the chairs & table are pictured in your diagram? Lounge could run under the back window with another running parallel with the table. The TV then goes on the air conditioner wall. The chair/chairs could go near the bookcase with a new wall sconce to make it a reading area (this would also make more of a feature of the fire place as I think it may be a little crowded with table, chairs and a sideboard. The sideboard could go on the left hand side of the back wall. The rug needs to reach all the lounge furniture (if it goes under a little that's fine). A pendant light over the table will define that area. Colours for the rug are such a personal thing but just not busy as there is so much texture in the room already. From my experience 1 rug is better ( I have adjoining lounge & dining rooms with a double door opening in this house so I got matching rugs to tie the rooms together, now I spend half my life cleaning the rug under the dining table).

Hi! Take the step and just remove all lounges/ chairs, rug and furniture and wall art except for camel hump sofas and dining set, bookcase, TV with corner shelf and blinds.The colours chosen on the dining chairs and sofa appears to be an effort to blend with existing furniture but seeing that is all going, you are no longer restrained in colour choice. So the sooner you remove them the better. The room will immediately be lighter and It will be easy for you to see. Both set of curtains will need to go as well but obviously wait for replacements.

So the pair of camel back sofas main upholstery and dining table all blend really well with the bricks, bookcase, trim and floor. Consider changing the sofa cushions to chartruse. This is for the two base cushions, the rolled cushion and the headboard cushion. Add a further couple of other striped cushions as below.

The dining chair style works with the lounge and look comfortable. Their legs blend well in colour with the sofas and floor and brick and the upholstery looks easy care - so they stay as is.

You have not mentioned the colour of the new artwork. Going by your chosen colour scheme, I imagine there would be a lot of pale blue which would be wonderful. The artwork colours would help define your choice for any accent colours beyond the sofa and dining chair colours.

Keep the dining table and chairs as is but it would cramp the space to have the sideboard as on the diagram. Move the sideboard to under the air conditioner and have it twice as long as the air conditioner and in the dark wood like the dining table. Place a pale blue and white striped thick runner that falls over the end sides on top of the sideboard and a small fern or white orchard with maybe a couple of small white shaded lamps along with your choice of items- not too many and no artificial flowers. Have the runner made up if necessary. This runner is in place of a rug under the dining table that becomes too much work as rightly said by Julienewans and also works as an inbetweener with the air conditioner.

Place a nice large fern in a basket in the corner between the kitchen and patio doors and remove corner shelves if possible. The patio door curtains could be replaced with sliding shutter doors the same as the blinds, hung barnstyle manner, ie the hanging rail extends beyond the doors. If this does not work for you, match curtain to the white main curtain or get an open weave curtain the colour of the blinds. I am not sure what is above kitchen doors. Is it a blind? If so, remove and white curtain over the glass on the kitchen doors if necessary. The idea is to keep these background blinds all the same so it will help lighten the room even though they are dark, by not being 'bitsa'.

Instead of a consul, I would have a one metre wide circle table, dining table height, that is tableclothed to the ground (have made up) in a floral white,pale blue and green with a touch of pink based cotton or linen cloth. On it you could place a white shaded lamp and ferns etc. You could add a couple striped cushions in the same colouring on the sofas with the new chartruse cushions and also the new pale blue armchairs. You could mix it up a bit with different stripes.

Remove the corner shelf to the left of the main curtained window if possible and replace with a pale blue art work next to the curtain. Change the curtain to a plain white linen where the curtain starts just under the cornice and touches the floor. The curtain material is one and a half to twice width the window width.

Keep the sofa where it is under the window and move the other sofa off the air conditioner wall and place in centre of room as in the diagram keeping centred to the window.You could add two small coffee tables either side if this is the smaller sofa. Buy two new small armchairs in a good quality pale blue to go in front of the curtain with a dark wood circle coffee table in between.

Have a large mainly pale blue rug at least as big as what is there. You could also put a seagrass rug much larger underneath the pale blue rug. The design of the rug should be quite simple and would depend on the floral tablecloth and the artwork pieces.

The light fittings may only need changing the glass to clear. Wait till you put your artwork up and tie style of fittings with them.

A lot of this will evolve once you take out all the unwanted items so that there is clarity to work with. I hope this helps. Best wishes.

I forgot to mention, for the main curtain window, have a 150mm high wooden pelmet, the same colour as your blinds, so as to be connected to the other window dressings. The same would apply to the patio door but I would strongly recommend that you invest in the shutters there. If linen is too expensive, go for the general look of weight and feel of the fabric to linen.

Also, the TV would stay where it is but remove the vase from behind the stereo system.

The cushions on the new blue chairs would be the floral of the tablecloth. If the colour of the dining chairs was in one of the stripes on a couple of extra pillows that would be perfect. It could be just that colour with white both thin striped and the tablecloth colours on a couple other pillows and that would be enough.

julienewans:

Hi again and thank you for your time.

When you say that loung coudl run under the back window and with another running parallel with the table I don't exactly see it, could you illustrate it since it sounds nice?

I'd love the idea of creating a reading area! I feel that the fire place has been neglected although it's so cozy. Will definitately create that since we both love to read.

Thank you once again.

happisue:

Wow, thank you for that elaborated answer and input. Appreciate your time and efforts. Sorry of the late reply, but have been in the hospital.

Every suggestion is great and will take that into consideration. I appreciate that you worked with the furniture that I would like to keep, mainly the dining set and camle hump set. I start to understand the importance of texture and shades, so will work on that as soon as I'm fully recovered form the surgery.

Would be great if you could clarify this point:

"Keep the sofa where it is under the window and move the other sofa off the air conditioner wall and place in centre of room as in the diagram keeping centred to the window.You could add two small coffee tables either side if this is the smaller sofa. Buy two new small armchairs in a good quality pale blue to go in front of the curtain with a dark wood circle coffee table in between."

If I move the sofa from off the air conditioner and add small armchairs to go in front of the curtain, i.e the lounge woudl be shifted to the left; wouldn't it be a huge empty space on the big wall (next to tv, under air conditioner - where the white laminated cabinet now is)?

Thank you dear for your input!

Hi, I hope you are feeling well.

The sideboard being twice as long as the air conditioner, would be 2 m to 2.5 m long which is about twice as long as the white shelves. Being dark brown as well it would hold a presence, hence the cloth to lighten. There would not be enough room for a sofa or even a permanent chair. I also presumed you have bought a large artwork to replace current artwork, so the wall would be far from bare. If it is too bare, you could place another potplant in a basket on the floor on the lounge room side.

The reason for the suggestion of the long sideboard was that when you look at the third picture, the end chair needs all that space around it under the window to get in and out. So the sideboard needs to go further down. This places it just partly with the dining section and partly with the lounge area after the lounge end. If you have a small sideboard there, it would be too small for the space where the air conditioner would overwhelm it; and you want the furniture to shine not the air conditioner. A long storage should take away the need for some of the smaller storage pieces you have around the dining section. This would give the room more clarity.

When you look at the third picture again, the camel back sofa is tightly set between the cupboard and TV, so there will only be about a metre floor space. When you look at your diagram, to me it looks unbalanced - too heavy where the sofas would be right in front of the dining, so the sofas were spread out and the blue armchairs tied the conversation area together and the sideboard balanced the 'weight' around the room.

I hope this makes sense. I hope julienewans does do a drawing because I would love to see her idea as well. Best wishes.

Hi, sorry to hear you have been unwell :( hope your feeling better.

I'm on my iPad so will have to send a diagram a bit later. The dining table to run longways on the left hand wall ( where the chairs with the table in between are marked on your diagram) then one lounge along the back wall from the current TV corner out, then a second lounge running longways (facing the wall with the air-conditioner) TV then goes on air conditioner wall. Do you have some actual measurements so I can see if it will fit?

It is amazing what you can do with what you already have. I think, as has been suggested removing all the furniture and re-introduce the pieces that complement each other. Furniture that doesn't sit well or impedes on the space/flow; you may decide to donate or move to another room. Changing the rug to something plain that ties in with the curtains would help a lot also. :) You may like to introduce a cooler colour in the room as in dohraime post. Each of the large artworks on the brick walls add a soft blue/cool colour to the room which would push burgundy/beige colours to a background rather than the overall feature of the room. Happy to help with an artwork if you would like. You pick the price and we work together to get something right for the space - you may contact me on www.janamcleod.com :)

Heaps of great comments. Definitely remove the shelf, stereo and flowers above the tele, maybe get a new stand for the TV and put the stereo underneath the TV or under/on your new sideboard. Larger art work on the wall as suggested will make a big difference, and changing the wooden blind to creme or white also.

Also remove the wall clock, a clock on the sideboard would be heaps better.

Sorry, but didn't see the photo before of the dining area, but just taking the things off the wall both sides of the book case would be better. If you want a mirror you could put a BIG mirror up in your lounge area instead of art work with possibly a nice antique gold frame or silver if that would go with other stuff or whatever you chose, and if not and you want a mirror. add a small mirror on the wall to the left and same wall of the curtains near your dining area, but I would take down that corner shelf. Painting the book case also an idea, but I think that wall is just too busy at present and removing the surrounds will make it feel freer.

What about a grey lounge ,that's if it would blend with the dining chairs? then you can add a pop of colour in cushions.

Hi everyone,

I'd like to thank you all for your input. Have been a busy spring and summer, but now I'm back and able to focus on the living room. Couple of things have been done/removed since lately:

1. Leather lounge set:
I've (luckily) sold the leather lounge set - absolutely great piece with great quality, but not my taste at all. It made a world difference to the living room and even dear hubby, who liked the set, did acknowledge that the difference of less furnitures is great.

2. The rug

3. The white cabinet

4. New curtains with pelmet
I love the pelmet although it's old style and yes, the curtains are too short! Will amend this at later stage :)

These changes have made a huge impact on the room. Also, I'm also open to change the dining table with chairs for another nice option in an attempt to make this more interesting/cozy/inviting.

So, these are the only things that I won't be able to change (we may (note on may) also move house by the end of this year/early next year)

# Blinds
# Colour of trims and built-in bookcase

# Camel back sofa - I'm happy to reupholster it though and change the fabric. This will cost $2000 but I think it's worth it since they are really comfortable and are of good quality.

I'd like to integrate the white frame with the gold poster in the design - an idea is to place 3x posters on the biggest wall of the air conditioner. I'm aware that a brown frame may suit the gold poster better, but I'm so tired of the colour brown at this moment.

---------

So, I now feel I'm able to adjust as per your suggestions and recommendations much easier now.

Appreciate every response and idea

(And sorry for the mess of papers on the desk and floor! We're busy professionals and sometimes I have to let my husband have his creative space despite my OCD when it comes to decluttering and keeping it tidy)

More pictures of the room:

(size of rug 3.20 x 2.40 cm)

Yes would agree a modern slimmer furniture would create more space.. Incorporating wood will tie it in. Here is a possible design idea? Lighter fabric colour with wood arms.

I am not sure if my comment is not too late, however I had a exposed brick in my ONE wall all along the unit. Everyone said DON"T paint it!!! after a while I engaged a painter and he chose French yellow Dulux!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!my place became LIGHTER!!!brighter! new PLACE!!! I left a little section of the exposed brick in the kitchen and I love it where it is :-)) this wall is now due to freshen up!!