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)

Full built ins across your window wall would look amazing. Maybe consider keeping drawers along bottom for a clean look and hidden storage for not so pretty items and then shelving above. Taking it all the way to the ceiling would look great too. For the short wall next to the door you could think about shelving to the inside of the window seating for a different look like the images below. We would love to see your final outcome!

Agree with compass kitchens. You need a small sink in main kitchen area. For washing hands during food prep, getting drinks of water, filling pots with water, water for cleaning down bench etc etc etc etc. Also for safety of not carried pots of hot water through the kitchen to get to the sink in the pantry eg: pasta. The sink can be positioned on the island or the back bench. Get a pen and paper and make a note every time you use the sink water during the day. This may help you answer your own question.

What do you like about the second picture? I like both pictures. But the first one gives you a sense of the layout of the whole wall whereas the second one does not, it doesn't even show the whole tv. I'm no expert but looking at the first picture even though there are different elements in it the sides line up. reading down the wall, there's a wide shelf, another wide shelf, a narrow shelf and the tv side by side, and a wide drawer unit. On one side is a vertical unit. It has variation and it's not symmetrical yet somehow it looks, what would you call it, ordered? Taking a guess, the second one might be symmetrical, which is simpler and works well. I thought of something else. If you want to put up floating shelves and definitely if you want to put anything with weight on them, you need to attach them to the studs in the walls, so you need to find where those are before you can make any decisions. Same for floating cabinetry.