Two years later... We ended up purchasing a 3-seater for wall opposite fireplace, a 2-seater for under the highlight window (leaves a comfortable space to enter the room) and an armchair placed diagonally opposite the couches. I've fooled the advice to pull the furniture in off the walls a little. We have just updated the fireplace with the (professional) installation of an insert wood heater and (DIY) replacement of hearth and tiles/timber mantel to conceal the brick while meeting the safety specifications of the heater (required a much wider/deeper hearth than the existing brick one so we removed and replaced with a slab of honed granite, and the minimum height for breastplate/mantel shelf posed a few design limitations). TV mounted above fireplace to allow for better furniture placement. Not quite the picture I had settled on 2 years ago, but works with the style of updates we have made elsewhere. Thank you for all the advice. before: After:

Have you thought about wallpaper? feature walls? Our wallpaper peals on and peals off with easy. You can do it yourself without fuss or extra cost. We also custom make our designs to your chose of colour and size for free.

Read up on preparation and painting of a room, but very basically: Entire walls need to cleaned with sugar soap. You have high ceilings, so hire some ladders, make up some scaffolding, so all areas can be reached. Then preparation is the hardest part of painting. You need to fill any uneven parts of the walls, or along any spaces between walls and the wall railings and skirting boards. Use a product, called Pollyfilla. Then sand back those repairs with a light sand paper. Clean over to remove any dust. Use painters tape, a blue tape, to cover the top of the skirting boards, so wall paint does not get on them, same if you are painting picture rails a different colour. Choose the colour that will compliment your furnishings. Either one entire colour, or a different colour on the higher portion of the wall. Maybe Picture rail and skirting in a crisp white. Use a paint brush to paint all the outline of each wall, as it is easier to paint the rest of the walls with a roller. Maybe an extended roller, and standing on scaffolding. I would also remove the mantel, prepare and paint that wall, then replace mantel. This is a very basic overview.

Its your rug, not gonna lie that's exactly what's wrong. Everything else can be worked with except that rug. I would rather look at floorboards than that rug. Go to a fabric shop and glue a pretty piece of fabric over the top of the rug if money is tight. Make sure fabric has that curtain plastic backing so glue doesn't show through. Also nothing in there has the same colour scheme, character, it comes from different era's, theme's, not sure how to explain it but... Cane chairs look like part of an outdoor setting, Wood chairs look like they are from a dining table, there is different wooden furniture with different stains all piled at one end of the room looking odd together. Then the chairs are too far apart to have a decent sit down and chat. The art is really random as well and not good Centre the small table in the window and put a big fern on it to give it width. It looks like a plant table. Split the room into two sections, use the skinnier end as like a card game area to play bridge or rummy. Use the larger section as your living\ talking area. Hang the TV on the wall. Use the tv unit as makeshift coffee table until you get something better. Put the two cane chairs closer together on the other end of the couch facing the window. Paint over your art pieces, even in white only, just texture the paint to make it look like something. All this is using pieces you already have. Now sit down and decide what look your going for in that room. Modern, Industrial, Farm house because your on a farm and just buy accordingly. Reuse your couch for now and just buy a white cover or cream and colour everything else. Buy some actual arm chairs that look inviting and cozy, throw rugs for everyone but pack them in a basket and don't do what magazines do by haphazardly throwing it on the couch. Like these baskets Extra or out of season cushions in one and blankets in the other. To intertwine modern and old they have to have a common ground? I don't know if that's the word but either the wood stain from modern and old should be similar/same or they have to have something in common besides function for them to mesh well together.