I think the room has lovely potential basilsmum, I love your French doors and your checkerboard hallway is great! Is the rest of the house painted white, as it looks brighter than this room? White walls would really lighten and freshen the room I think, then you would just need to add colour with a few luscious plants; some cushions in a colour you like; and maybe a lovely floor lamp in the corner to add warmth and boost the light until you do the ceiling lights. A large rug would also pull all the furniture together. Good luck!

Hi Basilsmum

Your new furniture looks nice and I love the character you have with the French doors and the double doors looking out to the tiled hallway. I'd recommend giving the walls a fresh coat of paint with a white like Dulux natural white.

Id add a large mirror to bounce more light in the space. Upgrade the wall lights to a light that shines up and down.

Then you can add colour with cushions ( green will give you colour and freshness) and add other cushions in lighter neutral tones. A rug under the coffee table in lighter tone will lighten the floor space.

You could also add artwork that has colour and will add a focal point to the room. See example below from one of my recent projects.

Hope these tips help and would love to see any pics

por your finished room. Cheers Noni

Thanks for your comments petapea and Noni! I agree the paint colour is drab, like old school magnolia. It was done just before we bought it 3 years ago. Yes, a new floor lamp, maybe wood/natural tones, would be a help. As you can see I've tried several lamps out but none of them are quite right. The mirror is a great idea that I hadn't thought of, maybe a gold frame to pick up on the yellow tones in the armchair. I love the idea of green cushions to pickup on the greenery outside. Would that be ok with the yellow/gray/cream of the armchair do you think? Thanks again, appreciate the suggestions.

Love your couches! I agree with the lighter floor rug under coffee table and cushions in varying tones of chocolate and latte, to pick up the wood in the coffee table. Show us what you end up doing please!

Lovely sofas you now have...! Injecting some stronger colours and textures will give the room a lift... Kmart and target have some affordable pieces to mix and match.
A darker rug with texture can help break up the colour and add interest.
Cushions with a strong colour are a nice choice... texture of velvet and knit will keep it interesting. Some metal pieces will help reflect more light around the space.
Your art work could do with tweaking... either pair the two pieces you have over the larger sofa or create a gallery wall by adding in extra art pieces a mirror and some 3D items (baskets, plates, decorative pieces) with them... even check out your local charity store for unique pieces...
a mirror is an idea to add more light to the space...
greenery adds instant life and if a potted plant is not possible a large branch from the garden in an inexpensive glass vase or jar is another option.

You certainly have a lovely room, and I really admire your French doors. I would try to paint that room a very bright white - in doing so, when the rays of the sun shine in the room, it will definitely help to naturally illuminate the space and bounce more light off the walls. I would also suggest a dark coloured rug, to add a striking contrast to the room and make the walls look even lighter and brighter still!

Hi. It's a really lovely living room and I think an injection of bright colour, yellows perhaps, a large canvas of abstract art, plants, a vase of fresh seasonal flowers on the coffee table, and more lighting (table lamps) would help you achieve the look you are after. Possibly a rug with bright colours as well.

I feel the artwork is a bit to old fashioned and dull, something happier like watercolour either soft florals or something more abstract would be more fitting. More modern wall sconces and floor lamp and colourful cushions to coordinate with artwork, if budget allows maybe a glass coffee table and a large mirror.

Wow everyone, some terrific suggestions from you to really bring this room some vibrancy! I am feeling energised to tackle this over the holidays and will post some updates when done. First task - painting the walls!

Lovely room with so much potential. I would put in a lighter colour rug to tie the area together- check out Westelm for some great choices that would tie in with your lounges. Look to mid-century design for inspiration. The wall sconce definitely clashes with the furnishings and I would have it replaced, if only to replace the shade for now. The artwork hanging above both lounges is too small and too high. Consider going for a larger artwork (that takes up about 75-80% of the lounge width or grouping smaller artworks into a cohesive gallery wall (look to interior designer Emily Henderson for some great examples). Lastly, I would add some indoor plants to tie it all together with the outdoors - that alone will make a massive difference to the room.

I agree with infusing your space with some greenery! Introducing indoor plants such as fiddle leaf figs will offset the beige tones and liven up your living room such as the one seen here -

Feel free to have read through this article here - for other indoor plant suggestions!

@basilsmum, I might go a bit against the brief here, but I don't think you should focus on "brightening up" the room. Why? Because whatever you do (unless you add a skylight or roof window), it will never look really bright, due to the fact that it only gets filtered afternoon sun.

But do not despair! Your room has a great asset - it looks (and I am sure it feels) cosy and peaceful! It looks like a room where I'd like to sit down with a good book, or sip tea with a girlfriend and chat about love, life, and everything in between for hours :) So personally, I would focus on maximising your room's strength - the cosiness - as opposed to try to fight its weakness - the lack of light.

How to do this? I'd start with window treatments. They don't have to be super sophisticated or pricey: good quality see-through white curtains (hung from the highest point on your wall and all the way down to the floor) will not block the light, but will give it a soft radiance, while adding texture to your room. When pulled to the sides of each French doors, they will frame your doors, giving them more visual strength and they will also balance the space a bit better. The blank space between the two doors will look smaller, and in return, the doors will look bigger.

I would also consider adding a rug. Firstly, it will bring the elements together, enhancing the so-called cosiness I keep referring to. Secondly, if you choose a rug that is a lighter colour than your carpet, it will "break" the grey-on-grey mass currently created by the combination of sofas and carpet. I would chose a neutral colour though and, if you want a pattern, I'd go for a discreet one. A large rug can be a bit of an investment, and opting for something means that you make like it for longer (you can still jazz things up with cushions, artwork, vases and other decorative accessories)

What else? Yes to the greenery! With your limited natural light, search for indoor plants that love low to filtered lights. With pots and planters (or to conceal the pots), think black, dark grey, rattan, green marble, or even brass, which would work nicely with your gold frames)

A large mirror (we're talking approximately L100 x H70cm) above the sofa that faces the French doors would reflect the light coming into the room. This would help with maximising the natural light, and will also add depth to your space, making it look bigger. So that's a great point! No need to have a gold-gilded frame though - it may look too "heavy" for your room and unbalanced with the sofa. I'd probably stick to a more discreet frame. You can add touches of gold or brass via decorative items (plant pots as mentioned above, table lamp, etc.)

Now, what about paint? A coat of white paint (Dulux Natural White is a great recommendation from @Style Precinct) would definitely freshen up your room and make it less "drab", but it will not make it look much brighter. It might even look a little sterile, unless you add layers and layers of decoration, which is doable (hello gallery wall behind the second couch!) Alternatively, you could go for the opposite and elect to paint your room in a much darker colour (and keep the doors, the trims, the skirting boards all white). Any colour you would subsequently add to the room would pop! It is not for the faint-hearted but it could work beautifully.

As for patterns and colours, and even style, it's entirely up to you, to what you resonate with, to what makes your heart sing, of course. But you are blessed to have a house that seems to have a lot of character (period house, no?), and I think that, again, it's best to embrace that, as opposed to try to make it look super modern. Your choice of furniture is brilliant as it is both contemporary and classical - clean lines, but not "cold and edgy", it's inviting and timeless, but not outdated. I also personally really like how you mixed your furniture with the antique artworks. I would really recommend you to keep it along the same style by mixing contemporary pieces with a timeless appeal, a few trendy items (not too many because trends come in and out so quickly that by the time they make it to your home, they will no longer be trends :) and a couple more "antique" looking pieces.

As an example, I'd put a fairly large side table (round or square) with simple, clean lines, at the corner between the two sofas. As it will be partially concealed by the seaters, no need to have something fancy here. A glass top would be ideal as to not look too heavy in that corner... I would put a large plant on top of it, and a table light as well. The light had to be a bit tall (no smaller than 45cm), or quite "fat" at the base, and if it had some brass or gold, that would be awesome. On the other side, you could go for a funky side table (like West Elm Martini side table in brass), and a very simple, but taller than what you currently have, floor lamp. I'd combine your existing artwork with other artworks (framed black and white photos would work too) to create a funky, not-static gallery walls. This will add vibrancy and rhythm to your room, and will be a modern twist on a classical display. With cushions, I'd do a mix of plains and patterns. I would not go for very contemporary patterns or super bright/tropical colours, for the reasons stated above. But I'd play with textures - linen, cotton, velvet, etc, and add some strong but natural colours. My palette of choice, for your room, would be the grey-browns you have, some touches of black, white and gold/brass, and some dark green. Touches of mustard would also look good (and would be perfectly on trend) And did I mention white hydrangeas or peonies in a clear vase on the coffee table? ;)

Sorry for the long ramble. Your room inspired me and I felt compelled to write.

Good luck with it all, and keep us posted!

PS: good example of a contemporary classic style:

And some visuals that might help:

Window treatment

Lamps:

OR (shade can be replaced with a white one)

Side tables

Accessories

And some more accessories:

Gallery wall inspiration:

I hope this helps :)

The first thing that hits my eye is the darkness of the coffee table and then lamp. I too love your French doors and also your paintings but Don't go for anymore dark colours in room as they absorb light. Yellow would look lovely with grey green and cream. I'd repaint walls ceiling and eaves under verandah a really bright white to match the white doors and checkerboard entrance (vivid white?) and put two artworks on same wall and mirror opposite garden and add yellow/ gold cushions and then see hue it looks

What a beautiful canvas you have yo work with! To me, the room is calling for coloured cushions, artwork and a rug- all simple ways to create impact and refresh a space immediately.

Rugs can inject personality and define different zones in open plan living spaces. Since the room is all neutral, make the rug the focal point by going bold with a graphic pattern or colour. With colour, it doesn’t mean brights. Natural dyes add a more subtle splash with a ‘faded and worn’ appearance.

Hope our projects inspire you, be sure to keep us posted!