Em - sorry you got pounded with our latest sales lurker. Real designers and gifted hobbyists want to help you here. The color in your art over the fire could be your inspiration for color accents, and I do think that full length panels on the windows might be a good start to help it feel warmer this winter. I wouldn't expend money on blinds, only drapery panels but you understand your privacy situation better than I. Run the curtain hardware well past the window, so when the sun is out your panels can stack back to the sides. What do you think about adding some blue-greens? If we get a muted enough one, it will be lovely on the walls with the mantel wood tones and should harmonize well with all the neutral upholstery, wood floor and rug., as well as deal with the gray stone and silver fun ball well. The sofa wants to breathe a little away from the wall I think as well. A narrow end piece there (maybe a yard sale find that you paint a deeper shade?) and shifting the rug away from the wall will help the room itself feel bigger because everything won't be tight to the corners. Something like this for the walls - ben moore wythe blue http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/wytheblue#ce_s=wythe and for the end table piece - bm azores http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/azores the deeper tone for a furniture piece that needs some camoflauge . .you can then add curtain panels in a neutral that works with the sofa upholstery tone. I see you have somelovely fine art - Van Gogh will always outpace the rest. A simple wood frame can be stained to match the gorgeous wood on the mantel piece. Your home has some lovely detailing. Might I suggest you drop the art over the fireplace about 12" and layer one additional piece leaning on the mantel? The starry night piece also needs a frame and perhaps a different wall paired with the earth chart for contrast and whimsy - you can alway mount something like that with spray adhesive to a painted heavy cardboard or frame it in a much larger frame with a custom cut mat. If I were adding a third neutral here with the suggested blue green I would play off the gray slate of the fire and use charcoal. Charcoal, cream, pale wythe blue-green . . then the art will bring the color in.

Hi Zoe, Congratulations to you both on your 1st home purchase. Small designer furniture is what comes to mind. 2 seater sofa, lamp table, floor rug, small coffee table and a TV entertainment unit that fits the common wall at the kitchen end. Light coloured furniture & decor and the clever use of wall lighting will help make the room seem larger. The good thing is you can spend up big on the small amount of things you need to buy. Below are some images that I've found online that could be of interest to you. Links as follows: http://ynnu.net/tips-in-decorating-small-living-room-design-with-modern-furniture/elegant-grey-sofa-furniture-and-indoor-flowers-plant-in-small-living-room-decorating-design-ideas-2012 http://www.besthomedesigns.org/start-small-living-room-decorating-ideas/small-living-room-ideas/ http://abanthome.com/living-rooms-ideas-for-small-space/ http://www.a-v-designs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Very-Small-Living-Room-Ideas-66.jpg

we have a dark chocolate brown carpet and the same colour walls as what you have got and we have always had dark lounges, just recently we have brought cream leather lounges and we could not believe what a difference it has made, it fully lifted the whole lounge room, we have still got dark brown/black leather chairs that are around our dinning room table that sometimes get used in the lounge as well and it looks awesome, we use black and cream cushions on the lounges and same for the decorations apart from a big picture hanging on one wall that is a deep red colour and it has trees etc...I trust this helps and good luck!

Also love the buffet....it could be the "hero" of the room. It is beautiful and they are so hard to come by at a reasonable price. I have a much cheaper style mid century buffet and initially had the TV on top of it, but now the TV is wall mounted above it. The distance between the wall and the couch wall is about 4m and we have no issues with the TV being too high...you definitely need to factor that in if you wall mount it though...luckily I had a handyman friend helping me, otherwise I would have put the TV too high. With the TV being mounted, it actually makes the buffet more of a feature and anything that is put on the buffet is now "displayed" instead of being part of clutter with the TV. It looks great and I know yours will too if you wall mount the TV. That is the great thing about the mid century buffets...they seem to fit in just as well as modern furniture as they do with the classic furniture....and because your is "classic", it will never date...a great investment.