Hi Sasha. What a great space with lots of scope to move your furniture around, and all that natural light! The first thing I noticed was the dark curtains drawing my eye to the dark window frames. Although you clearly can't do anything about the latter, I would definitely change the former. My go-to place for quick affordable pieces is Ikea and my advice would be to measure up the windows and head for their roller blinds and curtains. If you put 3 or 4 block-out blinds up under that pelmet you can control how much light and/or privacy you'd like and by replacing those dark curtains with a lighter linen variety, you'll add a contemporary feel to the room and bring the attention away from the [I assume] aluminium frames. You could get enough to span the entire width or just a couple for the ends. Splash out on a generous tall houseplant like a [dragon tree[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/midcentury-bedroom-midcentury-bedroom-philadelphia-phvw-vp~1905898) for any area's that you might like to add height - I think we tend to fall into the trap of having two visual levels in a room, one being the furniture which tends to end at about hip-height, and the other being art or such for eye level. Both of these are horizontal lines but a tall voluminous plant adds a vertical element like a standard lamp. I'd move yours away from the corner though and place it against a larger expanse of wall. If it has to stay in a corner, put something tall behind/beside it like a narrow book case, or an artwork that's centered with the lampshade. Then it looks like it has purpose. Also, I would move the sofa away from the wall and add a console table as a place to display treasures. Can you swap the long chaise part of the sofa to the other end? Doing this would define that area more and open up the view of your outdoor area. In fact, I'd be tempted to rotate the sofa 90deg to face the windows and put a sofa table/book case behind it for extra storage. I assume that's your TV along the wall to the right - you could shuffle it down towards the window corner and angle it towards the sofa [that would reduce glare on the screen from the window too]. If you do this, you'll create an area for the dining table if you want. I'm not sure from the picture if your table is currently against a wall or if there's more room off to the right that we can't see. If it's against the wall, I'd be moving it across to the left to about where that rug currently sits [a bit further this way though - if that makes sense!] Here's an example of what I'm thinking. That's where the rugs come in. I'd be using two large rugs to both define the areas and protect the carpet. One under the dining table and one under the sofa. These are both areas where the carpet can quickly get grubby! Large artworks are, as you say, a challenge but they don't have to be hung. If you have a large vertical canvas you can prop it against the wall or sit smaller works up on a narrow table [another use for that console table!]. Try to find [or even make] some large canvasses that have a lot of white in them and retire that red pic in the black frame for a while. If you go for the light/white curtains then a complimentary artwork will help to freshen the whole area. Hope I've been able to help a bit!

Hi K K, Megan from Bluethumb online art gallery here. It looks like you've got a really neutral set of furniture to work with, which means you can really take the space into many directions decor-wise! I definitely agree that an artwork would look great on the wall next to the dining table. Also some bright cushions on the couch, and perhaps a rug could give the space a breath of fresh air. Check out our blog post on colour blocking your space to see how you could link the colours to the artwork: https://bluethumb.com.au/blog/artists/embrace-colour-block-trend-art/. This is really trending in interior design right now. As for some artwork suggestions, I've got a small list, however you've worked with neutral timbers and blacks in your furniture choices, you could really choose anything. I've gone with some abstracts that I think will really work with your modern furniture. https://bluethumb.com.au/haruyomorita/Artwork/Soul-Portrait-2015-3 I've gone and mocked this up for you, so you can see how an artwork would look on that wall. If you prefer a more monochrome palette, these are two of our most popular artists: https://bluethumb.com.au/marnie-mcknight/Artwork/aspen-marnie-mcknight https://bluethumb.com.au/maggi-mcdonald/Artwork/splash-dance-161610 Or the kids might appreciate a more colourful approach, these are from our staff picks selection: https://bluethumb.com.au/natasha-todino/Artwork/charanamiee-vs-squid https://bluethumb.com.au/lauren-daly/Artwork/desert-rose-lauren-daly https://bluethumb.com.au/susie-monte/Artwork/ariel-susie-monte Let me know if you'd like any more mocked up, any specific coloured artworks or some in a different style. Hope this helps! Megan

Shelves can go above sofa, or you can do a display of artworks which looks fabulous or even a gorgeous buffet on your large wall with a great piece of art or a large mirror that will still reflect the light into the room.

In that room I would go a bold patterned rug. It's a low contrast room as so much of the existing colours are harmonising. I like the distressed patterned rugs you've chosen but I think you should steer away from pastel versions and go a bit braver with a brighter colourway. Your room can certainly take it and I think you will be more pleased with the higher contrast. You also need a very large rug (3mx4m) otherwise as you've found with your existing rug, it's too insignificant against the scale of the room and furniture to make a reasonable impact. While the rug size I've mentioned seems huge you have to remember it's going to have your couch and ottoman sitting on it and then the room will be framed by a wide band of your floorboards. A rug that size will be in scale. To finish off, pick out a colour or two from your rug and put cushions in those same colours on your lounge. It will make a huge difference to your room.