A mixture of bold vibrants colours are my forecast for 2016. Its all about contrast!

Feng Shui is fun. Colours do play a vital role in the mood of a room but aspect plays a large role in how that colour plays out. This is where photos don't always do justice to decorating, you can see a room that looks amazing but it doesn't always transfer to another room, resulting in disappointment. I love dark colours in dining rooms too, I think they create a lovely intimate atmosphere for dining. I've done the dark colours in bedrooms too for that intimate feeling, but I've now moved on to lighter colours to open the house up more and I really enjoy the freshness of them, the rooms seem to look a lot cleaner. My soft aqua lounge room was created from years of living with the sun and the heat it generated in the room, often making it unbearable to be in. Since I've done it in the aqua, people walk into the house and just want to be in the room and don't want to leave, because it is both cool and restful.

I agree with Mel N. It's a relatively closed space and I think with the frames and the light fitting, less is more. An obvious curtain rod would be a step too far I think - pleated curtains on a hidden track would be how I would go.

Hi Sandra, what a beautiful room you can make, I would love your fire place, my thoughts would be to go the lighter colours including painting you panelling, as a few others above have suggested keep the trim and wall colour similar, big floor rug as suggested also. Our sitting room is 4x4 metres, when we first moved in, I painted it quite a dark pink shade and had way too much dark furniture from our downsize that I thought I could not live without. After two years of trying to make myself like it, I finally heavily culled furniture and changed paint colour to a very light grey tone. It probably isn't my perfect colour choice but heaps better, I also purchased some lighter profile furniture, I sit in this room so often now, I just love it, it has gone from a room I tried not to look at, to a room I really like being in. I will put a couple of before and after in for looking at darker colours to lighter colours from very similar angles