i think its easier to edit working from photos than from real life. stand 2 feet in from the door and take maybe 5 photos left to right. look at the photos, not at the room. remove to another room anything thats bugging you in the picture, then take the pictures again. you can do this from another place, too. when you've gone through 3 or 4 cycles of this and your space is feeling nice and clean, look at what you've removed. get rid of anything you cant believe you still had around. of the rest, only return a couple items to the room put the rest in a box. rotate which you have out.

once the items are edited its easier to see what else you might do.

The photo shows us a very decor-busy space. Take the advice above and work from photos. You'll find they reveal the issues. If you want clean and comfy, remove whatever is blocking the clean/comfy look. Since you've opened the kitchen and now must share it with the living room, clean will become more difficult to achieve. You might start by putting doors back on some of the cabinets so the abundance of kitchen stuff can be hidden from guests. Clear the clutter from the fridge as well and find a place for a bulletin board. Your little island doesn't look too functional. When budget allows, replace it with a bigger table island. Both fans seem to be a dated style and fans are not designed to provide ambient light, so I'd remove them in favor of semi-flush drum fixtures, It you need them for circulations, then update. Either way, you need accent and task lighting. Try LED's under the upper cabinets. If there is no light above the table, run electric from the fan to hand a chandy 36" or less above the table. I think all the faux greenery should be eliminated, and you should style the big dark cabinet with 1/3 books, 1/3 large decor items and 1/3 open space. Items there would show up better it the cabinet was lighter in color and think about adding lighting to it was well. Consider painting it and the dark cabinet above the micro to match the other cabinetry. Right now they seem very disjointed from the rest of the area.

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Wow, what great suggestions!

I should probably clarify things by saying that this isn't my house, it's a parsonage. I'd love to tear out those kitchen cabinets altogether and replace them with more efficient ones - they've been there since 1970. I might be able to do that soon - but until then I agree, putting the doors back on and clearing the top of the fridge clutter would help a lot. That cabinet above the micro is somewhat new - we replaced a range hood with the m/w and needed a cabinet to put above it. The plan is to paint it to match the others.

The small island isn't finished (clearly - lol!). But it's that small to accomodate the existing table. Putting a larger table would be nice, but the width of the space makes that really tricky. You can't really see that, but I agree, a table is probably a better solution.

I'm seeing that I've got two completely different decor themes going on here - one darker, one more cottage-y. I need to unify those so they're more cohesive.

Thank you so much! This really helps!

i'm totally confused. who is the we who removed the wall? whose things are here, and who are you asking advice for? and do they know you are asking for advice.

Put the cabinet doors back and add a bit of white to the living room. Looks like you have baskets under the coffee table. How about painting those or replacing them with creamy white ones. Your home looks very cozy and charming.

OP says they arent her things, Lila.

It's just the house that isn't mine - the furnishings all belong to me.

So, its a furnished parsonage, but you've been allowed to remove the wall, right? So go ahead with more of the white paint to bring out the cottage feeling in any dark wood you're allowed to paint. Fridge clutter includes the stuff on the front of it. That's why you need a bulletin board. I'd like to see the table under a light fixture if there isn't one, so would tend to replace the island with it, but maybe you can't. Another dining option is a drop leaf table used behind the sofa. Raise one leaf for regular dining and open it all the way for guests. When not in use, decorate as a sofa table.

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ty for the info, jenny. now i've had my 'road to damascus' moment. and great, my original posted info all applies!

Based on the wood furnishings in the living room area, I would pull the color and design concepts from that room and create a warm looking kitchen. The kitchen cabinets and walls could use paint to help bring a cohesive look to the entire room for a person on a tight budget.