You have all the reasons to redo the house, its very lifeless and looks worn out. I feel creating a separation will terminate the spaciousness of the room. Adding colours will surely help, Since you have a tan color sofa,I suggest grey, white or light blue color on one of the walls. Add some art works of the color you chose for the wall. This room needs some fillers like , books, throws, candle stands tall and lean. YES DON FORGET 1. Mount the tv on the wall make some space on the floor and Fix a large size mirror ( Wooden Frame if you can afford).

Formal living rooms are rarely used from my experience. I can't tell you how many times I have "re-done" them for clients because after living in a home for a while the home owner realizes that they are wasted space. My advice to you about a formal living area is to leave it undone for 3-4 months and utilize the rest of your new home. See what is missing. Do you need an office, a den? A library? Quiet reading area? An exercise room? A craft room? Or maybe you really do need a formal entertaining area for your multitude of guests that come around every weekend where you entertain very high-brow style. But figure that out first otherwise your investment will be wasted. Part of why you and your husband are drawn to different furnishings is for these reasons: 1) The function of the room is not well established. So he envisions sitting on a big bulky comfy couch watching TV, and you envision sipping tea on a gorgeous ethnically inspired piece of furniture and chatting with your friends. This can only be vetted out with time and understanding how you as a couple will use all of your house. 2) You have different ideas about home design. Your husband is interested in comfort and you are interested in style. You will need to find a happy medium. Instead of saying well his style isn't going to fit with my style, think about how he can have a comfortable piece of furniture in the room that is perhaps tailored enough to go along with some beautifully wood carved, ethnic pieces. And this may actually enhance the look and make it look less "themed". And at the end of the day you may want to consider hiring a designer to help you through the process - often times that can help you weed through the process of balancing out form and function and his wants and your wants in the space. Best of luck!

I drew a very crude sketch, definitely not to scale, of how I see your room working. Essentially, you could treat it as two separate seating areas, which makes for easier and more intimate conversation when entertaining a lot of people. Trying to have everyone facing each other in a large room just won't work, and makes for very awkward conversation. I find that at parties and get-togethers, people go off in smaller groups of two to four, then mingle and move around the room to chat with different people. So, to that end, you could establish two conversation areas that will each seat six to eight people. You can also have some of your dining room chairs upholstered and comfortable enough to carry into the entertaining area to create extra seating here. In the far corner by the window, I placed a chair and ottoman, so that is seating for two, and before the get-together, you could place a couple of your dining room chairs over there to create a other small grouping for four. You should still have enough open area in this large space for some people to stand and move around, which a lot of people prefer to do at a party (I know I do!). The bright yellow sofa is a modern take on the old ?English sofa, which in think is the perfect foil to your ultra-modern sectional. The yellow is a bright, cheery - and unexpected - color, but works nicely with white and just says "fun" to me! The small blue tub chair(s) would be placed at an angle facing your white sectional, so you would establish a color,scheme of white, blue and yellow. To this, you could add black, Gray and darker blues through your accessories and artwork. The little blue ceramic drum stool adds a touch of the exotic (and more fun) and is easy to move around as a small side table to set drinks on.

It doesn't seem that you have a design dilemma but that you are trying to sell furniture.