This arrangement works much better, but some adjustments are needed to make it work. First, the fireplace grouping needs to be tightened. It crowds the dining area and you need a passageway behind the couch. Turn the rug lengthwise, parallel to the fireplace. Pull the large couch about 2 1/2 feet closer to the fireplace, and place the two chairs and loveseat on the ends of the rug, and pull them closer together. This will give you a more intimate conversation area, and not impose on the other areas of the room. Remove that floor lamp from behind the couch. If you need the light in that area, put it by the fireplace. Also, the stereo system on the mantel needs to find another home. Maybe it can go IN the fireplace instead. At the other end of the room, I think the arrangement would look better if the seating were rotated 90 degrees. Keep the rug and coffee table in its current configuration, place the sofa either facing the window or with its back to the window, and put the two chairs opposite it. Finally, the dining area. Now that you've moved the big leather chairs, you should have enough room. Your rug is too small. It should be big enough to give you at least a 2 ft. border all the way around when the chairs are pushed in. And it's a really beautiful table; please uncover it. I can't see what kind of lighting that area has. It really needs a pendant or chandelier hanging directly over the table.

I think a comfortable distance between the island and the counter is around 42". It seems that you have only 30" between your cook top and the counter. I might be a little too tight. The wall between the entrance and the kitchen could be 4' long instead of 6', you would then be able to move the island a foot which would give you more room between the cook top and the island. Could you switch the location of the toilet and vanity in your dad's bathroom so your enter facing a vanity instead of a toilet which is a lot nicer.

I am so happy to see you here! I will have to go back and see if i can retrieve my posts... thought I would make them into a little book for my daughter, with photos. Quick run-down on the bathroom (not travels, no time) - The kitchen has a rather elegant sliding door with beveled glass panels. Painted white, since this was the original colour. GD's new bathroom has the doors I had picked earlier; i thought of polishing them but decided sprayed automobile paint (on a resin primer) would wear better. Especially since it is such a small bathroom, and she is so splashy. I have this finish in my kitchen and it has lasted 15 years now. A tad chipped here and there, but only needs a wipe down once a week. Same finish for the balcony doors, also split like the bathroom. We have a new wardrobe, a study table with built-in shelves, and a small chest of drawers for her odds and ends. I want to re-tile the tiny balcony, more as a little statement. Currently we are looking at Portuguese tiles, though I did think a mosaic with a funky cat might be nice. Let me see the costing. The room will be painted a neutral adobe, with bright white woodwork and an off-white ceiling. This means she can go wild with cushions and covers. Other changes in the flat; We have changed the glass in the master bedroom and living room from small cramped panes to a single pane for each section with a 1" bevel all round. Doubles the cost of the glass, but looks so elegant! The air-conditioning is being re-located. The compressors were all mounted in the bedroom and living room balconies, which looked terrible and meant the balconies (very narrow, only 30" deep) couldn't be used for anything. Not even plants. So they are being moved so that the compressors can be mounted at the rear of the building. two down, one to go. Now we can put in some nice plants, fishtail palms etc. The kitchen counter on one side came out intact and will be reused elsewhere. I am planning overhead storage, cupboards, and a draining cupboard for plates and glasses. Right now there is no dish washer, though a place is earmarked, but for now I will put in a cupboard with steel racks for cups, glasses and plates, all hidden behind pressed glass doors. This is all in the planning stage.... Pictures in a little while, they are mostly on my ipad and don't transfer well to the mac. They come without numbers... so I have to rename the or something. Somebody tell me how to do this!

Hello Latai, I think you could definitely opt for some colour on the far wall.. This would accentuate the curtains and the feel of walking through into another more intimate room than that of the dining area.. What I would say is that you do need to look at some re-configuration.. You have a very light sofa and all the dark furniture is over to one side... I am not detecting a specific culture feel but nonetheless can be a very nice room with a little rework... So take a look at see how you can integrate them a little more, so they function but also sit cohesively as a relaxing living space. You could try to move the back sofa against the wall further along. Perhaps have one of those display cases at one side in the corner behind the sofa.. Put the plant on the little table and maybe have that at one end of the other sofa? What about having a mirror hanging on the back wall to throw some light back into the room... Where that little grouping of pictures are... They are a little small for that wall... Try placing them somewhere else perhaps... It's difficult to see from the angle of the photo's but do you have a coffee table or a low ottoman between the two sofas? If not why not move the low table you have (with the matt and two ashtrays?) That could sit between the sofa... Then the other cabinet can be moved away slightly and then the table with the Television? has a bit of room... Thus all the dark pieces are well integrated into the room and not all grouped together.. Colours that would work well with the wooden dining area, are Terracotta's and Rust colours to compliment the dining table and chairs... Accent that colour with some cushions to add to what you have on the sofa's I'd have a plain linen table runner (nice one's at John Lewis) They are quite long and hang a little over the ends... With the cushions..don't put them all the way round the sofa, but have 1 or 2 together and a throw or two could be nice as well to layer the colours... I like the floor colour and that can work as it is.. I move things round all the time, and I'm always amazed at how you can transform something just by putting it somewhere else.. Lastly... I don't see any table lamps.. Perhaps 1 on one of the little tables with the flowers... : ))