Oh, that's a good idea. A plain colour or with a pattern? Do you think the sofa is right....I have my doubts about it. The shape may not be very modern and the house is modern. I just want to make sure it's cosy.

Aliceandjohn I think your best bet is to search Houzz for inspiration rooms and ask yourself whether you like white rooms that use colour, or rooms with colour on the walls that have neutral furniture. (Or both? Either?) Collect a whole lot of pictures you like and see what predominates -- what makes you say yes, please, I want that! Categorise them, count them, make lists, do anything even if it seems silly. It costs zilch and tells you a lot about what you want.

At the moment all your stuff is concentrated at one side of he room making it cluttered and bare at the same time. Pictures need to go at eye height, so maybe get a simple shelf built above the sofa at eye height for some knick knacks. Somehow your pictures seem very high up on the wall. You could cluster them together above the sofa maybe? You can still have your mantel but with maybe a better-selected range of bits on it. Agree that some shelving might be good in the alcoves but not above the line of the top of those pictures. I would have gone for a much darker colour for the walls (like navy blue) because the sofa would have blended in a bit more and it would look luxurious against the dark background. Plus dark colours give your stuff an instant quality upgrade. (I always say it makes my sh*t look like stuff) Sorry that's unhelpful as you've obviously made those decisions!!

Take out sofa, use beanbags and those blow up seats for their friends. Coloured rugs for tumbling and crawling on. Supersoft teddy bear blankets so they can curl up. Add in one of those soft blanket boxes for toy storage and so you have somewhere soft to perch when you are with them. Paper half way up the wall in the wall paper that kids can draw on, so they can decorate in whatever colour they like and you won't mind. A childs lift up desk, bookcase and some crazy lamps in weird colours. Then close the door, collapse on the sofa that you have moved, breathe a sigh of relief and thank your lucky stars that you have another room for the kids to go to. (Grab wine and pretend they aren't yours for half an hour! ;-) )