Seeking Your Advice....On My Family Room. Again (Sigh)

My family room has been the bane of my existence since the day we moved in the house. I have changed it more than any other room, and have never been 100% happy with it.  Some rooms, like the kitchen, I have loved since day one and I never change anything. Or if I need to, like when I had to get a new rug, I got the same one I had before the dog destroyed it. But there is something about this family room.

I had wanted it to look like a lofty, airy, eclectic french room. And from some angles, it really does. But it turns out that was a bit ambitious and unrealistic for a family of four.  Or maybe more to the point, it is not functioning well for us. And after grilling my kids and husband repeatedly about why they don't seem to want to use it, I still haven't figured it out. (They're worthless with this stuff. The best answer was "I have no idea" and the worst was "Let's put four beds in here so we can watch tv and fall asleep in here!)

I can't and don't want to start over. There are so many awesome pieces in there that I spent a lot on, like the sofa, the redwood table, and the chandelier. And the tulip table and acrylic chairs. Not. Cheap.

So I am determined to work with what I have, and make it more comfortable and homey. The problem is, that goes directly against what the room was supposed to be. Don't get me wrong - I didn't set out to make it uncomfortable per se, but I did intend to make it elegant and lofty.

Here it is earlier today. Remember that the black paint over the tv is being painted white.  And I know, the tv absolutely wrecks the whole look of the room. But family first, so it's staying.

UPDATE: I changed the  layout since I took that photo above earlier today, but I wanted to keep it because I like how the table looks better without a flash. A lot of you told me already to change it from the one above. I did in fact switch it tonight.... but not to the way most of you said. The sofa cannot go facing the tv because it is way too big and obstructs the entrance. But here is how the layout will stay (the white chaise from the office was there temporarily but is back in the office now:

A lot of you said to add a lamp and tables, and voila, done! Just kidding - they were in there already but just not in the photo :)

But now, the way I see it is that the only way I can go from hereto finish it up is Bohemian, eclectic, mixed chic, artsty - whatever you want to call it.  There is a lot of overlap in furniture styles (think Anthropologie House & Home), so hopefully you can imagine what I mean.

The number one thing we need, yesterday, is a rug. So this is where I am torn. I could go colorful boho, or more restrained. 

Here are examples of very opposite ways I think I could go:

Colorful:

    

  

This last one is probably the best example of what I mean:

Here are the types of rugs I would be looking at:

vs.

Neutral with small pops of color:

Here I am envisioning a Ben Ourain type Moroccan rug:

          

And these are the rugs I mean:

These are terrible little mockups, but I do them anyway most of the time:

Option 1 - Colorful rug:

Option 2 - Neutral Rug:

So what do you all think? I think I already know what I want to do. Writing this post helped me a lot. But the one problem is that my husband doesn't agree. He'll let me do what I want, but if you guys all vote the way he did then I'm not so sure.

Would you choose the colorful rug or the neutral rug?

Colorful Neutral Just to be mean I'm going to say "Neither" :)  

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It's always hardest in your own home. The struggle is real.

And finally, a OKL clearance:

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