Decorating Dilemma: Reshuffle, accessorize to make room inviting.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Q: I need decorating suggestions for my living room. I am open to all possibilities. Obviously, emptying the room and starting from scratch is the easy choice but not practical. The living room is seldom used (company-only kind of thing), so little attention has been given to it.

A. Your room has several things going for it, including the neutral carpet in good shape and a large window with a nice view. You also have the basics for seating, reading and dining_you just need to rearrange and accessorize them.

Roll up your sleeves, we're going to move furniture first.

You've floated your sofas away from the walls for conversation's sake, but created a reception-area-type gulf in the room's center. Without knowing the exact dimensions of your room and furnishings, let's give the following layout a try, stacking the room from the far window wall.

First, center one sofa under the window, facing it back into the room. Keep it 6 to 8 inches from the wall to accommodate your floor vent. Now put the end tables on each side of the sofa, and a lamp on the table to the left of the window. Move the coffee table in front of the sofa and move the other sofa in front of it, facing out the window to enjoy that nice view. Instead of centering the second sofa, however, butt it up to the right wall to create more passage room into that area. Leave just enough room between all three pieces to easily navigate. Got all that?

Now center the console behind the second sofa and add to it about half of your family photos and the other lamp, the latter toward the console's right end to counterbalance the other lamp. On the empty end table, add a smaller group of photos in complementary frames and the vaseful of twigs at the back. Put the remaining three or so photos on the other end table.

So long as your dining table isn't cramped against the right wall, keep it where it is but move the tall curio cabinet to the opposite wall (it should be to a person's left as they step down into the room).