This is a design plan for your room. General ideas and suggestions. You have a wonderful house to work with.
There are several ways for you to arrange your room and if you haven't already tried them you should. For example in your moms living room there was really only one way to arrange the room. The TV had to go on one wall and there was only one wall for the sofa. Your room offers several options which is great. Down this post you will find 3 different floor plans for the room.
I have also included included lots of photos of furniture and rooms. There may a certain element or style you like that you might not have considered before. What I really want you to pay attention to is how all these rooms have different styles and eras of furniture in the same space.
We are never really 'there.' We never finish designing a room, a house and say, 'that is it!' Sometime you will go on a trip and buy a trinket as a memento that can change a room, our tastes change, we grow, we age. There is amazing design to be learned and seen out there. Keep an open mind and stretch a little. You are young and your tastes will change. Years ago people would furnish a room and that was it forever. My mother-in-law is 90 and her living room looks exactly the same as it did 50 years ago. I am not kidding. But today we have so much more to choose from and many places to find the perfect thing. Some of my favorite things I found at flea markets and yard and estate sales.
These ideas are all just options for you to consider. Your room should evolve and you should buy only things you love. Don't feel you are on a time schedule. Furnishing a room should be fun and enjoyable.
Unless you are doing a strictly period room ( all furniture from a certain era) which you are not, be aware that just as in clothing, styles in home decor change as well. There are pieces in decor that are staples, that look fabulous forever and some that scream out "1970"s!" I'm not sure but I don't think anything good came from the 70's (except my son of course). Try not to buy trendy furniture. If you like a trend just buy accessories not large pieces. Remember the pine furniture trend years ago? Huge armories and hideous massive legged pine tables and beds. It's all over Craigslist and you can't give it away. Buy neutral color sofas for example and you can always mix any color with it. If you stick with transitional design you will always be able to re-clyle the furniture into other rooms and homes. Transitional is what most people have in their home whether they realize it or not. It is mixing styles. It is trickier then doing a room in one style but much more interesting. A few pieces of contemporary furniture in a room makes it pop and look more up to date then say a whole room of colonial style, etc. If you read home decor magazines you will see most designers mix modern, antique, vintage, etc. and it looks wonderful.
Remember that once you have the bones of your room in place it's the accessories and art work etc. that make the room pop and look fabulous. It's like a beautiful dress is nice but without the finishing touches of just the right shoes and jewelry it's just a pretty dress. The same is true for your room. Even if you leave it exactly the way it is now and you add plants, pillows, lighting and great accessories the room will come alive.
This plan is just a starting point for you. Some things you won't like and hopefully some you will. It will help you to formulate a starting plan. Often times you may be looking for a rug and you'll run across a clock or painting that you fall in love with. Go for it! You'll find the rug but if you don't buy the painting or clock they will haunt you forever especially if you find a vintage item. You can always re-cyle your things. Sell them- craigslist is great for getting rid of mistakes and for buying treasures. Kristen has sold so many things on craigslist. She has also bought some amazing pieces that were such a good deal. You will make mistakes. Everyone does. No big deal. Sell it. Use it in another room. At one point my garage had 18 chairs that Kristen bought at estate sales etc. Of course my garage is the repository for my families furniture and treasures but I don't mind because I have stuff too I can't part with yet and that is my obsession. Some men can't stand using the garage as storage. Mine didn't care. Long Beach has a great flea market once a month and Kris and I have both found un-believable things there. Of course the ultimate is the Rose Bowl Flea market. You will always find something incredible at the Rose Bowl.
As far as accessories go it is hard to tell you specifically what to get but what I have done for clients before is find the items myself and bring them over and place them in the room. Then you can decide what you want to keep and I can return the things you don't want. I did that for your mom and it worked out well for her. If you want to do it yourself just study these pictures and see what appeals to you. When you buy pieces make sure you can return them if they aren't the right color, shape, size, etc. Of course with vintage or yard sales you can't do that but if the price is right take a chance.
For your bathroom window I would use a rattan/natural fiber type roll up shade. They have some great one at smithandnoble.com or even Home Depot. If you go to Home Depot take a picture of your window with you and the measurements and they will help you order the right size.
http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/product_category.jsp?sch_cat=Natural%20Woven%20Shades&nav_cat=-17996

Have fun and call or email me with any questions.
Carleen

If you decide to use a console table or cabinet in the room here are a few options. The painted pieces are a perfect way to introduce some color into the room. Since you kitchen has limited counter space these pieces are good for when you entertain. Use them to stack plates and glasses or set up a bar.

Vintage maps are some of my favorite things to frame. You can find them at Flea markets and Ebay. Keep your eye out for one of Laguna Beach.

I saw this photo and loved how the orange pots and pillows look on this patio. Your deck is really an extension of your house so you can treat it as an outdoor room. You have done that already with the great furniture you bought for out there. Since you like aqua you could do this in those shades if you aren't a fan of orange.

This room has a very traditional boxed moulding ceiling, contemporary sofa and coffee table. A pine cabinet with animal horns and then a great little modern metal mesh table. It all works together.

This room combines traditional furniture with a very rustic ceiling and a Victorian style picture and frame on the wall.

Love this sofa-contemporary coffee table- very traditional patterned fabric on the arm chair and a graphic rug. In the corner a vintage Swedish style case clock.

Notice this room has a contemporary coffee table and sofa, a very casual canvas directors chair and a scrolly black wrought iron side table.

Great art work for great prices at etsy.com

A few lighting and accessory ideas. Remember you can't have enough lamps, lighting in a room-
The ceramic drum table is a great accessory for any room. It can be moved around and even be used on the patio. I have seen some lately at Home Goods for a really good price. When you are ready for some accessories in the room I can load up the car and bring you lots of lovelies and then take a day and then decide what you like and what you want to keep. I did this for your mom. I can bring throw pillows or if you go shopping for some look for pillows with your aqua color and a little sagey green of the sofa fabric. Remove the extra throw pillows on the sofas and use new colorful ones. The throw pillows that match the sofas are too big and matchy make the sofas look too bulky. Capiz fixtures are pretty easy to find and they are beautiful and throw off a nice glow when they are lit.

Some Coffee Table Inspiration

You said you had been looking at sofas-When you decide to re-place the sofa a cleaner more streamlined look would fit better into your style. The ones you have now are bulky. When shopping for a sofa look for ones with legs and no skirt. When a sofa has a skirt it is more traditional and it looks larger visually. Without a shirt the look is leaner and less bulky. You could always use the existing ones in a family room later if you move to a larger house.

If you think you might want a table to eat on I would put a small table and chairs in the corner where Stellas bed is. A round table would be good with two small chairs. It would give you an extra place for eating and seating. Kristen and I used this table for a client in Long Beach that had a very small condo and no eating area in kitchen. We used it with 2 vintage chairs we found at the Irvine flea market. Then a hanging light fixture over the table or a wall sconce would look good. The table is from Ikea and is a copy of a very expensive table designed by Eero Saarinen in the 50's. It's a great table and someday when you move it could be used in a kitchen eating area or on a patio. There is one for sale on craigslist for 80.00. So if you moved and didn't want to keep it you can re-sell it for a good price. Rattan chairs like these are easy to find and inexpensive and you could even get them in a color -the aqua blue you like.
Wood vintage chairs can be found at yard sales and flea markets.

I'm not sure how you and John feel about contemporary furniture. I love this red chair chair and footstool but I know this might be too modern for you. I keep thinking how you said John sits in the brown chair to watch TV. It must be hard for him to find chairs that feel comfortable. A chair of this type-not the old-school recliners would be good for TV watching. There are other sleeker style recliners available if you want to consider this type of chair. Even a comfy larger upholstered chair with ottoman would be good for him.

I would like you to try this arrangement. The sofa and love seat are bulky and if you are committed to using them both in the room see how this works. By the way these floor plans are not to scale. I don't have the room measurements but I think this is close. I would just like to see the loveseat not used at all or at least used somewhere else in the room. I think it sticks out too far into the room and you have to walk in front of it to get through the room.

This arrangement separates the chairs and have them facing each other. I don't know how the love seat would look on the back wall- it may be too bulky but it is worth trying it to see how it looks.

This is a fiddle leaf fig tree. They are slow growing so they are pricier than a ficus tree. In your room with good light it should do great. Buy as tall a tree as you can because that wall is tall and a little tree will look dwarfed in that space. The Plant Stand in Costa Mesa probably has quite a few but call them first to see if they have any tall ones. The best place to try first is Mainly Seconds ( Laguna Hills).
It is probably the closest to you and has better prices. Make sure you plant it in a large enough pot and use a tray underneath for watering. Just ask the employees for help and tell them you will be putting it on a wood floor so you need protection under the pot.

Click on image for full screen view.

Fiddle Leaf Fig
Ficus lyrata

Moraceae Large leathery leaves are borne on slender stems. Woody plant that is fairly tolerant for the interiorscape.

Plant Form or Habit: upright Plant Use: large foliage floor plant Exposure: medium

Height: Variable to 20 feet indoors

Heat Tolerance: medium

Water Requirements: low

Additional Comments: Do not over water this plant. Avoid pruning to shape as this plant grows very slowly

If at some point you want to re-place the brown leather chairs this style of chair with rattan sides looks perfect with beach casual style. You don't always need a pair. The brown chairs could be stored and used in another house at some point. They are great chairs -just not for this room.

Egg crate bookcase from Plummers.





With this floor plan you would move TV to the wall opposite the sofa. That would leave the back wall empty. A wall unit would be placed on that wall for books, cd's movies, etc. Another idea would be to look for an old antique table on that wall. If you found one at least 5-6 feet long (not too deep) in an old wood with a beautiful patina you would still have room for the tree in the corner and an extra arm chair. Asian prayer tables also look wonderful in casual beach style rooms.You could hang art work over the table and place a lamp on top. A room this size with high ceilings eats a lot of light at night so you need many light sources in the room.