Planning Around the Sour Cream Once Again

Since we moved into our house a couple of years ago, we've been trying to figure out what to do with the formal living room. It has served as a girl scout meeting spot, as the place where all the boy cousins sleep at Thanksgiving, as a greenhouse for tomato starts, and as a boxing ring.  It has been our very own "room of requirements."  As wonderful as all of that is, I occasionally find myself thinking of just what I want that room to be.  I envision a calm room (oops, there goes the boxing ring!), and perhaps something a little more formal than we've had in the past.  (None of us are terribly formal people, so I'm definitely not talking stuffy here!)  I've been keeping my eyes open, hoping that I would eventually find a piece of furniture, or something, that would help give direction to my idea. 

Well, last week in our local Goodwill thrift store, I found an oil painting that fills the bill:

Living in the desert, I sometimes miss the rain, so it is nice to see the clouds and damp pavement in this painting. 

I wanted John's opinion before I came home with it, so that night, I took John to the store.  Then I waited at the store while John drove back home to get the van, as I grossly underestimated the size of the painting/overestimated the size of our car's trunk. 

Here it is in the room.  I like the way it adds interest to an otherwise blank wall.

So, once again, I am planning the dinner around the sour cream, so-to-speak.  If you were planning the rest of the room, what would you do?  I'm thinking it needs some sort of window covering and some furniture, and paint is always fun, but that's about as specific as my planning is.  Just about any color could tie in, due to the painting.  Here's the rest of the room, if that helps:

So, what do you think? 

Thankful thought:  Thanks for artists who share their talents, and thanks, Mom & Dad, for funding my early Christmas present! (We used a tiny bit of John's gift money as well.)