HGTV

I hate this channel. Ok.....Really I love it. But, did you ever notice how they can take your existing crap and make it into something people would pay big bucks for? My living room is an odd shape. We have a nice Oak staircase, which according to good ole' HGTV should be a focal point in the room. According to the folks on that station the focal point should be an anchor for your furniture. This concept clearly does not work in my home. I've tried every furniture combination possible and my living room still has that "cold" feeling when you enter it. I rarely want to sit there myself so I'd imagine that my company would want to. It's not somewhere I envision people felling comfortable or at home so to speak. I also have a large window ( another HGTV focal point) I've tried placing the largest sofa against that wall but it's just not doing it for me. I'm getting frustrated. I also have a pet peeve about stuff "matching" I guess you could say I am more of a monochromatic sort of gal. It drives me nutty when I watch these shows and they put 2 colors that obviously don't go together ( in my head) only to find out that "Hey, whaddya know? Red and Orange DO go together" How the hell do they do that? We have re-painted our living room in a shade called "Mochachino" It's kind of a pinky-brown-ish color. We have a black leather sofa and another ( piece of crap) sofa that used to be pink ( clearance) but is now covered up with an ugly black sofa cover. We have grey throw pillows and a hideous blue lazy boy. We have cream drapes. Our floor is ( a highly stained) tan/beige.....How on earth do I tie all of this together? Is it even possible? I can assure you that it doesn't look bad but it doesn't look "homey" I know it sounds like we have this assortment of colors that don't go but it kinda works. With the exception of the damn blue lazy boy that I don't know what to do with. It was a "gift" to us from Lord only knows who but my hubby insists on having it in the living room. He loves that damn chair. I'm totally rambling here and I'm not even sure what the point of this post is but I'm just so frustrated with my decorating skills. I'm sure if I had the money to purchase new crap I'd be fine placing furniture somewhere but when everything seems to look odd it's hard to be happy in your own home. It seems that this theme resonates through my entire home. I look around and I just feel like it's a junk-shop. Everything we own was either purchased very cheaply or was given to us by somebody who didn't want the shit in their own home. I know that not every home is HGTV ready...but I do know that some "regular" joes out there make their homes feel welcoming. How on earth do you do this??? Anyone know? If there is something I'm missing please let me know so that I can keep from going nutty!!!!