Modeled with Blender 3D v2.67. Rendered using Cycles render engine. Used 6,000 samples 1 Sun Lamp. Took 10 hours 46 minutes to render. PC specs are Intel i5 QuadCore CPU 8GB Ram. This was a CPU only render since I have an ATI HD7700 installed but can’t do GPU rendering yet with Cycles. 
Please let me know what I can do to improve the lighting and reduce the noise and time it takes to render this image.
Any tips would be great! Thanks 
I can’t remember if you’ve been given this link yet but go here http://www.blenderguru.com/4-easy-ways-to-speed-up-cycles/ and see if that helps.
Also possibly use emission planes to help brighten it up. I’m not a Cycles expert but 6000 samples is an awful lot.
Hey guys here is another update. I added more things to the scene and ajusted a few things so that it will render faster on my CPU. However I’m not getting that “real” look with it. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong? My lighting setup is a 1 sun lamp that’s it. This was done with 2000 samples.
Update #4 This time with the help of Anita’s link I was able to render this with only 512 Samples in 1 hour and 21 minutes! I adjusted some settings and changed some materials and got this image. I focused on getting more realistic lighting in this scene. Before I had just one sun lamp. Well this time I added a mesh emitter in the window with a low light output. Please let me know what you guys think and what I can do to better this image. Thanks!
First of all, textures.
Wood textures on the table, it can be black, but like fake black IKEA wood, shiny and subtle. Looks like that kind of table. (kind of like from that table thing in your first render). Wallpaper on the walls, can be subtle as well, but you need some sort of texture on it, something simple and plain, you can keep the colour, I think looks good, maybe slightly darker.
Put something on the shelves, simple books, a vase? Quick and easy to make. Then put the scene together with the tv, sofa, table and most of the other stuff. Sofa back a little taller? I don’t think you could lean on that. :eyebrowlift2:
You can adjust the focal length of the camera to get a good view of the room. Oh, and you could try using a plane with an emission shader where the windows are, instead of using a sun lamp, give it a very subtle yellow tint.
Those are my opinions anyway, I think it’s coming along very well, keep posting!
YAY for time and sample reduction 
I agree with Nimtrix on the backs of the couches they need to be taller. The table could use a little more life looks a little flat.
Top left corner of your render is a white square. Is that the window emission plane or an extra emission plane? If it’s an extra one the plane can be hidden from the camera and it’ll still emit light.
Your shelves on the back wall are missing a few scattered nick nacks.
It has come a long way from the first one. Keep it up
Oh that top left corner is really the ceiling. It just looks odd since you can’t see the rest of it from this view. Thanks you guys for giving me more tips! I have already started changing things and adding things. The next post will have all the things you guys listed corrected. 
I’m happy I signed up here at blender artist and so far I’ve learned a lot in only 4 days. Thanks again everyone!
Ahhhh I see it as the ceiling now. May seem overwhelming at first and very frustrating but once it clicks is magic. Take it all in just take it in stages. Do a lot of searching before asking questions coz it may have been asked before and definitely don’t be afraid to ask questions at all. Most of my time on here is spent searching the forum and probably yours too
Can’t wait to see the new ones
Update #5
Hey guys, sorry I haven’t posted in a couple days been busy getting ready to move back to Washington. I updated a few things so I’ll list them below. First I’m not using full global illumination. Just using custom settings for faster renders.
It’s still not finished but I added some of the things you guys wanted. I still have to work on the pillows, add DOF and a few more props to this scene before I post my final work under the finished projects. Here is the update of what I have so far.
Looking good love the blender carpet. I’m thinking there maybe needs to be a door somewhere in there.
I do hope your move is a smooth one.
Looks good but everything is too short.
You figure a baseboard is 4" tall approx, so that puts teh cushions of the couch at about 8-12 max and the bottom of the window at about 16".
Windows are usually about 30" at teh bottom and the armrest of a sofa is usually about the same.
Rug looks great…
Thanks Rich, I didn’t see that till you pointed it out. I will work on it and try fix that. I’m learning to use the sculpting tool in blender so I can work on the pillows and give them wrinkles. If you guys have any tips for better lighting in this scene please let me know. At the moment I’m using 2 mesh lights and 1 sun lamp.
Thanks Anita, I hope the move goes smooth too lol. I’ll add a door good call!
Wow that picture has improved so much! I would add a very slight bumpy texture to the ceiling.
Thanks! Sounds like a good idea, I think I will. Still working on a few things but I’ll add that to the list.
10 hours I suggest you to try Yafaray render engine, that kind of interior image will come about 2minutes without noise and better quality.
Update #6!
Hi guys, sorry I didn’t update for a few days been super busy finishing things for the move back to Washington. I finished this scene and added the following upon request.
This is my final post on this scene as I’m calling it finished lol. This was my first time doing anything in blender and I have learned a lot!
I would like to thank everyone for the inputs and suggestions you have all made. TynkaTopi I think I will look a Yafaray a lot harder now after working with cycles with CPU rendering only this whole time. With my next computer I will return to cycles. However for now Your right, I think using Yafaray will be faster. Thanks for the tip!
Rendered with Cycles using 512 Samples. Took 3 hours to render. Using custom settings for faster rendering on CPU.
I will now post this on the finished works section.
To encourage you to even try Yafaray, I made exampleYafaray render just for you Render time 8min50sec.
Holy cow! That looks beautiful! Great work! Ok for my next project I’ll be looking to use Yafaray or SmallLuxGPU. Since I am using an ATI card at the moment that supports OpenCL. So what would provide faster render times but till get good results?
