Just do it living room decision?

11 years ago

I'm on the verge of action and making a final plea to be tipped in one direction or another.

Here is my living room, standing near hall door, looking counterclockwise around the room. It is the only living room in the house.

[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/ayrs5c.jpg[/IMG]

alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">

1. Paint color is SW compatible cream and new and not changing.
2. I like the whitish drapes. I may get better quality ones at some point, but they will likely be whitish.
3. Thr big cabinet will be gone in a couple of months. Right now it is holding my dishes and barware, which will go to the DR.
4. I wanted loveseats to flank the fireplace. This would work for fire gazing, conversation, or watching tv on the opposite wall.I felt this was an egalitarian setup for me and DH, and I like the way it makes all four walls of the room feel alive and working, instead of everything oriented in one direction, which makes me feel cut off and dead-ended in some subtle way -- less free.
Also, I got 2 little tables -- one pictured-- from my mother, which would be twin coffee tables. Two small ones reinforce that sense of circulating all around, unblocked, which I like. (maybe this is the appeal of open concept houses, which I don't normally appreciate because while I do like to feel free, seeing everything at once doesn't make me feel liberated --I like to change rooms and change views.)

5. I found the small loveseats you see, and I thought I'd use them as they were (just do it!), but I decided the stripes looked unsettling once all the books were on the shelves. So I purchased the fabric roll you see here.

It is Robert Allen modern felt, and I like the color. The walls, floor and upholstery will all be monochromatic, but with enough tone and texture variation to be comfortable. I like that look for this space. My vision for the room was to create a sense of calm and space by flanking the fireplace with undersized, nonfat loveseats and lamps that peak below the level of the mantle. Before I take the plunge, donate the big Lillian August sofa which you can actually lay down on, and recover the loveseats, I'd like your opinion on other options.

1. I could dump the loveseats and put the sofa where the TV is. This would mean rigging up some kind of a TV arm inside the lowest shelf of the left bookcase. That seems awkward, but I think awkward TV placement is kind of accepted in these older houses. (But I dread the prospect of figuring out what to do and then finding someone to do it. We've had workers in here for soooo long, and none of them are all that good. ) I would then cover the sofa with the roll fabric you see. I don't like this layout as much, but is it better? The sense of open space would then be in the middle of the room, instead of all around you. Do you see important reasons to do this, as opposed to the floating loveseats? The advantage of keeping the couch is that we've had it forever and it is nicer than the loveseats.

2. I could get rid of both the loveseats and the sofa and get new 8-way, partial down loveseats covered in the indoor sunbrella fabric you see in the small sample. My issue with the potential new loveseats is that the English arm that Carolinachair creates lacks the slight curve or dip that I think it "should" have.This bugs me as a theoretician, but I'm not sure it would continue to bug me to live with. The potential new loveseats are only 58" long, which is hard to find, and I could have the height reduced a bit, so the scale is good. Neither of these qualities is easy to find in a moderately priced loveseat with appropriate fabric choices. The arm issue difference could be called subtle, depending on your view of these things. Purchasing these new loveseats would cost about 50% more than reupholstering the striped ones, which have sinuous springs and no down. (To anyone who cares, I just felt under the loveseats and could easily tell about the springs.)

This is the carolinachair arm:

This is what a good arm looks like:

The loveseat with the good arm costs 30% more and I'm not willing to pay it. Neither option offers much savings for using my fabric, especially once I pay to ship it.

Now that I have already purchased the fabric, found upholsters, and realized that the sofa is not going to sell, I am ready to act.

What should I do?

This post was edited by jamies on Thu, Mar 7, 13 at 14:45

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Comments (11)

bronwynsmom
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I like furniture islands, pulled away from the walls.

You like it better, too. Do that.

You don't want to buy new loveseats that aren't as good as the pricier ones. Don't do that.

You like the roll fabric. Use that.

In answer to the big question - yes, just do it!

You're welcome! :>)
erinsean
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
With all your furniture, tables, pictures, lamps etc. scattered around the room, making it cluttered looking IMHO, it is hard to tell what you need to do.....I think you need to clear out some tables and pictures..(temporarily) place the furiture where you want it to go and everything else will fall into place. Moving your big armour out will make a big difference. Since your couch and love seat are so different, even having them the same color may not look right. Maybe someone else can give you advice. Your fireplace and your shelves are very nice.
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DLM2000-GW
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I like the lines of the striped love seats and think they will look great in your fabric. I have 2 living areas and both have floating arrangements that provide a nice intimate feel. My one hesitation is that this is to be a tv viewing space. Did I understand - you're thinking to put the tv opposite the fireplace? It's going to make for very uncomfortable viewing from the love seats.
palimpsest
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I like your two loveseat set up that utilizes the two conflicting focal points, the TV and the fireplace.

You should still be able to recline on the love seats, (just differently) unless they are very short and you both are very tall. Still, you may be able to. When had a 67" love seat, one of us laid on it to watch TV (not me:() and now that I have a 96" sofa, one of us lies on it to watch TV (not me).

Two love seats also provides more seating than a single sofa. Four people will sit on two love seats because no one is in the middle. Even if a sofa is long, people tend not to sit in the middle position(s) unless their is no place else to sit.
Jamie
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Dlm, I can recline to watch if I want to watch. DH could, but probably won't. The seats are lightweight and sit on hardwood, he could slide them to a more comfortable viewing angle if necessary. I actually think he'll end up watching from a chair, though. Or else he'll either get motivated enough to deal with arranging the TV stuff somewhere else himself or maybe even stop watching so much -?!. I *knew* there was a point to all this decorating agony!

Thank you responders. I'm gonna call the upholsterer.

He kept putting me off and then voila last night a discount coupon for his business appeared in the paper. The price should be better than I previously believed.

Unless somebody wants to help me avoid a mistake I'm not seeing? Oh, I'm weak. Weak as water!
Vertise
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"Two love seats also provides more seating than a single sofa. Four people will sit on two love seats because no one is in the middle. Even if a sofa is long, people tend not to sit in the middle position(s) unless their is no place else to sit."

Haven't read all but noticed this situation. They don't sit in the middle of a long sofa because people generally don't feel comfortable sitting that close to one another -- as on a love seat. Unless they are a couple, of course!

Love your bookcases! Very nice living room.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Thu, Mar 7, 13 at 15:56
pps7
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You've got a lot of wonderful things going on in the room- so yes, just do it.

Love the pair of loveseats. The only concern I have is the fabric and wall color. I don't see them playing well together, but I could be wrong.
Jamie
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Please do tell me if I'm making a mistake with the color. Better by far to correct now rather than after fabric is cut and upholsterer paid.
pic #1

pic#2
alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">

pic#3 seems closeser to actual color, I think, but still looks worse in the photo than it does to me in real life.

pic#4 SW compatible cream wall color swatch is third from bottom of right strip. This is an old deck and likely discolored.

Do I need to get another pair of eyes to come out to the house?
Vertise
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"Do I need to get another pair of eyes to come out to the house?"

Yes, because between the various technology transfers no one can really see what you are looking at.

Pic #1 is a gray with a little pink. Pic#2 is light beige yellow. Some of other pictures look light yellow. Isn't CC a soft cream yellow? The swatch looks rather beige.

The fabric looks on the mauve side but more golden in other photos.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Fri, Mar 8, 13 at 0:35
palimpsest
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The fabric skews pink compared to the paint for me, too, but it could look different IRL. However, you could repaint, in a pinch, in something that was very close to the current color but worked better with the fabric.
KevinMP
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That last fabric reminds me of the "sand" "tweed" drapes I tried in my bedroom, which looked pink when hung. You may want to pin up some of that or roll it out and look at it from a distance to make sure it's not reading pink. I think you all know how much trouble I had/have with matching to wall colors, so I'm not one to judge/advise!

Just do it living room decision?

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