What wonderful paintings! And actually, I like them the way you have them now. I personally enjoy seeing paintings that aren't hung in a precisely balanced arrangement, but hung in more of an unexpected way. Although they certainly do complement one another, I wouldn't want to view them side by side, so I like them on separate walls. They sort of "stand alone" now and create an interest that draws your eye around the room. You may find that a big screen TV forces you to move the painting of the boy over towards the left (as you're facing it) a bit, should you decide to leave it where it is, but for now I think it looks fine.

Just my opinion . . . the two paintings of the children swimming don't fit with anything else in the room. They look oddly out of place with a tiffany style lamp, leather sofa, old trunk, Victorian (?) ceiling fan, and a brick fireplace. I know that people say that art doesn't have to match the room, but this combo doesn't work for me at all.

If I had to have them in this room, I would keep them together as a set. I would place them side by side over the blue loveseat, with only about 4 inches separating them.

Is there a hallway where you could place them? They are dramatic enough that they could wonderfully fill up a wall by themselves.

I like Graywing's idea of placing them together over the blue sofa.

I totally agree that I have an assortment of styles going on in this room. We actually merged two rooms of furniture when we moved into this house. Pluse everything but the sofas are hand me downs that I'm not terribly attached to. Right now it is not in the budget to buy much but what would you suggest to tie the paintings in with the sofas?

I kinda think the Tiffany lamp doesn't fit in with the style of the room. I'd try a little more modern style of lamp. And maybe try to bring some blue to the leather sofa, like a throw and/or pillows. I like them on separate walls but I'd tie some blue in with the brown sofa and maybe a touch of blue on the hearth or mantel which I can't really see in the picture.

Cool paintings. They remind me of painting in a room designed by James Radin featured on the Cote De Texas blog. Maybe back the paintings with grass cloth on a feature wall?

-Lena

Here is a link that might be useful: Cote De Texas, July 2008

I like the pictures but I think they belong together. I wonder how they would look with mats and frames.

OK, what if I scrap the family room idea and put one of the pictures in the foyer instead. Do you think the boy painting works better here? What would I put on the table? Thanks for all of your help -- I am lost.

Here is the girl painting in my study which is to the left of the foyer

I like them in the foyer and study better. They didn't seem to belong in the other room.

I honestly don't think they go in either room (sorry). I could see them more in a kid's room or bathroom.

Laurie

Cool paintings! I prefer them in the foyer and study. I'd be curious as to how the girl looks in the foyer -- I like the idea of her diving into the chest of drawers.

I'd also be curious how those paintings looked stacked one above the other (assuming you have the ceiling height).

I am one of those people who buys art becuse I love it, not because it matches my sofa. That being said, I really don't see those two paintings in your living room. They just seem to have a completely different feel. (not necessarily the wrong color) I also don't care for hanging one over the table in your foyer. If you love them and don't want to hide them away, how about hanging them both in your study? That always seems like a room to me that can be kind of a fun room. We use our study (we call it the den) all the time because we have our computer in there. I like having things in that room that particularly appeal or are special to me. The paintings really seem like they should be hung together.

The colors work better in the study. I would hang both of them over the chairs.

I just noticed the picture on the table of your kids at the beach. Wherever your big pictures end up, that little pic should be with them.

I am not crazy about them in the foyer or the family room.

I wonder if you would consider hanging them in the study. But, take the two chairs from the study and use those in the family room and put the blue couch in the study with the two pix hanging over it.

MOve the leather couch in the family room to the wall where the blue couch is now, and use the two chairs where the leather couch is in the first pix, with a table between them. Keep the lyre table in the study as an end table for the couch.

When you get your flat panel tv, I would think about putting that on the end wall where the blue couch is now, and putting the leather couch against the wall where the TV is currently, and the two chairs opposite. Not sure how the rest of the room looks, near the fireplace, etc., so that arrangement might not work, but I would like to see your seating closer to the fireplace, and not have the TV as the focal wall next to the fireplace.

I love the little dresser you have in the foyer. I don't love the painting there at all though. The dresser has a very classy look and sets the "tone" for the foyer. The painting is casual and fun and really does not belong there. I'd like to see both paintings together in the study as others have mentioned.

I think Les' plan is worth trying. The paintings would have more impact together, particularly because you don't seem to have anything else with that beachy feel to it.

Jodi aka Cote de Texas, has work which can be seen in BH&G most recent issue.

les917 hit it right on the money! Great ideas, les!!!

I should have included this picture of the fireplace and the blue chair. Should I move the blue chair into the study as well? We really think the fireplace is terrible and can't figure out the best way to deal with it.

I am not sure about the blue chair, perhaps someone else has an idea. I just neglected to tell you that I do like your paintings (and the one lenam posted), but think they need to be together with the blue couch. I also love the club chairs from your study. :)

I love the pic you put in the study. I think both of those pics would look nice in that room.

Joanne

Jodi aka Cote de Texas, has work which can be seen in BH&G most recent issue.

Patricia - how did you make that connection?

Thanks for all of your feedback! We are going to try them in the study over the club chairs first, and, if that doesn't float our boat, then we will drag the sofa in there.

I think that somewhere the real Cote de Texas is very insulted to have her good name attached to my living room. LOL!

check out this website re: your fireplace www.brick-anew.com . Haven't used it personally but looks really interesting...

I received my BHG mag last week and was pleasantly surprised to see Cote de Texas featured. I love her work and reading her blog!

I'm confused.

There is Jodiintexas who has two cool new paintings to place.

There is Jodi (or Joni?), also in Texas, who writes the fabulous Cote de Texas blog, and has a feature in BHG this month.

???

-Lena

Regarding the fireplace - painting it would definetly be the way to go. Look at this dramatic before and after from a very similar room as yours:

Here is a link that might be useful: from photostream

Wow, I really like the fireplace painted! Looks like we (meaning my DH) have our next project lined up. Would you keep the mantle or try to change it in some way? It just looks like the wrong length to me.

I think you should hang them together--maybe over the chairs in the study as someone else suggested. Paired, the art has a lot more impact.

Can you get us a couple more pix of the room so that we can see all four walls. Perhaps stand in the center of the space and shoot four pix, one looking in each direction? I think you can make use of the fireplace but the furniture isnt set up to do that right now. Hard to say, tho, if we don't know what is in the whole area.

Before I would paint the fireplace, I would check into some kind of stain to darken the grout and alter the brick tone a bit. An all white fireplace doesn't seem to fit with your decor. As for the mantel, I think it is too large (top to bottom dimension) for the length of it. I would either put up something narrower, or run the wide mantel all the way out on both sides, back to the walls.