I love the portrait, and how very special that it's a gift your husband painted for you! He's very talented! The painting is a nice size for that space, and it brings an eclectic-artsy feel to your room that I think is quite nice. I don't mind the frame, but I could definitely envision the painting in a more ornate frame, more along the lines of the frame you previously had hanging there.

My only other thought is that I'd like to see fewer floral arrangements in this room, as they seem to be competing with one another. I would probably remove the tree and the arrangement on the coffee table from the room.

Ingrid: It's lovely and very romantic your DH painted it for you. While I agree the frame could be larger for the size of the portrait, if it's much larger then it will become out of scale with the secretary below. I think it works. I would move the smaller picture of the dog to a different wall, though, as well as look for a better sized frame for that print. The lateral white space detracts from the dog picture. Lovely home!

Your husband's painting is lovely! Since it is an important piece, you might consider a larger frame and matting, and even a picture light over it. As long as its width is not a lot wider than the secretary, I think it would be fine.

I agree with removing the picture to the immediate right of the fireplace, and auntjen's comments about the floral arrangements. I like the larger plate on the mantle, but not the florals on either side.

It is a pretty room. It is refreshing to see white walls every once in a while on this forum. We are all such avid painters these days!

I absolutely love the new painting! It reminds me of Matisse's work. Your husband is very talented.

I think the painting deserves a more "important" frame, a little wider and more ornate. I am also thinking that maybe a darker wood frame would be better than golden, but I'm not sure about this. I agree with other posters that the small painting should be moved elsewhere. I like the tree but agree that some of the flower arrangements should be removed.

The room is beautiful, and the changes bring things together nicely.

It's a beautiful painting and a lovely secretary.

I've read your member page before and I remember that you are a gardener. In light of that, I would have as many flowers in your space as makes you happy! :)

I love your living room; in fact, I saved the first pictures you posted to show DH that light neutral furniture looks wonderful in an LR that is filled with paintings and other interesting objects. We also painted out our fireplace to match the walls and are so glad we did - the multi-hued orange brick was throwing everything else off in the room.

I would keep the frame as it is, but if you aren't happy with it, that's up to you; you could enlarge it a bit. I like gold frames around important, classic-looking paintings. There is something about the richness and glow of gold that nothing else supplies. It also looks wonderful above your desk.

You have created such a cozy and successful room!

I love the room! and the painting is fabulous.

How about picking up the blue of the girl's skirt and adding a couple of touches of that color elsewhere in the room? Maybe a throw pillow, a vase, a plate?

As an artist I can tell you that your husband is VERY talented. What a lovely gift and it looks just perfect there. I prefer the simple frame as it makes the viewer concentrate on the subject. I love your seating arrangement. Lovely!

I love the painting. You will treasure it for a long time. I think that once you remove the flower arrangements with the purple and replace them with something else it will bring the painting "into" the room. Use the red and blue color from the painting around the room in pillows and accessories to ground it and make the painting part of the space.

I agree with the above suggestions.

I assume the painting is too large to go on the mantle? It looks like it would be a tight fit. Would another of your pieces work up there? You could definitely put something larger than the plate for more of a statement. The urns you have are nice, but I would take out the arrangements and place them together setting one on a few books for height change. The blue and white vase (without the floral) on the side table might look nice up there, too, especially if you have another for symmetry.

You can put your asian figures on the side table or the coffee table with some books or a box for height variation.
The coffee table is a great place for a big bowl of glass ornaments or pinecones and beads for winter.

You have a great room and accessories to work with! I love your furniture choices, very elegant.

The very special painting looks wonderful over the secretary. Love it.

Smiles:)

Great work of art! Plus it looks great there.

Thank you all so much for your very nice and helpful comments, and my husband is grateful for the complements on his painting. He has sold his art in the past but now just paints for pleasure.

My head is spinning a little from all the suggestions and I haven't done much except to try different pictures to the left of the main painting because in real life that area looks very bare. My husband likes the mantle the way it is and also the flower arrangement on the coffee table and I feel the same, but I have taken the purple flowers out of it. The plate is a 17th century charger (assuming it's not a fake) that we ordered from China which actually fills the space on the fireplace quite well because it's so large. I'm constantly changing things around (does that sound familiar to anyone?) and right now I'm into a less cluttered look. I'm going to post some more pictures later or tomorrow, including my red dining room to show that I do have some color on my walls. I hand decorated it with gold swirls afterward which you can see a little bit of. Sometimes I just can't leave things alone.

You've all been so great.

I see that the space next to your husband's painting might look empty, but I don't think another painting is the right way to fill it. What about putting your plant up on the hearth, so that it is higher and closer to that empty space? It might fill it nicely.

I think the Chinese charger looks great with the painting. I love the flower arrangements, but it seems to me that the taller one would look better in a simpler vase, simpler both in color and in shape, maybe glass or brown pottery? I think the earlier suggestion to try the blue vase (empty) on the mantel is a good one. I like the urns you have, but they seem a little small and too symmetric. I think someone else suggested putting them together with one raised - that sounds like a good idea to me.

I was going to ask whether your husband sold his paintings (and then ask where he sells them!)

marsany, I've put the larger flower arrangement in a glass vase and like it better that way. I've put the large vase on the mantel and put the two urns together on the other side, with one raised on books. I'm not sure yet whether it works for me but at least it has me thinking about new options.

My husband has a web site http:\www.waywardsonart.com. Thank you for asking.

In the first photo, I like that there's only one painting on the wall over the secretary and that there are no purple flowers in the coffee table arrangement.

So, in the second photo, I think there should only be the one portrait painting over the secretary and then put the tree on the raised fireplace hearth nearest the secretary and maybe raise the tree even higher with something. You said you've already taken the purple flowers out.

The first photo shows only 2 objects on that wall and the second photo shows four. I like the first one or suggest having only 3 objects...tree, secretary, painting.

Your husband's painting is timeless and I love when people decorate their homes with things they treasure.

I really like how you've set up the seating in your LR. It's very inviting and welcoming. I'm a less is more person so please take what I say with a grain of salt. I'd move the painting next to the portrait your DH painted. I realize the space feels empty without it but it really takes away from the beauty of your DH's painting. I think if you got a larger frame for DH's painting it wouldn't look so empty. How about putting the planter on the fireplace for some added height? It's always difficult to critique anyone's decorating style from a photo and things can look dramatically different in person, this I know first hand. Your home is lovely!

I went to his website. I love his seascapes - they have a brooding look to them.

After endless running around and hammering of different small pictures next to the large one (my wall there looks like cheesecloth) this is my hopefully final version at least for now of my living room. I've exchanged the large blue vase for a smaller crystal one, took the purple flowers out the coffee table centerpiece, took a lot of objects off the coffee table and changed the mantle somewhat. I also returned the larger sculpture to the secretary under the painting. The result pleases me and will hopefully meet with some approval. Thanks again for your truly helpful input.

Ingrid

I think it looks great! Such a pretty space -- very elegant, yet warm and welcoming.

Looks terrific!!!

The room look really, really nice.

In the first photo that you posted of the painting, in your first post, you did not have the knickknack in front of the painting. Now in the new arrangement you have a knickknack that is so tall it is in front of the painting that it detracts. It look like a really nice piece but should be put somewhere else where it can be admired on it's own and not block the painting. Maybe on the mantle next to the charger?

The painting is so nice you want it to be in full view.

Very nice!

Your room is so pretty & inviting. I LOVE your DH's painting & love it above the desk. I have two tiny suggestions...I would keep the area on top of the desk free of anything, except perhaps a low box or something similar that would enhance the painting & keep the front of the desk closed, so as to not distract from the painting. Then I would place the plant next to the desk again (the floor plant), but put it on your hearth, so it fills in that sort of bare area & then the desk, painting & plant become a vignette!

My goodness, your home is just beautiful! I especially love the wall treatment through the large arch. Yum! It that paint or wallpaper?

Do you think the asian figures below the painting would look too cluttery on the mantle with the books and urns? Perhaps they would look nice on the round side table between the chairs. The large floral arrangement currently there seems like it would block the view of the people who are seated in those chairs. I do like Lizzie's idea of leaving the space cleared below the portrait. However, I like layers so I would probably place the Buddha head on the left, a few books and then the other two small figures on the right, with everything close together.

Your room looks lovely. I like the furniture arrangement in relation to the corner fireplace. The only suggestion I have is how about a couple of generous size cushions for the end of the hearth? That hearth is great for sitting by the fire to warm up, so the cushions could be within reach for comfort as well as adding some warmth to that now empty spot when they're not in use.

Just a gorgeous room and what a wonderful painting for you. How about removing the flowers from the round table between the two chairs and adding a lamp similar to your other blue and white for balance and maybe add some colorful books to that table. I agree with another person regarding all your flowers. They are beautiful but maybe one would be enough for that lovely room?

lizzie and alex, I tried out your various suggestions and somehow none of them looked right, although your input is very much appreciated. The floorplant looked odd on the hearth but I did place it just to the left of the secretary on the rug and it looks great there and it seems to frame and enhance the painting.

The dining room was painted red (it was light blue when we bought the house and then cream) and then after some months I bought some gold paint in a tube and with a watercolor brush painted on a swirly design. It's a different look and it was fun to do.

This is the final, final, final version of my living room. We're happy with it and I'm content not to have to think about it for some time. Thank you for the great input from so many people, it's been a fun process.

Ingrid

I love your new painting! Just a small suggestion - you have three flower arrangments in a row in your room - plus the tree, plus the arrangments on the mantle - I'd remove all but a couple of those arrangments and replace with something else.

Grand painting...your home is lovely!

Thank you loribee.

What can I tell you, cattknap, I love flowers. Gardening is one of my main hobbies, especially antique roses, of which I had 85 at last count. I may end up moving the tree back into the front room and will remove the small arrangement by the Chinese lamp. I've left the room fairly uncluttered otherwise. If you look at high end magazines on decoration there are often quite a few flower arrangements in the rooms. The living room is larger than it looks in the pictures and that helps. Thanks for your suggestions.

Ingrid, I hope you weren't offended at the suggestions about the floral arrangements. (I also made one up above.)

Your room is lovely, and if you like an abundance of flowers, you should definitely have them. :-)

Normally I would not comment on an unasked issue, but do want to back up cattknap re. the faux florals. I do so because they are the thing that keep me from a very positive reaction as I view your pretty room. I would remove all but one or two that are at a distance. My suggestion would be to fill the spots that feel empty to you with bowls of lemons or apples,pears etc. Also, cut branches from shrubs in your yard, if you have evergreens. Again, I would not mention this if I did not feel it would make a huge improvement to an already lovely space.

Oops! I take it all back! Failed to read all the previous posts. I see you love flowers, and that these are all from your garden makes it a wow factor vs. too much! I adore fresh flowers in a room...roses especially. Wish I had room for so many bushes. You'll have to show us your garden!

No offense taken at all, ladies, I truly value your opinions. Leahcate, these are not fresh flowers from my garden (if only!). At one time I completely sneered at fake flowers and spent inordinate amounts of time with fresh flowers, which had to be changed every few days, and about 50 houseplants (when I had a really large house in the past). I'm afraid exhaustion and not so good health have set in but I enjoy the subtle colors and textures even of the fake ones. I know how you feel since I've cringed at some of the decorations in rooms that people have posted, but dare one say anything unless specifically asked? In this case I did ask so of course my feelings are not hurt in the least. In the TV room which is where we spend quite a bit of time (we also have two laptops there) I almost always have a vase of fresh roses from the garden. (Also many of my husband's paintings and drawings and a Yorkie and a Maine Coon cat, so I consider it a well-furnished room.)

I've attached pictures of my garden since leahcate kindly inquired about it, and a little vase of flowers I photographed before bringing it in the house.

{{gwi:39565}}

{{gwi:39566}}

Ingrid

Beautiful! How I wish I had a small portion of your gardening talent! I fear my thumbs are brown instead of green. I would love to have a beautiful cottage garden, but since that will probably never happen, I'll just admire yours instead. :-)

Well, I've had a change of heart and decided to take the large bouquet away and have substituted a small collection of dogs. I'm finding I like this look and hope it meets with some approval. If not, please leave me in blissful ignorance. I don't have the energy to tweak this room again unless you'd like to send me a large sum of money (checks accepted).

Ingrid

I really like it! The pup collection is great and lets the people who may sit in those chairs see each other. This is what I had in mind with the asian figures, but any small collection would have worked. The dogs add an extra "awwwwww" factor :)

You have a gorgeous garden!

Thank you alex, I appreciate your comments. Sometimes it just takes me a while to accept a new look but now I can see the wisdom of everyone's comments. I wasn't sure if the dogs weren't a bit too funky but they make me happy and give a bit of whimsy to the room, and to me that's always a good thing.