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cani

Totally Stumped

cani
7 years ago

I have been wanting to ask for help for about a year now and finally got up the courage to ask. There are some great designers on here that I hope will respond. I inherited my mothers furniture. Some great pieces but I have a small house so its hard to make it look right. We just did the kitchen recently and it is on the modern side and I wanted to go in a direction of updating things with color. I just rearranged the living room and now i am stumped on what to do in the dining area. I'm looking for fabric for the chairs and had thought about painting the furniture but don't want it to look like shabby chic. I have no clue how to tie the two rooms together and give it an updated look. I know the buffet is massive but it has to stay. Here are some pictures.

First question. On the other side of the slider is a sun room. Do I put drapes up, even if its leading into another room? I need to get a panting for above that little console table. I know the mirror on the left is too high.

wall color is a blue gray but looks blue in the dining area (shows as gray in the pictures).

The top of the buffet is not staged right now because I moved everything around when I rearranged the living room. Any ideas on fabric, paint the furniture? I would not paint the table, only the hutch and chairs.

Comments (1.2K)

  • allanaspree
    7 years ago

    Maybe the store in Beverley Hills has one you can look at? Painful drive I know but as they say you can't have beauty without pain as you've already discovered!

  • Valerie
    7 years ago
    My hubby was very tired of rug returns too as he was the one doing all the lugging. I was telling him about your post this evening, I think just to prove I wasn't the only one who returned rugs. I also returned two bedrooms worth of laminate flooring the morning after the evening that I purchased it! Lol good times...see I can laugh about it 3 months later :)
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  • Mark
    7 years ago

    Allana's rug suggestion.

  • allanaspree
    7 years ago

    Thanks Mark

  • allanaspree
    7 years ago

    Mark, may I ask a big favour of you please if you have any energy left after a long day? Can you photo shop it into a pic where the chairs are at the end of the coffee table as more of the border will possibly show through...


  • Mark
    7 years ago

    :)

  • allanaspree
    7 years ago

    Thank you so much!

  • Mark
    7 years ago

    Some accessories.

  • 111ideahound
    7 years ago
    That rug is very nice. Seems to go with everything! Pretty.
  • ladma
    7 years ago
    Last night I was watching The Fued, the tv show bio pic about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. They were in a living room having a conversation, one of my thoughts was that the rug would look good in Cani's room! It was very similar to the one Mark just photo shopped. ( cue the twilight zone theme)
  • wickedwhite
    7 years ago
    Hi Cani. Given the cool floor tiles and dim lighting, I still think the best palette for this room is white, gold and a deep blue. It's timeless and easy to accessorize with prints and bright colours. It's the perfect foundation for your beautiful pieces and won't look out of place in a few years. You need a blue deep enough to provide contrast in low light and to stand up to your sofa. The first rug here would be great if it had just a touch of gold in it.
  • PRO
    Mimy von Schreiner /John R. Wood Properties
    7 years ago
    The rug that Alana found and Mark shopped is hands down the BEST compromise I have seen!! It looks spectacular with the floor and the gold furniture and still feels elegant and light and not too fussy. It is the one!!! Call off the dogs, the hunt is OVER!!!!! Buy it. Buy it today and get off the wheel!!!!! :) nice work team Cani!!!!!
  • Seajay
    7 years ago

    Cani and Allanspree. This rug is beautiful. And I can see it working with the design seeds. Hope it's a possibility.

  • Tammy Lawhorn
    7 years ago

    Allana great choice!! And Mark awesome as always!!! Looks great with the color palette you chose too Cani!!

  • greenfish1234
    7 years ago
    I would like to thank blueee for the tip which has saved my scrolling thumb from permanent damage! Cani, what a bummer about the swirly rug samples. In my mind it is a front runner. I wanted to post a reminder photo of it. Not a fan of the recent rug suggestion, the rust in the border for starters is a no for me.
    My current front runners: 1)swirl rug or high quality similar. It is beautiful. Go cream and move on. 2) the "right" animal print (I've come over to the growwwl side) 3) this comes with some explanation. So many people on Houzz post dilemmas about their "dark" wood. "Should I paint it white?" "Yes!" Is almost always the majority opinion.
    In my opinion, the antidote to "dark" is not "light," but color. Your room has plenty of "light" colors. Look at all that white tile, and now "white" walls! But it has yet to come alive. That is why we have been swooning over Denise's palate and Mark's photoshops.
    I am not saying you should have a bright rug, no no no. But a while back you posted a photo of a rug with just a hint of pink or coral in it. I think it is time to test that idea with another stand-in rug. I also think that maybe you should take a break from rugs for a day and hit the fabric stores. Check out a bolt of coral or salmon silk, and bring it home. Let's see if that room doesn't pop immediately, and we all forget about the stupid rug.
  • greenfish1234
    7 years ago

    oh yeah, and I am looking forward to seeing the cream silk rug?!

  • Ann
    7 years ago

    I think this latest allanaspree rug has great, great hope too. Quite pretty!!!!

  • Seajay Sparkles
    7 years ago
    https://www.jaipurliving.com/showproductdescription.aspx?code=RSW100030


    I realize I'm going way out on a limb with this. It is the same rug Allanaspree selected in cream/grey/gold earlier in thread. But since all the rugs are turning dark in Cani's room, I was wondering how a really colorful rug would look especially since it incorporates all the design seed colors.

    Allanaspree. Would you ever consider something like this.
  • Natalie
    7 years ago

    Hi---very unique furniture. Nice!

    I haven't taken the time to go through all the posts, but just based on the dining, kitchen, and living room photos you've shared, I think a rug with an organic pattern would soften the lines of the tile floors, wall unit, etc.,. and relate to the beautiful curved sofa. A lighter/muted wall color such as BM's Edgecomb Gray might be worth checking into.

    Your kitchen is FaBuLouS!

    Hope this is helpful.

    Good Luck!

    Reverie Contemporary Area Rugs, Silver Gray/Gold, 8'x10' · More Info

    Leif Geometric Pillow Gray 18"x18" · More Info

    "Suspension of Disbelief" Canvas Art by Duy Huynh, 40"x26" · More Info

    Brightlife/Itor Idea House · More Info

    cani thanked Natalie
  • greenfish1234
    7 years ago
    Gosh I love this
    cani thanked greenfish1234
  • kah416
    7 years ago

    I would just like to say...YOUR KITCHEN IS GORGEOUS!!!!!!! That marble wall...beautiful!!

    cani thanked kah416
  • Flo Turcot
    7 years ago

    The buffet has to go ............

  • Ann
    7 years ago

    I love that rug Natalie found also.

  • Denise Marchand
    7 years ago

    Beautiful rug, allanaspree. Always the proof is when it's placed in the room and what happens to the coloring. Nice find.

    Natalie, another great rug, but we have already determined that grey sucks the light and color out of the room. It's just not comments, as Cani has brought home a crazy amount of rugs to try.

    greenfish1234, I agree with you, take a vacation from the rug search and revisit with a fresh outlook.

    seajaygerns, remember that we wanted the room to be classically calm. I am afraid that with a bold print the room will get jumbled again. Very nice rug, though.

    Mark, you have exquisite taste. Of all (and do I mean - all !! Yikes !), the rugs, which one do you think is best for Cani's room? At this point, your over the top graciousness photoshopping the room with the rugs hasn't nudged Cani one bit. She will never get the effect of the rugs that way. Unless one has a laser sharp imagination, when shopping for something like this, one has to fall in love with it and want it to work, like that piece of jewelry, I have been lusting after. Thoughts?

  • Seajay Sparkles
    7 years ago
    There is so much going on here and this old brain has a hard time remembering it all. The rug I posted is VERY colorful and would absolutely be the star of the LR. Cani as I recall doesn't want the rug to be the star.

    Natalie's rug is so nice but the grey isn't going to make it in Cani's light.

    It's out there somewhere???
  • greenfish1234
    7 years ago

    I don't know, Seajay. I think too much is being made of the light. Items in a room darken and lighten throughout the day. Grey rugs look good with the floor, bad with the sofa, gold rugs look good with the sofa, bad with the floor. This has both, which may be what is needed. It certainly won't turn brown in the room!

  • Ann
    7 years ago

    I agree. I wouldn't stress as much about the light in the room either.

  • greenfish1234
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I thought this might be an interesting side-by-side. I feel like the transition to the kitchen is well on its way!

  • Seajay
    7 years ago

    IDK greenfish and Ann: I am concerned about the light because it's hard to understand why almost every rug Cani has tried hasn't worked. Well, we will continue with support and caring until the Houzz detectives figure this out!

  • Susan North
    7 years ago

    So, my nickel's worth: way back at the beginning, Cain suggested she and hubby may move out of CA in a year...2 or 3. If that's the case she then focused on pieces she loves, framed the issue as : how do we love our home in the short term. She cleared out a lot of stuff. So, I loved for solutions that meet the pocketbook and emotional comfort zone and I'd suggest a reasonably priced rug she loves now and hopefully later, a wall color that makes sense and a watershed decision about the massive bookcase/wall system. If it were me, I'd fall in love within a rug and make the lighting work. The wall system is sol massive I might delay the inevitable OR take the leap, paint it cream or very light grey and move it into the dining room. But then, I am not Cani. One last question: How is hubby handling the upheaval and Houzz obsessed wife?

  • Susan North
    7 years ago

    Sorry for the typing, i fight the ipad and the ipad wins...

  • cani
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Spent the day returning samples and rugs. Husband went with me to return the stuff and is getting better about the returns (at least today )lol Wish I could get a picture that shows the cheap rug I sill have on the floor that shows it as it is true to life. This rug has not turned dark in the bad lighting. It does the opposite. It gets lighter and more subdued and when the light hits it, it looks like a creamy silver (not gray). What I have found though is that as much as I like what the rug is doing, it makes the couch look worse. By that I mean it highlights the gold when it turns that ugly gold color. New lesson learned, this color doesn't work. I am thinking we might be down to that nourison leopard print as that was a rich color and complimented the sofa. I am up to my eyeballs with this rug saga so I think I am going to shift gears and work on fabrics and when that is done find a rug that fits , knowing I can always use the right cream color if all else fails or the leopard print. Allana, I did like that last rug you posted a lot but seeing what that light color is doing to the sofa, I don't know....

    Denise, you are probably reading this and shaking your head, as in "I told you so" about the light colors. lol

  • cani
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Susan, thanks for your input! I am trying to fight a rug that works in natural daylight. The nighttime lighting can be fixed.

  • Susan North
    7 years ago

    Thanks, Cani, I also like the look of the Nouristan leopard print which could also work in other rooms down the line. Think about size and don't make it too large. I swap stuff I love--done this for decades and it's thrilling to find new settings for treasures

  • Susan North
    7 years ago

    I bought a leopard chair over 20 years ago at Z Galleries on a whim. Used it in a living room setting and loved it. Been in this house for 15 years where it's now a loved object in the master bedroom. I kicked myself that I didn't buy the ottoman footstool at the time. Live and learn!

  • User
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Hi Cani,

    I know this is not an animal print but similar


    http://pin.it/cSGN4Kk

    I thought you'd like this Pin on Pinterest...

    cani thanked User
  • Denise Marchand
    7 years ago

    Cani, I would never say, "I told you so", as it's just suggestions. In my head, the room is already done, addressing all your concerns. Referring the design seeds color palette: colorful, bright and whimsical using the Ballard inexpensive rug in cream, and teal blue or salmon silk curtains, and switching the buffet with the wall unit and possibly painting the wall unit. Then carefully curating your accessories to complete your room.

    If you are seriously going to move, hold out for the better rug. Finish the fireplace mantle, as it's a desirable selling detail and upgrade to French doors in the living and dining rooms. Voila.

    cani thanked Denise Marchand
  • cani
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Denise, the ballard rug which I cancelled will be here Apr 3. I just ordered a small size to test it. Glad I waited to see if it was cancelled before ordering it on another site because they did not cancel it. I do have a question about the drapes. You said the living room and dining drapes don't have to be the same. If you stand in the kitchen you can see both rooms. The sliders are on the same side. Can they still be different? China cabinet is going into storage. Its kind of funny that everyone is mentioning the sliders. Didn't want to do french doors because they take up so much room to open, but the sliders I had previously had the french door pattern in them and I updated them to these new ones a few years ago. Thought I was modernizing. lol

  • Denise Marchand
    7 years ago

    Now that I see both doors, treat the windows the same. I mentioned the French doors because of resale value for your move. People love them. I don't have a problem with the sliders and even though the French doors are within keeping with the style of the room, they will be insignificant when you have curtains up.

    Don't forget when you get the Ballard rug you will be seeing it with a primer on the walls, but I guess you are used to that by now. The finishing is what pulls everything together. Can't wait to see the sample.

    cani thanked Denise Marchand
  • PRO
    JAN MOYER
    7 years ago

    For what it's worth, Marks rendering was 100% accurate. ........and still the best rug given the sofa and chairs and flooring. The rug makes the sofa's look richer, ground the tones of sofa just enough, versus the too pale or too bright, which do less of these things............and cheapen the look of the upholstery.

    I shall leave you all scrolling on that thought. .....despite a thread titled "Totally Stumped Continues", could shorten the scroll to mere seconds versus a full minute and a half. lol

    cani thanked JAN MOYER
  • cani
    Original Author
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Jan, I had thought about doing just a gold color but then what do I do for colors for pillows and drapes with that carpet? OK, I will start a new thread. Since I'm shifting gears away from the rug for now so i can make some headway, its a good time to start a new thread.

  • cani
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Someone posted the link I need to copy to link to this thread if I start a new one and I can't find that post. Can you please repost it? I'll be needing help now coordinating the living/dining with fabrics.

  • PRO
    JAN MOYER
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Simply cut and paste the two lines below in the question box: They''ll all "get" it and also what to do if they want to go back to the start of the thread.

    TOTALLY STUMPED/ CONTINUED!! link to old thread included!!! :

    [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/totally-stumped-dsvw-vd~4467972?n=1152 [(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/totally-stumped-dsvw-vd~4467972?n=1152%25252525C2%25252525A0)

    (There is plenty of soft blue in that rug, and some pale gray tones as well. You want light and air.....)

  • greenfish1234
    7 years ago

    Jan, Blueee posted this, which saves you from scrolling:

    I have a how to tip for using houz...if you want to get to the end of the comments very quickly...just pick the thread...wait a few minutes for it to load completely...you may notice the print may "jump" when completely loaded. Then just double click on the title of the thread and it will take you to the last comment.

    Cani, if you do post a new thread for fabrics (can't wait), make sure you tell folks to keep comments to the fabrics and not your sideboard, slip covers, etc. The problem with posting a new thread is that it invites new eyes who haven't been on the whole journey with you. Even with the link. As you have noticed it even happens here, with people piping in 1500 posts in that you should "de-clutter."

    Since it has come up again I have to say that painting your furniture would cheapen it and since you have de-cluttered and now that you are adding color, it all looks so beautiful. I particularly love the photos of the room where the teal pillows are stacked on in front of the wall unit, which illustrates to me how wood comes alive in a room with beautiful colors.

    cani thanked greenfish1234
  • Tammy Lawhorn
    7 years ago

    I agree!! When you have nice furnishings they are best left alone. If you want painted stuff. Buy it!! Leave the antiques they way they are. Add color the way you're doing it. .Also agree that a new thread is going to bring a lot of people that have no clue!!! Haha But at the same time will give you many more opinions & possible options. You have a great eye Cani and I think the best thing you will know.

    cani thanked Tammy Lawhorn
  • cani
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Hi all, I just started the new thread. Totally stumped continues with a link back here.

  • Susan North
    6 years ago

    Very glad to hear there's a treatment plan! Hopefully both issues can be effectively addressed: diet and mess! The American Way!

  • Susan North
    6 years ago

    Meds even

  • Tammy Lawhorn
    6 years ago
    Thank you Susan!! I appreciate it!!
  • PRO
    User
    6 years ago
    What about removing the doors off the top part of large wall unit, repairing holes and staining the back wall of the unit a color you are using in the room? Make it a library unit, instead of the heavy wall unit. Add some books, art memorabilia, collections so it's not a mess, but organized and conversational. Have chairs angered in front of it and the sofa opposite, Kimberly