I prefer #1. I like the color and the coffee table better. I agree that #1 simply makes me think of you and the wonderful colors you use!

I also think #1 is more you.....or what I think of as you :) I definitely prefer the rug and coffee table in #1.....

#1 is my preference. The rug and coffee table are more appropriate for the space. The area rug is a nice pop of color, please bring it back! You remind me of the way my mother changed things around when I was a child. I'd come home from school to a new arrangement frequently!

My only surprise is that austere #2 should have the pastoral painting and the abstract really would be great in vision 1. It amazes me the impact of just the little red stool. My eye follows the red in the room the same way you read a painting.

100% Number 1!

#1 here as well, it just seems much more 'you', Ingrid.

the before

hell if i know why

of course seems more like "you" but might be because we already associate it with you

but. the rug, the red table, the coffee table, the painting..and the cat:)

#1 due to size of art work over and to the right of the fireplace, the rug, and the table at the end of the sofa.

I agree - #1.

#1, most definitely.

I always enjoy your posts, Ingrid!

Ingrid, I too like #1. I hadn't even read until later that you too preferred it.

Ladies, my husband will kill me. Do you know how much that big coffee table weighs, and he took the paint off the wall in several places when exchanging the two and putting one in the guest room.

Here's another picture showing where I put the area rug, and if you tell me it looks stupid I can only agree. Oy vey!

Yes, #1. The rectangular coffee table looks better, and the rug looks better under it. I don't like that big expanse of plain carpet.

Do you have a couple neighbors that can sneak over during his work hours to "magically" switch the room back to the original style? :)

#1 but with the mantle painting from #2. As to your DH, don't change a thing, he's a keeper!

I like one better too.

I like #1 minus the area rug. I wouldn't be oppose to using the coffee table in #2 also.

Ingrid, you should have seen my husband's face when I took a deep breath and told him we'll have to move that weaving..:)

Still alive.

But since we're waiting for our handyman(installing closet, couple other things). I talked him into giving this job to the handyman too. Since he'll spend like 2 or 3 days doing some work around the house anyway..

already told him that's on our list. that makes me feel a bit better

now i don't know whether to put up the curtains..

because DH isn't sure the door i the living needs curtains. but agrees to put them up, but he didn't see them yet. lol. will take him some adjustment..

that was to say: I also love your posts. lol

#1 looks better..

I like the table of #1, but prefer the pic over fireplace in # 2 and the fact that that crazy little table is gone from next to the sofa - Id be tripping over that darn thing constantly! Not a fan of whatever is there in its place either for same reason. Maybe it needs something larger/more substantial .... but then that may not fit in the space. Im no help at alll am I.

The cat in #1 is a great accent piece - fits right in! There was a thread a few yrs back about designing around your pet - it was funny how many people's colors harmonized so well with their pets - almost as if planned that way.

I like everything in #2 best, except the paintings over the fireplace and desk next to it. I prefer the painting placement of those in #1.

I also prefer #2, with the exception of the paintings as Lynn has pointed out. I would also move a rug back under the coffee table in #2, as I don't care for the look of the bare carpet without it, and don't care for the placement of the rug on the tile behind the seating space.

Another vote for #1. The coffee table makes the arrangement look too square and I don't care for the placement of the (very pretty) area rug.

I'm always shoving things around, too.

Most of all I appreciate that so many of you cared enough to give your opinions; you are all wonderful. I told my husband that most things would be changed back again, and he didn't bat an eyelash He is a keeper! The rug will go back under the rectangular coffee table, but am not sure whether to put the stool back and remove the Chinese pillow boy. I'm keeping the paintings as they are because the landscape looks great over the couch in the office, and I think less is more in this area because I have practically a whole wall of paintings alone one side, which you can't see in the pictures but the eye takes them in when you're in the room, and for now I prefer the more minimal approach. I rather like the small painting over the secretary because I think it's different, and the ornate frame gives it presence. The room is already overwhelmed with large paintings. Changing the paintings is very satisfying for me (although most of you don't agree), and we always say we have to please ourselves.

Current Resident, when we adopted our Jason I thought he would clash with everything, not having had a red cat since my childhood, but how wrong I was. He looks great in every room!

#2. I like austerity. Or maybe it should be "dignity." And I agree with someone else about that tiny little reddish table. Looks like a tripping hazard. Or a kitty hazard.

Actually, the little table is not in the way at all because the love seat shields it. My kitty can walk among tons of things without ever upsetting anything, he's very careful about where he puts his paws.

I took some more pictures with a different painting over the secretary, a Russian oil painting.

Yes to room #1 with the new changes in art. I like the brighter painting over the fireplace, the rug, and the new piece you have put over the secretary. It is a better size for that spot.

I must be a contrarian, since I went against most of the advice here and ended up with this. After some time I will be putting the other coffee table back, but I'll live with this for a few months. I'm sure there may be comments that the rug is too small, but I think an area rug on top of a carpet can be any size. The landscape that hung over the fireplace has had its frame put back and is now in my office. Somehow an orange cat sneaked into two of the pictures.

May I ask the name of that rug in the first photo? Absolutely gorgeous!

I don't know the name of the rug, I'm afraid, but it's a tribal rug from eSaleRugs on-line. I don't know if it's still available.

I totally understand being a contrarian..being a contrarian myself, at least when it's about decor. usually discussions help me to strengthen my opinion or make sure of direction I take..clarify my feelings on the matter..or most likely lead to some understandings that's not that much about decor per se, yet are important to me still, thus they'll find their way of expression in my house in some way at some point.

I think the Russian landscape( which I'm trying to guess-what's the location? very silly of me since that's a really huge country..)) looks very good where it is now.

And I love the printed sofa.