Help! How to anchor/balance short wall behind couch?
I love my living room but it’s got some quirks that made furniture placement a challenge (entryway, fireplace, bay window, built ins, radiators, etc, see sketch of room layout in last photo). I finally found the best possible arrangement (trust me), and my only nagging issue is that the wall behind the couch just kind of dangles. Maybe I’m the only one who notices, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to hang art over it because of the proportions, and I’d love to find a way to make that zone feel a little more anchored and balanced. I’m not sure why the previous owner decided to stop the wall there, other houses in our row have the living area entirely blocked off as a separate room, and I do like that this is more open, without a long dark hallway and stairs. Still, that wall is a little awkward, any ideas? Desifn fixes preferred (rather than construction) as I’m not ready to extend or shorten the wall itself at this point. Thanks! Oh yeah, and I have very tall ceilings.
Comments (23)
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Comments (11)What a pleasure to get someone thinking! Shutters I can sometimes live with, window boxes as a design solution just curl my liver! It's a bit like someone suggesting you just put on a nice necklace when you ask for advice about a dress. I think we get somewhere in overcoming the tendency to window boxes and shutters if we understand what people who recommend them are afraid of, what they are trying to achieve. I think part of the goal is to add personality and charm, part is softening, and finally a sense of enclosure of some sort. They seem to be afraid of starkness and exposure and isolation of the building, but also oblivious to the lines of the bigger picture. This is not an unattractive house. It does not have anything to hide. If you step back and take the view that you've thought of taking - from above, from a distance - we can often see how much more scope there is for achieving those objectives if you use the canvas of the whole property. I'm not a designer, so my terminology tends to be less precise than I'd like, and also I can't always name the concepts, rather kind of feeling my way to the right outcome, but I think if you consider different views of the house and how they either enhance or occlude the house, you come to some new ideas. Your consideration should, however, also always incorporate how you experience the house and yard from inside the space. For instance, the trees you like at the neighbours' for me are too close to the walkway and would constrain how I feel walking along it. Those trees could mitigate the house front just as well if they were midway between street and house. Hard to tell from the air just where your neighbours' (I know they're not right next door) should have put the trees or their front road-edge garden based on slope, but for me they are still clinging to the perimeter of their property like a swimmer scared to let go of the edge of the pool. I think in general paintbrush terms if I were doing your house I would a) plan some sizable trees in the front yard, not little decorative ones but serious (deciduous) trees with presence and eventual high canopies. NOT low canopies, those just block the house for looking in and out (especially of windows). b) keep the foundation planting low, maybe even perennial/herbaceous to provide interest up close. I really hate (sorry!) the evergreens you've photoshopped in under the windows, they close the windows in and choke the house. I'd want that area to be friendly, airy, flowery. Obviously in winter this will be less attractive, but if it snows you're good, and you know what, it's dark most of the winter anyway :-) c) break up the lawn with some shrub borders IN it. I think that foundation planting is all too often an attempt to counterbalance the expanse of lawn. Why not just reduce the expanse of lawn in the first place? Make a fair bit of this evergreen, and that will mitigate any bareness in the foundation plantings. If that's a slope, then bed shape may also be apparent from the road and making it interesting will be an additional design feature. The thread linked below might give you an entirely different perspective on your own house, as might looking at other threads on this forum. You can often see principles much more clearly on different houses than you can on your own. KarinL Here is a link that might be useful: Kiki's thread...See MoreHelp me arrange these items on wall behind sofa: Pic heavy
Comments (36)Nice progress, but I agree it would be better lowered at some point, and possibly loosened up. With of course that metal box someplace where your husband doesn't sit. :) Both rooms that are experienced mainly when sitting and low ceilings can be dealt with by mounting wall decor relatively low, and in the case of the latter letting attention focus below so that a ceiling can sort of "soar" without notice above....See MoreNeed help balancing awkward wall
Comments (8)Yes to the brackets at the corner...since you'd probably want a matching drape on the other window you could get a corner bracket for both windows. For the left corner, it would depend if you take the drapery all the way over, or if you stop it just to the left of the headboard and then move your art work over a few inches and center it on what's remaining of the wall. Can your bed scootch any further to the right? If you go with the partially covered wall, I might look for a smaller end table for the right side of the bed, so the drapery could stop short enough to leave some more wall space for the art. Like the middle pic I posted above.or...See MoreHelp me achieve balance on this wall!
Comments (7)I had another idea, which is to put a small tropical tree or plant in a plant stand near the window door. Something like the plant you have in the hallway. Or use that one. Don’t put it behind the chair, but in front of the window. Can’t tell if your sofa has a built in chaise on the left side or if you have maybe an ottoman there? If it is not built in, then I would buy 2 smaller ottoman/poufs, a navy one for the chair on the left of the TV, and one to match up with the sofa if you like one there. It could have texture. Put both green pillows on the left chair and get a sofa colored pillow for the right chair near the green artwork And after taking away the blue lamp on the right side of the console, I would just generally play around with the other objects on there, but put nothing that blocks the sight line of the TV. If you want something on the side nearest the artwork, clear glass objects might be the way to go, like your island pendants. Or how about a little greenhouse or terrarium? ;)...See More
housegal200
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agohousegal200
6 years ago
izeve
6 years agoLane D
6 years ago
Nira Juso
6 years agoThe wall was stopped there clearly lighting IMO. I know you preferred design instead if construction, but I would consider a ponywall with a pilar. Otherwise how about placing an accent table behind empty area behind sofa? Or build/find a long accent table to place behind complete area including empty space o use as shelving.
shwshw
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoLane D
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agohousegal200
6 years agoI can't believe I didn't notice the large, round mirror in your hall. Think about moving it there, and place the fireplace mirror in the hall. The curves will balance out the many lines at that end of the room--sofa, railings, etc. Bonus: If you lowered you beautiful living area light down a bit, the large round mirror would "double" the light by reflecting it. Here's an example of a round mirror over a sofa that also reflects a pendant light:
Heather Garrett Design · More InfoLane D
6 years ago
PROGray & Walter, Ltd.
6 years agoLane D
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoOoh, I like this idea even better after I looked up some of your projects Gray & Walter, Ltd., thank you. Your "Paris Style Apartment" is something out of my dreams, and the "Ritz Carlton Residence" living room where you have lamps flanking the Elizabeth Taylor painting over the couch, one against a wall and the other floating in front of a window, could really translate well to my space I think. It looks so good I might even shell out for an electrician to move that stupid light switch to the opposite side of the wall so I can hang the art in its proper place without compromising (I recently moved into a much larger space and have been trying to furnish it without going totally broke, so each bit of work I do has to be worth it, and I think that might be). Thanks again, this is a really nice synthesis of a lot of the ideas I was playing with from above.
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PROShawNshawN Fine Art
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graywings123
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Deborah M
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