Help me kick up this boring living area a notch or two!
I don't think the rug works after all....probably the 6th rug I have tried, on a budget in the last 4 years. My room looks so dingy and boring. Help me with accents, rug, curtains paint color for the walls....anything. My feelings will not be hurt. :-) I am a 60 yr old single woman, BTW!
Comments (19)
Nancy Ingram
5 years agoTotally agree with the previous poster’s comments. It looks like you are drawn to blue and orange so I would expand on that. Warm up you walls with a med. beige that has a little orange in it. Suggest a rust colored loveseat or just get a slipcover. Colorblock window treatments using warm colors. Add triptych artwork above the sofa for more interest than just one large piece. Add end tables and lamps to the sofa so it fills the wall space better. Suggest tables be dark wood with glass and an oval coffee table. Add pillows with lots of texture vs. pattern.
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Need help with this boring, boring space...pics
Comments (8)I think it is entirely rational to plant in that area, rather than using containers... two words: root zone. The ground can offer so much more nourishment, moisture, and space to plants than a container can (even if you are technically borrowing it...). Seeds are a good way to start, but also, when I mail order clematis I get them in a two-inch plug size. They bulk up nicely in time. Annual vines bought in small pots could also be squished in there and would grow over the space in a season. What I would spend some money on is nice pieces of trellis to enable the vines to get up the fence to the lattice part. Or you could just string fishing line; that's a taste issue. It should be noted that vines will technically leave the ground area empty, so a ground cover, annual or perennial, is a good idea. Then you wouldn't need containers, although if like me you have a pathological need to buy them, they could still be accommodated with ground cover peeping out in between. Just don't plant anything your neighbours would consider noxious. Hanging baskets, also a good idea. KarinL...See MorePlease help spruce up boring front yard!
Comments (8)Hmmm......I'm not sure about your assessment that this landscape needs more color or character :-) While not necessarily unique - and few development landscapes are - it does offer a decent selection of tough, low maintenance PNW landscape choices with a reasonable amount of foliage color, if not flowers. There are some gaps you could fill in but I'd be cautious about adding many "new" plants - that often creates a very busy, confusing and messy look. Maybe selecting just one or two new plants to accomplish this is best. Or if you are unhappy with what you have, get rid of these and try something new altogether. Some shrubs that work especially well together and are ideal for a PNW garden are Nandina domestica 'Gulf Stream', Abelia x grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope', Spiraea 'Magic Carpet' and Berberis thunbergii 'Concorde' or Bagatelle'. These can be accented with a purple leafed heuchera ('Frosted Violet', 'Blackberry Ice') and an evergreen grass like Carex testacea or Carex oshimensis 'Evergold'. But there are lots of other possibilities that are available that a visit to your better local independent garden center (NOT box store!) will reveal. You can also certainly add a couple more heathers of different colors to fill in where the first is and perhaps another 1 or 2 to accent the bed on the other side of the walkway. btw, I'd get rid of or move the struggling rhody to the far left - it is acting as a distraction in its current state. If you want to get a lot more "unique", might be best to contract with a landscape designer for at least a consultation but a more unique, distinctive garden will involve more removal of the commonplace stuff and replacement with other, less common choices that could prove to be a more expensive option than you prefer....See MoreHelp me Furnish & Decorate My Living Area &Dining Room of my new home
Comments (26)I love the clean, uncluttered look of your home and you've made some great furniture choices. My first thought, though, is that I would try to rework the sofa/sectional placement. It really is unwelcoming looking to me to have the back where it is facing a wall, when it could be oriented to look into the room and out the windows. It seems like if it were placed in the corner under the stairs that it would feel open and invite you to come in and sit. I'd hate to be cooking in the kitchen and have the family or guests with their backs to me. If you are having a TV in another room close by, do you need one in that room, too? If, so placing a 70" unit will probably only work as you have it. But, to me, it's not going to look like a living room but more like a movie theater, which is fine if that's what you're going for. It seems like it won't be a cozy conversation area, though. I might actually flip the rooms and put the dining room where you have the sofa now. I was looking at lights used with dining rooms and ghost chairs and saw this, maybe would work in the living room? Kind of fun. don't know if it would look as good without the colored walls though. And I thought something like these were interesting to consider for over your table:...See MorePlease help me re-model my boring bedroom :)
Comments (8)can you refinish the floor yourself? you will need the orbital sander refinisher, not the one that goes in straight line. I'd save those wood floors as they will go w/the look you want. with a dark walnut stain on them, they'll look great w/the blacks/whites, wood, industrial lighting how do you want to change the closet door? can you do something w/glass? like the Ikea pax doors or something? You could do that for the doors and just paint the other on the left side. look on craigslist for a new bedroom door, or check a salvage yard for a solid slab or panel door. if you did the wall behind the bed, you'd have your own headboard. look into making your own platform bed. it's easy enough if you have some basic tools that inset area on your wall, you could do some reclaimed wood and then paint this blue or the dark charcoal paint color .you could also cut holes for industrial style sconces on your wall/headboard check craigslist for leftover wood flooring or reclaimed wood that inset spot you have is cool to do different things. for instance, look how they've done the wood across the wall, halfway, and then prob laid a LED strip light across for some cool uplighting.you could do this in grays/white, your dark floor, white curtains, white walls, and some cool art. take out that baseboard if redoing the flooring. replace w/a more modern, taller style....See More
housegal200
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoYes to all of the above. Your rug is great! It's your layout and some smaller pieces cluttering up the visual lines that aren't working. So here's how to start:
--As suggested, center the TV on that wall. Definitely get rid of the clock, pillows and kneeler on the floor, little table and mirror by the door. If you get new curtains in a color, as Nancy I, suggests, then you need nothing there.
--Move the desk but not the mirror to the left of the sofa. Move the mirror to another room. (And resist the urge to crowd little objects on top of the desk. Ditto, the wood piece in the dining area is too crowded. Smoother surfaces and walls give the eyes a place to rest.)
--I love the painting in your dining area. Consider swapping it with the current one over the sofa. It'll be a knockout in that space.
--Move the floor lamp to the far corner by the window.
--Get a rectangular or oblong glass coffee table so your lovely rug shows through.
--Move each of the upholstered chairs to each end of the new coffee table to create a better, cozier conversational grouping.
--Get new curtains per Nancy Ingram's advice.
--Get a bamboo shade the color of your floor for the rear door.
--Yes, add sofa pillows in the same colors jck suggests. These will totally bring out the beauty of the new rug.
These are all fairly small fixes, except for a new coffee table, and you get to enhance your beautiful new rug. (Suggestion for glass coffee table: base or trim in same wood as the floor, console, desk, or dining furniture. If you can't easily find a wood trimmed oblong/rectangular coffee table, then get a dark bronzed trimmed one.)
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5 years agoUser
5 years agoLOL, Thanks...I have a zen garden out back, and the kneeler, clogs and other things just stay at the back door. The pillows, I made when I fell in love with Suzani... among other random things are just convenient places for me to use as a side table. I can't afford to replace the TV console, but I can certainly change the hardware and I am good with a sander and paintbrush, so it can be changed. If you look very closely you can see the gold handle on top of the console that I had been using before I went back to the rustic handles I had on hand. I have a big family reunion happening in August so want to start working on getting things together. I love repurposing old furniture. Girls, sorry to be delayed in trying out your ideas. One thing I probably should have mentioned, is that even though I want to lean to a mid century decor, I am a hopeless "eclectic decor" person. That is why so many variations. But, I just recently am interested in getting organized and leaning to a more minimalistic live. But, let me add a photo that just really speaks to me, and give me your input.
User
5 years agoCut out faces to protect privacy. Now, I have moved around things in my living area. Tell me what I need to do . Thank you so much!!
havingfun
5 years agoI think it all keeps pushing to traditional wood colored. can i try giving some other colors in there?
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5 years agohavingfun
5 years agooh, i just saw you, now I see better! i would love to up the wow power on your rug. and i have never heard of bad luck going with feathers, only good.
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IdaClaire
5 years ago
PROBeverlyFLADeziner
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoMove the secretary off the entry wall over to the other side of the room.
I have moved the secretary to the short wall, centered the chairs in front of your window and placed the floor lamp and end table to the corner. All you need is a rug like you selected that has more blue in it. I love your rug design. I think it adds a very nice texture to your room.
https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Unique-Loom-Nyhavn-Harbour-Copenhagen-Area-Rug-7-x-10/18082410/product.html
Yayagal
5 years ago
jck910