I love the British Colonial look. Mine started when I found a wing chair at good will...we stripped it refinished the bottom in dark wood and re-upholstered it and made a matching foot stool. Then we re-upholstered our old chair in dark brown eliminating the skirt. Made all new throw pillows, even on three of the dining room chairs (not the ones around the table) Made new drapes and we changed the look from traditional to British Colonial/traditional. I kept all my old furniture including the antiques, so you can say we did it all with fabric. These are the two chairs and the throw pillows. The only thing I bought was the lamp next to the wing chair and the one next to the rocker. The sofa we reupholstered a few years ago, all the throw pillows we made new. In the dining room all we did was make new drapes, make three new throw pillows for three of the chairs, and I bronzed the lamp shades. To sum it up you can achieve this look with some pillows and accessories. That's my opinion anyhow! :) Joann

If you use round end tables, use a rectangular or square coffee table. Printed drapes in the dining room are fine with solid drapes in the living area. For your chairs, I would stick to green/camel OR red/camel. You can keep your sofa as the one red item in the room and just use touches of red in art or accessories. Or get a cream or green slipcover for the sofa and just work with the green and camel colors.

It's the scale of the lamps that you need to concentrate on the most. I've found that most homeowners tend to purchase lamps that are too short/small. I use 28"-30" as my guide. I rarely use shorter than 28" unless maybe in a bedroom or for an occasional table, and over 30" starts to look odd in most homes. If you're looking at a lamp in person, rather than online (which has the measurements) just measure from the top of the shade down to the table. Also, purchasing inexpensive end tables and lamps first can really help change the look of a room, while you're saving up for the more expensive items (sofa, nice coffee table). Here's a before/after of a living room I did for a homeowner, where all I added were lamps, end tables and throw pillows (just reworked her other items). The end tables I used are really great, they work with a lot of furniture styles, plus they have a shelf and they're less than $100. I use them with a lot of clients! Since end tables don't get a lot of abuse, a "cheaper" one is a real budget saver. Great End Table As you can see in the Before, this furniture is large and overstuffed. A too small lamp would look silly. Using the above linked end tables and 30" lamps: You can use an end table like those (they're 24" high) and the proper size lamp, and it will work with just about any sofa you choose. Also, when choosing throw cushions I would get rid of the two red cushions on your sofa, and replace with a neutral. Maybe throw in a lumbar on one of your two chairs. And here's a room (while we were rearranging furniture) where the homeowner's furniture was not oversized/overstuffed. As you can see, these same end tables come up higher on her sofa, but still work. I can't remember how tall these lamps were, probably around 27"-28".

They are finally in! I love how it looks & they are compatible with US wiring. The one tiny disappointment is the plate is plastic. I had assumed at that price point it would be metal. It is mentioned in the description, I didn't read carefully enough. The inserts around the switch itself were a little fussy. They snap in to the main plate but they kept shifting backwards slightly & wouldn't stay perfectly flush when we installed it. After removing and re-snapping several times I broke out the crazy glue and verrrrrrrry carefully put a few drops of glue on the inside edges. That did the trick but again, at that price point... They are cool and the other tradesmen on the job were impressed. My husband enjoyed saying "I have a truck full of $3 switches and this is what she had to have..." LOL!