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Home Decorating Furniture Design Dilemma

Too much leather?

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

We're in the middle of renovating our living room, and I don't know what to do about the chairs and ottoman. We've picked out a sofa with chaise in a light gray fabric, and we'd like to have a square leather ottoman. My initial plan was to do one club chair and one accent chair, one upholstered and one leather.

I included a few photos below. The first photo is an inspiration pic and shows the color scheme I like. Rather than the wood coffee table, I'd prefer a leather cocktail ottoman and use wood for a console table or cabinet under the tv. The next two pics are mock ups to show the general furniture layout I think will work in the room. I thought that the leather chair might be better next to the sofa though since the placement by the windows would likely destroy the leather pretty quickly. But then it's closer to the ottoman. Will that be too much leather too close together? Or look awkward since the sizes would be way out of proportion to each other. I feel stuck! TIA!

Also, I'm not buying any of the furniture in the modsy pics, and I don't necessarily think the chairs and ottoman are the right choices, style-wise. They're basically placeholders for now.

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Comments (4)

cawaps
5 years ago
I don't think it is too much leather, but I also don't think you want exactly the same color leather on the chairs and ottoman. A little bit of contrast in the leathers, and maybe a lumbar pillow in a nice fabric, will keep it balanced.
PRO
Inside Out Staging and Design
5 years ago
Hi Do you have pictures of the actual room and pieces? Easier to give advice. Leather is great but can be "cold". Be sure to include lots of "warming" textures like an area rug, accent pillows, a throw.
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Are you asking for a style of chair, color, or for a type of upholstery that would work with your leather sofa set? As for style the most important thing to find is a chair with the right scale. Small chairs with large leather pieces don't generally work well. Color is so subjective and depends on your wall and rug colors. My personal preference is to use a patterned upholstery in darker colors with brown leather. One of my fav upholstery choices with leather is a heavy tapestry and there are many colors and patterns to choose from.
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I was wondering if you could move the Tv to the end wall (behind where the leather chairs are now) along with the cabinet next to it. A taller entertainment center would be nice for a future purchase, to bring some height and break up the horizon effect of all the seating being the same height and the lamps being the same height. You need something taller to put the tv at a good viewing height, and an overall taller cabinet to bring some height to the space. Then put the two chairs on the wall where the tv is currently. I think it would create a much better balance in the room, so that all the leather furniture isn't in a row on one side of the space. I would think a fabric ottoman in a rich color would be perfect for the space. As others have said, you don't need more leather, and regular coffee tables aren't designed as footrests. In the alternative, consider having a thick upholstered pad added to the top of the existing coffee table and use that, once you get a new entertainment piece. I would also like to see you consider some drapery with some pattern and richer colors, to bring some color onto the walls. Larger artwork would be nice as well. It will bring focus to other areas of the room and make the heaviness of the leather less of an issue.
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Lovely space and a lot of great choices already. If you’re willing to switch out the dark brown dresser, would you consider painting it? Maybe a pale blue chalk paint if you’re bring in a few blue/teal/green accents? On the other hand, if you lighten up some of the pieces in your vignette, keeping it the way it is could still work. Find a selection of clear green and turquoise bottles to replace the black ones in your vignette. The lamp is a little too far to the right, the tray with bottles needs to move a smidge to the left. Try covering the books in white to repeat the white from other pieces in the room. I’m an allergy sufferer myself, so I completely get the no rug thing. And all throws and pillow covers must be washable, etc. Regarding plants and dust... very easy solution for that is to give your plants a shower every so often. This works incredibly well to keep them watered, dust and insect free, and is really easy to do. I use cool water (not completely cold) and don‘t turn the water on full blast so that it’s fairly gentle on the plants. Leave it in there for a bit to drain, and then they can go back to their normal spot.
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IMO you can never have too much leather it has always been my go to for the main pieces in both my LR and media room . This is our LR with 2 seating spaces I did use a wool fabric bench to sit in between the 2 spaces If you buy really good leather that is all leather everywhere the leather breathes and does not get sticky in the summer and cold in the winter it takes less than 10 secs to achieve your body temp. Get the best you can afford I like Italian or German made since they usually do not have springs but a webbing support system that lasts for as long as you want it .
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kpsherwin
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks cawaps and Inside Out.!The modsy pics are of my room but with different furniture photoshopped in. We bought the house a couple of months ago and are replacing everything in the room - fireplace, mantel, carpet, paint, etc - so the actually room just looks like a box right now. The only piece of furniture that I've decided on is the sofa with chaise so far. I ordered it, and it will be in in about 6 weeks.

I completely agree about including texture! I keep telling myself that most of the room will be tied together with throw pillows, etc, but I don't have much experience working with leather and it's making me nervous. What do you think about something like this chair in the corner by the window (probably white instead of ivory):

or this one:

A leather chair in this shade next to the sofa:

And an ottoman in this shade:

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the sofa I ordered. The style is like this one, but mine will be just a sofa with right hand chaise and it will be light gray.
cawaps
5 years ago
I like the cane-backed chair. The all white one seems kind of boring. I'd like to see the upholstery color on the sofa before weighing in on the leather choices (even if you just give a store link with the color name, or upload a picture of a fabric swatch).

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